César: Hello, welcome everybody to another episode of Colivers Club. Today I’m again here with Stefanie Prosinger. Hello, how are you?

Stefanie: Hello, Sisa, I’m fine, thank you. Pleasure to be here.

César: Yeah, and in person because we’ve recorded another episode online and now we are in…

Stefanie: Finally…

César: …I …I We are in Tarifa, in your coliving. It’s super cool, super nice. I’ve been here for three weeks, I think, more or less.

Stefanie: Wow, time’s flying, huh?

César: Time flies,

Stefanie: yes.

César: And it’s a very cool coliving, I really like the surroundings and the nature. So, congratulations. Thank you. Good job. And yeah, I want to ask you about how the… I asked you previously how the period started. There’s something you mentioned about the coliving being a part of an association. And now that I know a little bit about more of it, I would like to tell the audience, no? What does it mean that it’s an association?

Stefanie: Right, so basically there’s two reasons why it’s an association. The first one is that I’m a horrible businesswoman. And the second one is… that I really needed something that made sense, like in the way that it’s set up, to really represent the core values of what this is about. And yeah, essentially… After about three years, that’s what people usually say, that’s how long it takes for a business to work. I had a sit-down and a very honest talk with myself, because I realised I’m not making any money. So eventually you have to be honest with yourself and look at numbers, and leave the emotions aside, and I realised, well, if I keep walking that line, it’s also not going to happen in the future. And I was thinking what to do about it, and there’s only really two ways. One is cutting the costs, and the other one is upping the prices. So upping the prices is not something I really wanted to do, because I don’t want to be exclusively available and accessible only for a very small group of people. But then lowering the costs was just not an option for me either, because I really have this dream about what I want this place to look like, and all my heart goes into creating more things, and making it better and more beautiful. So I just decided to turn my weakness into strength, and make it a non-profit. And really get the statement out there too, so that people know that everything they are spending here gets reinvested into the project.

César: Because right now it’s only you running the co-living, right?

Stefanie: And Milo down

César: here. Hello, Milo. You can be seen by that, yeah. I forgot to put a microphone on Milo.

Stefanie: It would be interesting what he has to

César: say. Yeah, so it’s crazy that it’s got to be property, I would say, and you run it all by yourself. There’s the cleaning people, right, that come every few days, right? Oh,

Stefanie: there’s external help.

César: So there’s the cleaning

Stefanie: ladies every now and then get help with the gardening. And of course there’s people helping. Like almost every person who stays has helped in some kind of way, with skill, with their time, with their energy. And that’s what’s so beautiful about the

Speaker 7: community.

Stefanie: The association in particular was basically this part of it, because when I decided to make it non-profit, there’s not that many options of how to register a non-profit in Spain. Before the thing was registered as a Alejamento Roral, so like a rural accommodation. And that just didn’t seem to fit either, because I don’t see people here as guests. They’re residents, they’re part of a family. A lot of them stay connected and check back in or come back and I wanted to represent exactly that. So that’s how the idea with the association came up, so that people are members. And associations in Spain are by law non-profit. So that just worked beautifully. Also an association needs a purpose. So it gave me the setup to really have a think about what’s the mission statement behind all of this. So the purpose of the association EcoLivin is to improve physical and mental health or wellbeing by living together in community and in harmony with nature.

César: Because also the website is not EcoLivin Finca La Palmeira, it’s ecoLivin.org, no?

Stefanie: Yeah, I know. I was super lucky that the rain was still

Speaker 6: available.

Stefanie: And yeah, the idea is… So Finca La Palmeira is obviously the property. Which is still my property. And I’m giving it to the association to use. But the idea is for the association to grow into something bigger than just this property. And really a community, maybe Europe-wide, maybe worldwide, with hopefully other places with similar values, but different owners in different locations, you know, like not like a franchise, but more… Just with the line core values to add to that. So that would be super nice that people that like the vibe here and the values we have here, so they can find on the same website, other places where they know, “Ah, now if I go to Cesar’s co-living next, and he’s listed on that website, wow, that must be a similar vibe.”

César: So you are open to more co-livin’s joining this association.

Stefanie: That’s the idea, long term, yes.

César: Nice. And logistically, what are some benefits of the co-livin being an association? And what are some things that are not as nice?

Stefanie: It just makes things a lot easier with some of the paperwork, because we’re exempt from that. So I don’t need to do taxes,

Speaker 7: I don’t

Stefanie: need to do like a yearly or trimester accountancy. Obviously it’s still a pain because I need to justify all my spendings because each cent that comes in is a membership fee from people that are being members here. But I do need to justify all my spending, so I can’t just get some cash out and then spend it in a way that’s not really written down. And that’s a bit the challenge, especially in southern Spain, because a lot of people here just don’t work with invoices. So there’s a lot of people I need to call to clean the palm trees or to do things, and I can’t really put

César: that into

Stefanie: my accounting.

César: Being an association doesn’t have any repercussions for the guests. I didn’t need to sign a membership agreement or anything, it’s just like you come here as a… No, essentially

Stefanie: it’s the same, because before when it was registered as an accommodation, then I had the duty to register everyone. So if you go on holiday, whether it’s a week or a month, everywhere they will ask you for your first name, last name, date of birth, password number, and that gets registered. In most European countries with the website of the police directly, same here in Spain. And now rather than you giving me that information, me passing it on to the police, you’re giving me that information and it’s staying in my own register, in the Fincus register of members. So if at any point authorities do want to know,

César: what are you doing here and who’s your members? No, I do nothing, nothing.

Stefanie: I can say it says it was ABIP member here

Speaker 6: for the month. Nice,

César: but the idea of other co-living joining forces and creating this non-profit idea of building something together, it’s super cool.

Stefanie: Yeah, I mean, that’s the great thing about calling it the non-profit and eco-living, because it widens the purpose. At the moment, money goes back into this particular co-living. But let’s say at some point, there’s just nothing to improve. And we still have funds coming in. We can support other ones that are starting off. We can support anything that’s aligned with our values in this village or in this part where we’re located, for example. Or just do things that will benefit the members of the association, like having someone come here and impart a workshop, for example, that people are

Speaker 6: interested

Stefanie: in, or a permaculture course, or there’s an indefinite amount of

César: things we could do. Mila wants to pay now. Because the idea of being an association wasn’t clear from the beginning. You wanted to make it more like a business, sustainable business, let’s say. And then you found out that the numbers wouldn’t match. How did you feel about that? How did… yeah, what were you surprised about the costs of running a co-living that were like, “Oh, I didn’t take this into consideration”?

Stefanie: The two things that make it a very costly co-living compared to maybe others is that it’s an old house, so it needs a lot of reformation and love rather than a new property. And the second one is the garden. So by far the biggest amount of money goes into maintaining the garden, but that’s not something I would want to change.

César: You know,

Stefanie: you could just pave it, concrete it, put another six rooms up, and then it would be like a money-making machine. But for me, that’s the heart of the Finka and what makes this place so special. That’s why people come here, is they want to be out, they want to be surrounded by trees,

César: the

Stefanie: green and the vegetable garden and fruit trees, and the hammocks and the yogurt egg. I don’t know. What’s your favorite place in the Finka?

César: Oof, the hammock I would say. Yeah, that’s amazing. Have you thought about underground rooms? Maybe that’s a way of keeping the garden and having more rooms.

Stefanie: I heard I do that on some islands, like Morocco

César: and stuff. Oh, yeah. You’re not allowed to

Stefanie: build

Speaker 7: underground

Stefanie: anymore.

César: The less VIP members, they go underground.

Stefanie: You know, in Austria we already have a very bad fame about locking people up in basements, let’s

César: not go there.

Stefanie: Oh, okay.

César: Yeah, you also mentioned that this is an old house, so it needs a lot of love. And you, I see, you’ve built a lot of the things here in the colivian, from the calisthenic bars and equipment to the wooden deck for the platform, all right? It’s amazing. How did you learn? How did you start? Things.

Stefanie: Yeah, it’s a journey. I had no previous building experience, and it was learning by doing essentially, and with a lot of support. So usually people who know a lot of neighbors here in the area, and then helping them and them showing me, and then me taking over.

César: And what was one of your favorite projects that you’ve done here in the colivian?

Stefanie: I couldn’t say.

César: Which child is your favorite child?

Stefanie: I love them all. I think the biggest one obviously was the new roof.

César: The new roof. Oh, well, we haven’t seen that, right?

Stefanie: Because, yeah, the part that is, let’s say, the heart of the coliving is the communal house that we’re sitting next to now. With the kitchen, and the living room, and the office. So that had a flat roof, and that was leaking. So I decided to build a new roof, and to make it a wooden, like, thatched roof. Which makes it look like apparently a Swiss ski hut, according to some of my

Speaker 6: neighbors.

Stefanie: Rather than a typical Andalusian building. Yeah, I think we’ve successfully managed to make it blend in nicely. The old and the new, and the stone and the wood.

César: Yeah, I think it looks part of the landscape, you know? It doesn’t seem like it stands out in a bad way.

Stefanie: No, not at

César: all. Because I also know that you take a lot of care on, that the coliving is not something that sets apart the community from the local community. It’s something that brings it together. So if you were having a pink house, maybe you will not do that.

Stefanie: Yeah, maybe not.

César: Maybe not.

Stefanie: Let’s keep it quiet.

César: And also the chimney you built. That’s amazing. So a lot of YouTube tutorials, I guess, as well.

Stefanie: Yeah, there was YouTube tutorials, there was manuals, there was phone calls to friends that then connected me with other friends that would know that, or that have done something similar.

César: So if somebody that wants to start a coliving, wants to get into this kind of labor, like do things themselves, what’s something that you would recommend?

Stefanie: Count on it to take longer and to cost more than

Speaker 6: you think it will.

Stefanie: And enjoy the process. Because I think that’s also been my biggest challenge. I’m a very goal-oriented person, and there is this illusion, you know? You’re already visualizing the thing that you’re about to build, and you’re just working towards that goal. And if you forget to enjoy the process on the way, then it can get very frustrating. Especially if it’s something longer. The calisthenics part was fun, because it was like a two-week project. Well, I mean, with the planning, research, and getting material, it was like a bit over a month. But those are fun projects, and you keep being motivated, because you see the progress. But anything that’s like slow work,

Speaker 7: you’d

Stefanie: better settle for knowing that you’re not going to see the immediate results.

César: Because, for example, the wooden deck, how long did it take?

Stefanie: Yes, same there. Actually, maybe that’s another good thing to pass on to people, is that the planning phase is more important than you think. And if you do some really good planning, and you know not just what you want to build, and the measurements, and how, and where, and the material, but really down to how is the structure going to hold, and which step needs to come before the next step. Like, once everything is really clear, the building is usually pretty straightforward. But the first step needs to be done well. Otherwise, you have to improvise, and then do some problem solving while you’re already in the building process, and then

César: it gets

Stefanie: messy.

César: Yeah, but I must say that all the facilities, they look professionally done. Like, they seem

Speaker 6: like…

César: The wooden deck, when you told me you build it yourself, and the calculations, and everything, I was like, “Wow.”

Stefanie: Yeah, and making it a hexagon, integrating four pines on

Speaker 7: a

Stefanie: terrain that’s not level is an extra

César: challenge. And also it’s nice that the pines are quite the same distance apart, so you can put tramox on them.

Speaker 7: Almost. You think someone planted

Stefanie: it that way, right?

Speaker 7: I swear.

Stefanie: It was me.

César: Yeah, you’ve been running this colivium for how long?

Stefanie: I bought the Finca in May 2019. And then the year after COVID hit, and then the transformation process basically started. In summer it was a bed and breakfast at first, in winter I was closed and building, and for a bit over two years now it’s been a colivium.

César: So it seems like the machine is well oiled now, because for example recently you’ve been away for a week, trying to summit a mountain in Morocco.

Stefanie: Trying to.

César: Whether it was not nice. A

Stefanie: lot better here. Yeah.

César: Well, some days were like a little bit… You didn’t have minus degrees in school. Yeah, it’s true. Yeah, no. I finally need to go back to Madrid with the cold snow. So what I’m saying is that we were okay. We didn’t burn anything. We didn’t mess up the colivium.

Stefanie: You did a great job,

César: especially you

Stefanie: being the

Speaker 6: master of the chimney.

César: Every night. Not every night. But that says a lot about the way you run things, that you can step away for some time, there’s no need for you in that sense, no? Yeah,

Stefanie: that’s a bit my understanding also of community, because otherwise it would be a hotel. I don’t really see myself as a receptionist, or an entertainer, or your personal tour guide. So while I’m here and obviously available for people and their needs and questions, and obviously if things need fixing or don’t work. Yeah, community is something that grows, and in my opinion also organically. And always when you throw a bunch of people together, someone will be the one that’s more like entertaining automatically, or someone really loves cooking, or someone else has some other kind of skill. And that’s what makes it so wonderful.

César: I think most colivian owners, after some time, I don’t know if there’s a exact time, three, four years down the line, they start thinking to themselves, thinking like, “Oh, okay, I need some distance now from the colivian”, because you live in the property, right? And it’s a very nice setup you have built there. So yeah, how do you feel about distancing more from the colivian? How are you in that process?

Stefanie: Yeah, I think it’s part of life is change, right? I would be very sad if we would just stay in one spot. And I didn’t imagine it at first, because my goal was always just to build what I was building, and I somehow assumed that then I’ll be happy, and life is amazing, and I’ll just stay living here and keep doing what I’m doing. And now that I am where I want it to be, I realize, no, of course, you never want to stand still. And I found this place as in this area, Tarifa, about 10 years ago. And I was in a moment of life where I really was ready to settle and to stay put in one place for longer. And I really wanted to create something, so that requires being physically in one place. And it was perfect for that time. But now after 10 years of not moving so much, I really feel that it’s time again to get out there. And yeah, same with your professional life, no? We always seek to evolve and to do something new, and there’s a project that sounds really interesting that you want to start. So I spend a lot of time and energy working on the place physically, and I love every second. But I would say most things are more or less done. And as much as I love hosting and just being around people, I always look for the next challenge too. And I think that having acquired all the knowledge, whether it’s with building, with interior design, with a bit of architecture, with just functionality and set-ups of colivings, I’d rather dedicate time to help creating other places and help other people that are in that process and support them. Because

César: you get to travel as well and move around the beach. And you have always these surveys, right?

Speaker 7: Yeah.

César: And how do you plan then keep things running here in the coliving? Will you find somebody that helps you? Yeah, leave Milo in charge. Oh, okay. I thought that

Stefanie: was

Speaker 6: a great idea. Yeah.

Stefanie: Great idea. No, yes. The idea is to have someone on site that maybe isn’t exactly that face in life, that wants to be in a calm rural setting and stay for several months.

César: And maybe you can use Macmillan to put a little blog post, searching for this person. Yes.

Stefanie: I mean, actually, we’ve got the next person already lined up from January until April. Sarah, she was a guest here in, or a coldover here, in June. So she’s coming back and wanting to take over that. But since she’s American, she can only stay for three months.

César: So

Stefanie: from May, we’ll happily have someone else take over from her and yeah, just contribute their own way of being to the thinker.

César: Nice. Wow. Lot of change now, no?

Stefanie: Oh, nothing is constant but change.

César: I don’t know who

Stefanie: said it, but I highly agree with

Speaker 6: that.

César: No, because you told me also that what you want to maybe tackle in the future is remodeling the kitchen, right?

Stefanie: Yes.

César: That’s how a big project and after that, it’s done.

Stefanie: I mean, as projects go and houses in general, you’re never done.

Speaker 7: But I

Stefanie: would say that’s the last bigger piece of construction. And then there’s loads of minor projects. But as you said, this will always be my base. I’m very excited about maybe building a pizza oven.

César: That would be amazing. Well, now that I don’t need gluten, we can maybe find other ways of making pizza.

Stefanie: I’m pretty sure it is gluten free pizza dough.

César: Yeah. Okay, let’s do it. Pizza oven. We’ll research it. Yeah, because this colleague is also very focused on food. No, a little bit. I will say there’s a paella, which I made a beautiful paella. Yeah, I must say. I want to try and make black rice for my good-bait dinner.

Stefanie: Oh my God, I can’t wait.

César: You can’t wait for me to leave or you can’t wait for me to make a paella? Okay, okay. No, for the black rice. Okay, okay.

Speaker 6: That

Stefanie: will be a first in a think-out. We’ve had quite a few

César: paellas for the black rice. Yeah, I need to go buy groceries. But it’s always

Stefanie: sad when someone leaves.

César: Yeah, but I think it’s a good tradition, the welcome dinner or meal and the good-bait dinner. How did this start? How did this tradition come to happen? So

Stefanie: I just really like the idea of welcoming people. And yeah, I think it’s important for just to feel like a community. You don’t want to wake up the next day after you’ve arrived and just stumble upon a person. And then maybe two days later

Speaker 7: someone else. Who are you? You don’t even know their names

Stefanie: if you’re sharing a space. So it’s nice to have this like meal where you all sit together. Especially for the person who arrives to see who is there. Who am I going to share the next month or more month with? It’s also nice for the ones that are already here to reconnect. And it was one guy actually that was so happy because he arrived pretty late. You know, the travel got delayed and so on. And he arrived at like 11 p.m. And the fact that he walked into this door and there was like all the food on the table and the fireplace on and super cozy. And he was so happy. And he said, “Listen, I want to give such a welcome to the next person arriving. Can I be in charge of the next welcome

César: meal?” And

Stefanie: I said, “Actually, I think we should make this a thing.” That it’s always the person who last arrived to do it for the next person.

César: Yeah, because it also makes sense. Practical. Practical. Makes practical sense because when you arrive, you don’t maybe don’t have time to buy groceries or it’s just too much going on. So having the meal prepared is like wow.

Speaker 7: Amazing, right?

César: It’s amazing. So yeah, I think my colleague should do this.

Stefanie: Yeah,

Speaker 7: no,

Stefanie: the hello’s and goodbyes especially. All the time in between two. But because there’s always someone coming, someone leaving, that means there’s always at least one or two social dinners. And if there’s no one coming or leaving, then we still do

César: it. Yeah, because people still… I came

Stefanie: back with the tagine and I was very excited to

César: share. To try. Rocking cuisine. It was super good. Delicious. Yeah, because also Morocco is quite close. So you can go there for a day trip. You can go on a day

Stefanie: trip, exactly.

César: Yeah, that’s cool.

Stefanie: A lot of people actually do do that.

César: Yeah, we haven’t… Well, you have done that on a day. Six

Stefanie: times by now.

César: Six times, okay. Now, but it’s cool that there’s also this possibility, right? To visit another country, another continent.

Stefanie: Another continent,

César: yeah. Platform and then you do meditation. So what things keep you grounded? Because you have a mind that goes racing, I think, a lot.

Speaker 6: Yes.

Stefanie: Well, as you said, my morning routine, I think it’s probably the most important thing. I really like to wake up and have an hour just for myself. Walking the dog, meditating, breathing, stretching, workout. It kind of depends. It’s not always the same, but really just taking those first moments of the day to… Yeah, to feel into myself and ground. That’s important. And then being surrounded by nature and hands on the earth for me, that’s the most profoundly grounding experience. So the vegetable garden is a bit of my hobby that serves for exactly that purpose.

César: Yeah, except for Olivia, who’s the owl here that lives in one of these trees and makes some noise from time to time. You

Stefanie: have not made friends with Olivia.

César: Because all birds here, they sound beautiful. They’re chirping and it’s really… And then Olivia… So yeah, but…

Stefanie: It’s funny though, because people are used to so much noise in the cities that they don’t even register how

Speaker 7: much

Stefanie: noise they’re surrounded by. And when you come here, it’s this absolute silence. So if there’s just one bird making a

Speaker 7: sound, you’re

Stefanie: like, “Oh

César: my god, that was noisy.”

Stefanie: It’s

César: true. For me,

Stefanie: there’s a difference between noise and sounds. So anything that’s natural to me is still a sound. It can be loud, like a donkey obviously is quite loud.

César: But we don’t have donkeys in the house. Not in the house,

Stefanie: not in the house, in the greater area.

César: I haven’t seen any. I have seen horses.

Stefanie: Yeah, there’s donkeys too. Chickens.

César: Chickens, sometimes they come into the property. You have to fend them off.

Stefanie: Milo usually takes care of it.

César: I really like how Milo, when he wants to play, he’s very subtle about it. Very subtle. Yeah, he’s also very well trained and I think that’s also super important if you have a co-living and you have animals. They’re very well trained. So he’s having a tough time. I will play with you later, Milo, for sure. You were also giving some skill sets about hamstons. Where did you learn?

Stefanie: Interrefactually, I took

César: hamstons

Stefanie: classes. Well, I do have a bit of an acrobatic background.

César: You have many backgrounds, I feel like, because from what I’ve heard in the previous podcast episode, you were in a hostel, hostel community. I don’t know how to… Yeah, backpacker hostels. I worked for a long time.

Stefanie: Yeah. Small ones, big ones.

César: Starting

Stefanie: up too as well.

César: And you were traveling a lot during your teens.

Stefanie: Yeah, my 20s

César: were all long traveling. And then something made you… Okay, I’m going to go to Tarifa.

Stefanie: Well, I was always traveling with that idea of finding the place where

César: I

Stefanie: want to settle and set up my own guest house, hostel. That’s how I called it back then before co-living was a thing. So, yeah. And Tarifa, I just stumbled across and really fell in love with the place. I must say not Tarifa, but actually the Costa de la Luz. I happened to stay in Tarifa, but it’s the whole stretch between Tarifa and Cadiz. It’s the coast of light, and it’s called like this for a reason. You’ve probably agreed with me.

César: Of the

Stefanie: days

Speaker 7: that we were lucky.

Stefanie: It’s the most magical sunsets I’ve ever witnessed. There’s the sun sinking into the ocean at night. And the fact that most of it is natural park and not built up. That just makes it so special. And the people, of course.

César: And it’s interesting that you wind up here in Tarifa, what is the most windiest first place on Earth, probably.

Stefanie: Well, no, I think there’s others atop it, but yeah, quite known for the wind. So a lot of people come here that are into kite surfing, wind

César: surfing,

Stefanie: wind foiling, any of those wind related activities.

César: That’s super nice. I need to try still. So maybe one day. Next time. Yeah, surfing I’ve tried. Not here, but I’m interested in the…

Stefanie: In the wind part.

César: Yeah.

Stefanie: Because it’s all year round. Actually, I always recommend that you have two sports. One with wind and one without wind. Otherwise, people always complain. You know, those who don’t do wind sports, they’re like, “Well, it’s a bit windy here.” And those who come here for the wind are like, “It’s not windy today.” At least that way you can then surf or climb.

Speaker 7: We still need to do that. We need to go climbing. Because there’s some

Stefanie: really

César: nice work

Stefanie: climbing in the area too. Hiking, cycling.

César: Yeah, so a lot of outdoor activities. It’s an outdoor paradise, really. Yeah, the days were… The few days that was a little bit rainy were like here, coasting with the fire and everything, playing some board games. Mexican train.

Speaker 6: Your favorite game.

César: I don’t like it too much. But it was nice, but after one day we were realizing, “Oh yeah, we’ve been here all day and we feel like we want to go outside and do things.” So totally, yeah, this is the place to be if you want to be outdoors. And the hammocks. I love the hammocks.

Stefanie: That’s another thing though that happens a lot. Those people who come with the idea of just doing all the outdoor sports and activities are quite surprised themselves because they spend more time in the hammocks than actually working out.

César: So I

Stefanie: suddenly put the calisthenics park right next

César: to the hammocks to remind you that. That you need to do some exercise.

Stefanie: It’s totally fine.

César: I also felt that during the first week I was super tired. And you have a theory about this as well, right? Because people come here, they have this energy, they want to do things, and then suddenly they are in the hammock. What’s going on with that?

Stefanie: I have a theory about everything. No, I do think that especially for people that live this high intensity life, maybe with a stressful job in a city where you’re constantly stimulated, let’s say. All the senses. And all of a sudden you come to such a nice peaceful quiet place. Your whole body, your nervous system just starts relaxing. And I think that’s what happens.

César: Yeah, probably. Most likely, for sure. It’s

Stefanie: only once you stop that you realize that you were tired actually.

César: Yes, yes. You keep pushing without realizing that, “Oh no, I needed some time off.” So it’s a nice idea that from the time you get this break. But it’s interesting that I’ve been working, I’ve still been doing things. But from a more sustainable viewpoint, so I totally see your point when you say that, with a colibing association, it’s all about well-being and healing, no? It is.

Stefanie: Yeah, and for me sustainability is connected also with speed. So I’m a big fan of slow life. I believe that’s our problem in today’s times. Everything is going too fast. Everything is changing too fast. And we’re having trouble keeping up and that causes anxiety for a lot of people. So yeah, I think it really helps to just be somewhere for longer and really settle into this experience. And that’s part of the reason why the minimum stay here is one month. Because if people book for two weeks, and they already have this whole agenda in their mind of things, “Oh, so I want to visit Caddies on a day trip, and I want to go to Morocco for a day trip. I don’t want to see this. I don’t want to do that.” Basically, you’re just going to have this action-packed week, like it were a holiday, while you’re still trying to work as well, maybe 40 hours. And that’s just creating more

Speaker 7: anxiety.

Stefanie: Whereas if you know you have a month, maybe you’re even without a car. So you don’t even have that temptation to be like, “Oh, I’m just quickly going to jump in and drive somewhere for something.” That’s when your body goes like, “Actually, maybe just the rest of the hammock will be really good.” And then you figure out, “This is all I needed.”

César: Yeah, you should bring the horses in the property so people instead of the car can use the horse to move around. That would be super cool. We

Stefanie: do have a stable, so anyone who wants to learn horse riding in Sahara de los Atunes, it’s

César: like

Stefanie: a 20-minute bike ride.

César: Okay, cool. Yeah, perfect. I will check it out. What does COLEVING mean to you?

Stefanie: So the COLE in COLEVING, for me, stands for community, clearly. And I think where I defer from the idea of community living, maybe to other COLEVINGS, is that it’s a lived experience. By definition, that’s if you are in it longer, and if it really feels like a community. So while there is COLEVINGS with, I think, almost 200 people in big cities and the minimum stays only a week, it’s also a way of being surrounded by other people. It’s just a different concept because I believe past a certain group size, you don’t have that feeling of community because subgroups form and you don’t feel like you’re one part that belongs to one entity. And yeah, if something is just like a week or two weeks, I believe it’s very hard to call that life.

César: Who would you want to interview next for the podcast?

Stefanie: It’s a tough question because actually, the people I was most curious about, you’ve all already interviewed, which is Anne from 9CoA Living and Francesca from Tertulia CoA Living and Alpines. So I think you’ve done some really great interviews and I was super appreciative to listen to those podcasts and see what other people are doing.

César: Thank you.

Stefanie: There is one I’d be really interested about. I think it would be Ramon.

César: Ramon.

Stefanie: From Milan and Mango Bads now.

César: Oh,

Stefanie: yes. Since we’re collaborating on both sides, I think he’s someone that knows a lot about all the co-living spaces. So he’s the person to ask interesting questions. And I think you mentioned he did some pop-up co-livings as well.

César: He’s organizing with Solle as well. So yeah, maybe we need to get to Ramon in there. Please Ramon,

Speaker 6: come on the podcast.

César: And then also I would like to nominate as well as Solle so we can do two episodes. That would be cool. If we meet again in person, because I think they are in Southeast Asia now, but maybe for Christmas they come, but I don’t know. Let’s see. It would be lovely for sure. Because yeah, Mango Bads is the platform that they’ve developed to make the bookings. Yeah,

Stefanie: I think it’s the first co-living specific

César: booking system.

Stefanie: And he did a great job on it.

César: And he’s integrated with MapMelon as well. But you can also use it apart for the website that you have. Wow, that’s been amazing. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Cesar. Thanks for

Stefanie: being here and being part of this experience.

César: It’s been lovely. So definitely come here to Ecoli D’ Infinca La Palmeira. And this has been another episode of Córdibas Club, powered by MapMelon. Bye. Nice. Cool. Thank you.

César: Yes.