Galicia, Spain, and a remote village that I’m not too sure I can even pinpoint on the map: Anceu. This village of around a hundred inhabitants hosts one of the best-known colivings in the world. Thousands of digital nomads have met Juan, Rosa, or Sé, the local people of what used to be a dying “aldea” (in Spain, when a village is very small, we call it an aldea).
And I say “was,” because Anceu Coliving has brought back a spark to a rural area that was losing population every year—until now.
This initiative embeds a vibrant digital nomad community with the locals, making sure there’s plenty of opportunity to get to know more about the history of the aldea, its traditions, and its people, making this one of the most unique colivings I’ve visited so far.
This is the story of Anceu Coliving.
P.S: The only way to read this blogpost is to listen to this playlist of local artists that I made.
P.S 2: I will share with you my personal love story and how it’s related to Anceu Coliving.
Where is Anceu Coliving Located? Galicia
Anceu Coliving is located in one of the northernmost regions of Spain, Galicia. This region is filled with green pastures and dense forests. Its people speak a different language than Spanish, called Galician. It’s a mixture of Spanish and Portuguese, with its own lilting cadence and plenty of history.
Galicia is well known for its diverse gastronomy too, ranging from their famous octopus (Pulpo a la Gallega) to flavorful cuts of meat and even quite specific peppers (Pimientos de Padrón), some of which—but not all—are spicy. I think that’s a great testament to Galicia, since you can always expect the unexpected.
I have been to Galicia probably a dozen times. Five of those times, I’ve walked different parts of the Camino de Santiago, which is a thousand-year-old pilgrimage that connects parts of Europe and finishes in Santiago de Compostela, where it’s said that the apostle Santiago is buried.
During these week-long walks that I’ve experienced, I’ve crossed different parts of Galicia and walked vast distances only to come to the same conclusion: Galicia has something special.
It wasn’t even a surprise when the universe conspired to make my path cross with Agustín Jamardo—who usually goes by Agus—the founder. He and África Rodríguez—who usually goes by Afri—run the coliving together as a couple.
It was all thanks to my involvement with Mapmelon as an ambassador. Ramón, the founder of the platform, and I were looking for new guests for our podcast project, Colivers Club, where we interview owners of unique and community-oriented colivings around the world, so you get to know the founders of these wonderful spaces before you decide to go.
Following our lovely interview in 2024, I knew it was only a matter of time before I made my way to Anceu Coliving.
Not only that, but as a Freelance AI Architect, I’m part of a tech event in Spain that was looking for inspiring speakers who blend social causes with technology. So, we managed to give Agus a platform to share how the Anceu Coliving project blends technology with rural revitalization in a keynote at Codemotion, one of the biggest tech events in Spain.
You might ask yourself: what does Anceu Coliving, located in such a remote village, have to do with technology? Well, actually a lot. And I mean a lot. Agus is not only the founder of the coliving but also a Fullstack Software Developer who works for a Singapore-based company called ElevenYellow.
So it comes as no surprise that the coliving has technology running through its veins. Technology was also key in stitching together a plan to visit Anceu, because while Agus was in Madrid attending the event, he extended an invitation for Adriana (my girlfriend) and me to participate in the Rural Hackers Hackathon, where we would try to create a full-fledged application to manage water in rural areas in Galicia in just one week.
What is Rural Hackers?
The Rural Hackers initiative, led by Ignacio (Nacho) Márquez and Afri, happens every year in Anceu Coliving. It brings together a diverse group of technologists and activists who want to help fix a rural problem, one year at a time.
The coliving gracefully hosts them for free and provides meals during a week-long hackathon. This year, the focus was on helping the locals create a system where they could manage common waters and the tasks associated with them, bringing digitalization to a very analog system to ensure that common waters are not privatized.
The hackathon was a success; not only did we build the product from scratch, Punto de Agua,
but we also appeared in several newspaper publications.
And almost a year later, the app—which is open sourced—is still being used and refined, all thanks to the amazing people who participated in this project.
Anceu Coliving: The facilities
After the hectic days of the hackathon were over, a new influx of colivers arrived at Anceu.
Anceu Coliving is well-equipped and perfect for digital nomads. It used to be a hostel and ceramics workshop for German people visiting Galicia.
Since the space is quite spacious and the coliving can host more than a couple dozen people, I really liked that we have our headshots printed and can write down some information about ourselves on the bulletin board. Such a nice touch!
The coliving is surrounded by the forest, which was my favorite aspect of the stay. It truly felt like you were living inside the forest.
There were plenty of spaces and tables outside, which were great for taking a call or working in the fresh air.
The rooms had everything you needed—even humidifiers, since Galicia is quite a humid area. Each room was decorated and painted by an artist, making them all unique and inspiring.
The coliving had two coworking spaces, as shown below.
One was dog-friendly and the other was not, for those with allergies.
The patio between the kitchen and coworkings is where we held common lunches and dinners.
There were plenty of organized communal lunches.
The living room was cozy and spacious. I really enjoyed grabbing a book from the library and sitting down. There’s also a huge table (where the next picture was taken) that I didn’t manage to photograph properly. Some days we were even 16 people sitting at that table. Oh, and it was right next to the fireplace!
Although we stayed during September/October, there’s a pool that is open during the summer.
The community of Anceu Coliving
One thing I knew for sure was that the community was going to be tight-knit, creative, and active. There are also community managers handling the day-to-day activities, which to me is key in the success of a community-oriented coliving. Thanks Ari and Bartek for being such great community managers!
A big part of the day-to-day was the family dinners, which we had around 3–5 times per week. It’s a great way to get to know each other and get a taste (heh) of global gastronomy.
We even had visitors from other colivings, like Alpiness Coliving: Ben and Fabienne, who adopted their dog in Anceu when they first came a couple of years ago! Their story is greatly inspiring; you should check out this Colivers Club podcast interview. Yup, they were the first to be interviewed for the podcast!
Oh, and I need to tell you about the furgolibro project by Ana Gómez, who is friends with the Anceu community and goes around with her van selling used books to inspire people to read more. Here she is in the middle with two other colivers.
The community was a highlight for me. Creating a great community is difficult and takes time and effort, but Agus and Afri were both smart about what was required to make a community thrive.
What can you do around Anceu Coliving?
Anceu Coliving is located in an astonishing rural area with plenty of hikes nearby. You can literally walk three minutes from your room and be completely immersed in the forest. The hundred-year-old trees stand before you, and there is only one word to describe it: magnificent.
There’s even a lake that is 30 minutes walking where you can take a bath and do some sunbathing.
If you’ve read this far, I will share with you as promised: a lovely love story that has to do with the next picture, why Galicia is so dear to me, and another testament to the things you can do around the coliving.
In 2013, I did my first Camino de Santiago. I didn’t know what was I going to study so it felt only natural to walk for a week with a couple of friends to decide on my career path.
During the last day, of the last stage I came across Adriana. We striked a short conversation, but I was taken away by her from the very first moment.
Luckily, out of the hundreds of hostels that are in Santiago de Compostela, we both were staying in the same one. And luckly enough, she was also from Madrid.
I knew that was my chance, so I concocted a plan. First, I was going to ask her a question. Easy. A task even me, a shy teenager could do (barely). So I asked her the only question that came to my mind: “Do you know where is the laundry room?” I mustered. She didn’t know the answer, we talked for a bit and then I continued to the next part of my plan.
I went back to my room and made her a drawing (yes, I know) and on the back, I wrote down a quote and my phone number. Later that day I gave it to her. She was surprised about the gift, and saved my contact. Two weeks later, back in Madrid we had our first date.
During our date, we went to see the Life of Pi (the original version with subtitles). What a great movie. Then we took a long walk through the streets of Madrid, having meaningful and fun conversations. The date was going great until… We realized that we were both living in different “timelines”. It felt like the timing was wrong. However, the date was going so well, that we didn’t want it to end.
Finally, on the metro of Madrid, in Lago, which is one of the most beautiful stops, as we were both about to say goodbye which it seemed to be forever, I found the courage to tell her, that I completely felt the need to kiss her. So we did. And, she only knew 11 years later, that that was indeed my first kiss.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?
We ended up seeing each other for six months, casually, but somehow it felt more than that. The timeline constraint was still there, so we both knew that our time with each other was fleeting. The reality of the situation finally made us say goodbye, for now.
Every couple of years we would reach out to each other, and even see each other some time, but the timing still felt off. Years went by, and, 11 years after we’ve met, reliving this same story, I thought to myself… Wow, it’s been too long, I wonder how was Adriana doing? So I reached out, and suddenly… It felt like the right time.
On the 29th of September of 2024 we officially started dating. And our anniversary happened… during our stay in Anceu Coliving. I made her an escape room all around the coliving, with clues that related to our relationship. And she organised an excursion in a vintage jeep to see one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve seen.
Unbeknownst to each other, we both did three more Caminos de Santiago over the years, so it felt only natural that during our stay at Anceu Coliving we took a week off to walk our fifth Camino together as a couple, our paths finally side by side.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading until here, I hope you’ve enjoyed this post as much as we enjoyed our stay in Anceu Coliving.
