Although Grupo Pro Sayulita volunteers are up to their eyebrows with ongoing programs, the number one concern last season became security. In response to the urging of many, we undertook an additional program, separate from our others, to increase the police presence in town.  After many weeks of investigation and research, we settled upon a specific program and timetable, which was then presented to homeowners for their support. We worked on this plan, but as often happens in Mexico, governmental elections and then bureacractic changes, made us amend our plans.  However, some of these changes were for the good.

If you own a house here, instead of paying a few thousand dollars a year in property taxes, your annual property tax bill won't even pay for dinner for two in Mexico!  So while much of life here is heavenly (sun, beach, food and fun), services are not what they need to be.  The town needs some help.  That's where Grupo Pro Sayulita comes in.

We've had just two weekly meetings so far, but we are off to a fast start.  For our first two meetings, newly elected delegado Hector Pína joined us.  Grupo Pro Sayulita is a volunteer community organization that supports programs to help make the town a better place to live and visit.  Only by working with town leaders will we achieve progress, so it was encouraging to hear how much Hector was impressed by all of our activities.

The winter season for Grupo Pro Sayulita is about to begin.  We'll have our first weekly meeting on Wednesday, December 7, at noon, at Calypso.  And we always encourage you to get some lunch if you want (Ruben will deliver your sandwich upstairs) and eat it during our meeting.  Our meetings are pretty informal- we do have committee reports and chit-chat and we communicate about what's going on.  Often people have suggestions and some of them become major programs.

The joke about living in Mexico is that when you wake up, you have nothing on your schedule; by the time you go to bed, you can't figure out why you could only get half done. With work, family and just owning a house in Sayulita, time fills up quickly. There's barely time to have fun. For many people, there's little time to spend on outside causes. So I won't nag you much on behalf of Grupo Pro Sayulita, except to say that all we want is a very few minutes--not much really.

Our son outshines me as a chef, so when he came to visit last winter, instead of buying my usual fillet of fresh fish, our son opted for the entire Mahi-Mahi - I swear, it was four feet long. The fish market cleaned it and cut it up for us, about 9 large pieces on each side, 18 pieces in all (and our son wanted the head and tail for his soup stock). The cost? About $20 USD! "Do you know what that would cost in Brooklyn?" he exclaimed!

It's a good thing that a few people have really stepped up to the plate.  During my (almost) two years as president, I've tried to thank as many volunteers as possible, but the ones who have really given of themselves to our town have been the Grupo Pro Sayulita board of directors and committee chairs - in a few cases, one and the same.  For example, Cheryl Vaughan, our treasurer, has also spearheaded so many great programs for the public schools as head of the Education Committee. The position of Treasurer would be more than enough work for one person, and she has carried two positions, plus more details than I can count.

When our 4-year old grandson came to visit us in Sayulita last winter, he had the time of his life.  He learned quite a few words in Spanish, saw dancing horses and roosters running about, tried to body surf with our son in the ocean, ate at several restaurants including early morning with his dad, bought a fish longer than he was tall that was then cut up and cooked on our grill, and generally enjoyed the color and life of the town.

Both my U.S. hometown and Sayulita have numerous sports teams for kids of all ages. In North Adams, we even have a summer collegiate baseball team. All sports are big in most small towns, and Sayulita is no exception. Fields are definitely in better shape in North Adams than in Sayulita.