In May, Melanie and I traveled across Germany and France to spend a month at the Kalima co-living and co-working café along the sunny shores of the Spanish Sea. In this story, I’ll take you behind the scenes of the project launching in September with the release of this video. You’ll hear from some of the other co-livers we met and from Vanessa Sans, the Barcelona-born co-working activist who’s making Kalima co-living a reality.
One of the first things I did after arriving in Caldetes, the small Catalonian village 55 minutes northeast of Barcelona, was –– surprise, surprise –– to go for a run. I followed this up a couple of days later with a longer run and –– sit-down this might come as a shock –– an even longer run. I already uploaded a video showcasing the trails and some raw footage of our first week. You can check that out on my channel if you’re looking for some trail porn.
But for now, I want to introduce you to Ana Milhazes, a slow travel and sustainability advocate from Portugal, who organized the first monthly beach cleanup at Kalima with the local community.
Launching a beach clean up
“I think people really come together when they are doing an event like this, and it’s a way of also passing this onto the locals so that they can keep doing it. I was so happy because we had a lot of people during the cleanup, and there were at least two people who wanted to continue organizing the beach cleanup,” Ana said.
“Besides the beach cleanup, I also led a zero-waste workshop afterward to show alternatives,” she continued. “It’s very good to clean, of course, and for me, it’s kind of a meditation when I go by myself and clean the beach. But then, once you find all the plastic and other waste, you have to decide that you need to change something in your life. If we keep using plastic, it will end up on the beaches too.”
“Were you as surprised as I was by how much we cleaned?” I asked. “At the beginning, you said not to expect too much; it actually looked pretty good. But then we had all these bags. I like to think I’m reasonably educated. I know that they always say there’s a continent of trash floating around in the ocean, but I was surprised by how much we found on a beach that at first glance looked pretty clean.”
“Exactly,” Ana replied. “In about 45 minutes, we found around 10 kilos of waste. It’s a lot because, even though we only see microplastics most of the time, some of it is hidden. We had a local who knows the area well and said, ‘I know where the trash is, so I’m going to bring a lot of people with me.’ They can’t always do it by themselves.”
“Yeah, you see one cigarette butt, one bottle cap, and you think, ‘Oh, that’s not good, but it’s not much.’ But then you see it all piled up, and you realize, ‘Holy hell, that’s a lot of trash!’”
Kalima’s First Party
Over the next week, Melanie and I spent our days working, cooking up the weekly community dinner, and hopping on the train to explore some trails. First, we went up to Sant Pol de Mar for a 10K run into the foothills and back out to Calella. Later in the week, we did a little co-working in neighboring Villasar de Mar.
On the weekend, Kalima threw its first official party to unveil a new wall painting by Aušrinė from Lithuania. You can call her Ocean.
Ocean lives by a simple mission: to leave her artwork everywhere she can. Today, that’s Kalima.
“How did you come up with the idea for this mural?” I asked.
“Besides the beach,” Ocean explained, “since this space will turn into a café from September, we wanted to combine something with the ocean in front of us and the people coming here — remote workers, digital nomads, content creators, yogis, and everyone who wants a break from their normal office job. It reflects who I am. I spread joy, and I like that people feel happy when they see my art. I hope this mural becomes more than just artwork; I want it to be a theme for everyone to feel good, authentic, unique, and happy.”
“You also seem to be of the ocean,” I noted. “I’ve noticed that you’re up early in the mornings to go out to the ocean and paint.”
“Yes, my name Aušrinė means ‘Morning Star’ in Lithuania, and I always joke that I’m a Morning Star. I love mornings, and here I can enjoy the ocean and sunrise every single morning. It’s part of who I am.”
The History of Kalima
Kalima itself isn’t actually new; it’s something of an institution in Caldetes. Vanessa, the aforementioned boss from Barcelona, explains, “Kalima in the 60s and 70s was one of the most popular bars in the area. They organized very cool parties, and a lot of people met here and became couples. It’s a special place for locals. Now, it’s going through a transformation. Since we’ve been living here, we’ve seen some of the construction. Our long-term vision for the place is to become a hub for remote workers and digital nomads. Barcelona is too crowded, but this area is super nice. The idea is to activate the local area, bring people, and have a positive impact on local businesses.”
“That’s kind of the difference between us and other digital nomad spots,” she continued. “We’re deliberately trying to integrate the people who come here with the local community and make them part of the same Kalima community. Most co-working spaces don’t have locals, but thanks to the co-working and the café, we are building up a local community that wants to connect with internationals arriving in Caldetes.”
One of those internationals is Caitlin, a German independent social media manager who’s co-living in Spain from her usual abode in Portugal. Although she admits that the beach location doesn’t suck, she’s here first and foremost for the people.
“I really like being around like-minded people,” she said. “Everyone is very interested in the community aspect, which is why we all come here. Getting to know lots of people has been the best part, along with my yoga.”
“You mentioned looking for inspiration. Have you found it?” I asked.
“Yes, a change of scenery can help. Being around new people from different places in the world, doing various things, brings a lot of creativity and motivation. I didn’t know I needed it or was looking for it, but when I got here, all this motivation and inspiration suddenly came back. It’s been nice.”
I can relate to that. It’s not that I was unmotivated, but like Caitlin said, a change of scenery can help get the creative juices flowing again. With a new backyard to explore, including trips to Montserrat and running across Barcelona’s Park Collserola, I felt inspired again to go off the beaten path back home in Germany and to imagine slow traveling in other parts of the world through co-living.
Manifesting Kalima
Speaking of inspiration, besides Vanessa, few people have quite the Kalima connection like Erik, who even the most skeptical of skeptics would admit has manifested his life here at Kalima pretty damn well.
“I was here two years ago on the beach with my ex-girlfriend, just enjoying a day outside Barcelona — clean waters, empty beaches, silence, nobody selling you things. I looked back and saw the buildings here. It was beautiful, but there was this one building with an ‘H’ on it. I figured it must be some type of hotel. I walked up to the gate and saw it was a bed and breakfast. I was in a dip in my career at that moment and looking for a short-term summer job. I thought, ‘I can work in a hotel or restaurant.’ I walked in, saw nobody, and thought, ‘I could see myself working here.’ I tried to get in touch, but nothing happened.
“Now, two years later, in January this year, I was in a dip with my business. A friend suggested I take a manifestation course by Regan Hillyer. I had heard about her before but wasn’t interested at the time. This time, though, I felt I should do it. I used some of my last money to sign up. One question in the course asked what I wanted to manifest — short-term and long-term. My long-term goal was to move to Barcelona and experience silence, nature, and creative energy.
“About two weeks into the course, I received an email from someone I’d been in touch with before. They asked if I knew someone who would love to live outside Barcelona, work at a hotel turning into a co-living space, and be surrounded by nature. When I saw that email, I felt so blessed. It came out of the blue. I hadn’t seen it coming. I clicked the link and saw it was Kalima. I was even more excited — ‘Oh my gosh, this is for me!’”
Reinvigorated
Similarly, I knew Kalima was for us as soon as I heard about it. Melanie and I were coming off an especially rough winter in Berlin; the darkness really got to us. We wondered if we might prefer living somewhere else in Europe, perhaps a smaller town and a sunnier location with immediate access to trails. Kalima allowed us to explore that possibility. Like many others we met during our month at Kalima, we left reinvigorated and excited about the future.
“I’m so glad I came because the people are amazing, the place is beautiful, and going to Barcelona is also great. I’m having a very good time and want to come back for sure,” said Ana.
“Besides leaving my art here, I also connected with amazing people and spent an incredible two weeks in front of the beach,” Aušrinė explained.
“What did you like most about your time at Kalima?” I asked.
“I think it was the people, who really made me feel at home and like I belonged.”
Erik summed it up best.
“I truly believe that concepts like this can support many people who are stuck at home in front of a laptop. They are so creative, ambitious, and have ideas, but they lack an outlet. If we can provide them with a space that’s more than just a building — that’s the beach, the nature, and the people — we can create a community feeling where they can grow.”
