The rhythm
Last week we organised the Caña Social in Madrid again after more than a decade and it was very well received. We had to close Eventbrite with 84 people because there was no room in the space. In the end, more than 60 people came to Triple where we were able to make multiple direct connections to continue to energise the impact ecosystem by betting on the creation of authentic relationships. It was a gift to see old friends again like Alan Wagenberg from Pola Social in Bogotá, or Javier Almagro, with whom I had a coffee many years ago and who surprised me by setting up an NGO in Thailand, Iñaki Alonso from SATT, Raquel Traba herself from Triple, Cristina Pan from SurfOffice, Alberto Alonso from Impact HUB, Daniel Truran from Blab and numerous members of our community The Social Circle.
The next day was the sixth Acumen ceremony where I participated as a Jury, a party where 70 impact projects arrived. In addition to learning about new projects, I was able to reconnect with other fellows and schedule the annual meeting of the Spanish community, where we are already more than 100 members and we hope to meet in Benarrabá, Málaga. Among the participants I found many acquaintances, such as Miguel Guerrero from Saturdays AI, Pablo Ocaña from Ubergi, Estefanía de la Bardal, Lorena Silvestri from Punto JES, Salomé Herce from Sacalomejor or Jose Correa from SustainableStartup&Co.
The truth is that after a couple of intense days in the capital I wanted to go back home. I don’t feel like I’m getting old, but the truth is that I enjoy it less and less. Trying to sleep with the noise, going out into the streets packed with people, not seeing anything green, breathing with the pollution of the capital, the traffic monopolizing the streets, the same franchises and consumer madness of all the big cities, tourists filling the sidewalks and at every step I am surrounded by restaurants and shops. I think that one gets used to good things easily and we are enjoying the tranquility of our town of 80 inhabitants.
It is true that I like to make myself uncomfortable, and that is why I have shared a hostel room, leaving the car at home, and other ways of connecting the lives that many people live today. Also the reality check of seeing people sleeping in the street in winter, food delivery people, migrants from many hospitality businesses, the reality of trying to make a living. I like to go into a bar and listen to conversations between the owner and the police patrol that comes to have coffee every day, or the waiter explaining that he has not seen his six Peruvian brothers for years, or the customer who is greeted by name and served the same breakfast without having to ask for it.
I am back now, yesterday at noon we went for a walk and ended with a bath in the waterfall. It was something improvised, we finished some meetings early and most of the people from the coliving signed up to accompany us. We ate some tapas in a village bar and finished the day with a meditation session and a vegetarian dinner that Franka had prepared. We left and some stayed to rehearse, because on Friday we start with dance classes in the space. We expect several neighbours and it will be a big mess.
Now we are already thinking about our first year of Coliving, there are still some places left in March, we close in April to host WorldSchooling and we start the summer season in May. In October we have several training sessions and events, and we will continue to receive people in winter. We like the space to be alive, to have people all year round, to be able to have the self-managed project, to be based on trust and to try to put value on the table, taking care of and improving the place for those who come.
And you… Do you have plans for this summer?
