Who are we?
We are Rita, Jonatan, Liam, and Mia, a Canarian family from La Isleta, trying to build a sustainable community in the neighborhood where we live.
Just like our ancestors, we are Canarians, born in Gran Canaria.
Organic Shop – Rita
Rita runs and works in the organic shop… She also cooks for the community dinners we usually have at the Coliving…
EcoColiving – Jonatan
Jonatan takes care of the Coliving’s maintenance, facilitates the community, manages the bookings, and writes for the EcoIsleta blog.
Before anything else, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jonatan, and I am the person writing these words…
More than 30 years together
We met while studying at the La Isleta High School, here in our neighborhood, back in the crazy ’90s, when we were 17 and 16 years old.
We’ve been together for more than 30 years, time flies.
We’ve lived through everything, good things and not-so-good things. We’ve worked separately, and now we work almost side by side. We love each other, otherwise, it would be complicated to stay together for so long…
If there’s one thing I’m sure of, it’s that we wouldn’t have achieved anything without Rita. She is the true head behind what we do…
She has something called intuition, and I can only Thank God for having met her…
EcoStore and EcoColiving
EcoIsleta is a family-run business that consists of an organic store and a sustainable coliving space, with both activities located in the La Isleta neighborhood.
We open our organic shop.
We open our sustainable accommodation.
We turn our accommodation into an Eco Coliving.
EcoIsleta is not a side project, we are fully dedicated to managing the store and our only coliving.
What drives us
We seek meaning in our lives by learning, listening, and building a community with purpose.
Crafting something our children can be proud of, while working towards a sustainable future.
If you decide to become part of our community, you’ll realize that we live a very simple life, that we love nature, and that we are passionate about our identity.
Our commitment to the neighborhood of La Isleta
In 2008, we began getting involved in different social, environmental, and community initiatives in the La Isleta neighborhood of Las Palmas.
Ecoshop
Shop for fresh, local, bulk, and pantry products for your sustainable shopping
Eco Coliving
The space for remote workers, artists, and freelancers to work and live in a community
Community
We share dinners, cook a lot, chat, and explore the island together.
Frequent questions…
EcoIsleta is a family-run business that brings together a certified organic shop, a coliving space, and a sustainable community within the accommodation.
The store and the coliving are located in the same neighborhood.
After years of collaborating with local associations and neighborhood projects in La Isleta, we came to understand that the neighborhood’s sustainability was our greatest challenge.
This is what led us to open our eco shop in 2014, very close to the coliving space.
A year after opening the shop, we bought the house where the coliving is now located. This was no coincidence, as we had already spent more than 12 years working to protect and raise awareness about the value of these old houses.
EcoIsleta is a project designed to help transform the neighborhood of La Isleta into a more sustainable and humane place.
This can only be achieved through the collaboration of both residents and travelers, as our identity has historically been multicultural and open.
Both the store and the coliving are open to the neighborhood and seek to integrate into the community life of La Isleta.
Therefore, we are an inclusive project that aims to offer solutions to residents and travelers who are environmentally conscious. We would like to foster constructive dialogue.
Organic Store
Our organic store is audited by the Government of the Canary Islands. Since 2014, it has been registered in the Canary Islands Register of Organic Production Operators, known as ROPE.
EcoIsleta Certified Organic Shop ROPE Number – 3532C
This means that every year we undergo various inspections to verify and control the traceability and origin of the products we sell.
Sustainable Coliving Accommodation
Our accommodation is authorized in this area according to the urban planning regulations of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. We are located on Calle Veneguera, outside the traditional neighborhood of La Isleta, according to the APR-17 Special Plan “La Isleta” of the General Urban Plan of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
The property is registered in the Land Registry as a Holiday Home with its official registration number, which confirms that we operate this activity correctly and in compliance with the current tourism regulations in the Canary Islands.
National Registration Number – ESHFTU0000350100003496850070000000000000VV35100118735
Regional Registration Number – VV35100118735
Guest Registration
In Spain, all tourist accommodations are legally required to register the arrival of their guests and submit certain data to the authorities.
This is managed through the SES. Hospedajes System, an official platform of the Ministry of the Interior.
To stay at the coliving, a passport or official ID is required. Guest information is entered into the Lodging database.
Invoices
EcoIsleta can issue invoices for the sale of products and services provided to its customers.
During your stay, problems may arise…
This is where we try to stand out. Our experience of traveling through many countries, and having many, many problems while traveling has taught us that you never forget someone who helps you when you’re facing difficulties in an unfamiliar country, far from home.
The owners of EcoIsleta are professionally dedicated to both the shop and the coliving; this means they are our main and only professional activity.
We only have one accommodation and one shop.
We also live very close to the coliving, and we are committed to making your stay the best it can possibly be.
If you lose your keys, we have spare ones. If you get sick, we’ve accompanied coliving members to the doctor several times when they were in trouble. And if the Wi-Fi stops working, you can be sure we won’t stop calling the service provider until it’s fixed.
Life isn’t perfect, and problems happen, it’s inevitable. The difference lies in how they are solved and in the willingness and availability to solve them.
At EcoIsleta, we are very self-critical about everything we do. We do not hide our doubts, imperfections, or failures.
We work for the sustainability of our neighborhood. This can be achieved in many ways. We have chosen to focus on organic food and sustainable accommodation.
As neighbors, we live through and feel the changes that are taking place, and as active members of the local community, we understand that what we do can have both positive and negative consequences.
In fact, both our eco shop and our sustainable accommodation can be part of the problem of gentrification in the neighborhood, even though that has never been our intention.
Life has taught us that working toward something means that the outcome of your efforts, no matter how good your intentions, can sometimes lead to consequences opposite to your goals.
As Georges Lefebvre said, the result of an action can be contrary to the intention that caused it…
No, we live in our own home, also in the neighborhood of La Isleta, very close to the coliving and the shop, but we do not reside in the coliving.
Only community members stay at the coliving, for periods ranging from two weeks to a month and a half.
Yes, in many different ways, you’ll be interacting and communicating with us, both Jonatan and Rita.
To begin with, check-in is in person, so we’ll be waiting at the door to welcome you and answer any questions you may have.
We also clean the accommodation ourselves, take care of maintenance, and facilitate the community. For example, during the weekly dinners, we cook and eat together with the members of the community…
So if you’re wondering whether the owners will be available to answer your questions or concerns, the answer is yes, whether you reach out by message or simply see us around the coliving almost every day.
What we say about ourselves is one thing, what people who have stayed at the coliving say about us might be another…
If you’d like to know what others say about us, here’s what we’re aware of:
Google Reviews – Here you’ll find reviews from members who have stayed with us. Google Reviews
Airbnb – We’ve worked with Airbnb before opening our coliving. The reasons are varied and a bit long to explain, especially since we also use it ourselves when we travel. Airbnb
And some blogs have written about us…
- My Coliving Space- #9 Eco Isleta: Sustainable Coliving Community in Las Palmas
- Toks Coyle – Why Gran Canaria is Perfect for Digital Nomads
