Amalurra has hosted the XIX meeting of the RIE (Iberian Ecovillage Network) from August 25 to 28 . It has been four intense days in which we have had the opportunity to live with people from well-known communities and ecovillages, as well as with many other people interested in this lifestyle. Like any other event of this magnitude, the journey began well before the 25th, when the curtain was raised.

Amalurra Bizkaia , host of this event for the first time in its trajectory as a community and as an active member of the RIE , faced the challenge of welcoming between 300 and 400 people (according to the forecasts) and creating an infrastructure for them that would allow us to enjoy, both the people of the community itself and the rest of the participants, those days of coexistence.

The typical and necessary nerves kept us in tension during the previous month and a half, together with a great dose of illusion of who is going to receive people from various places, histories and paths traveled in their home.

The previous phase was surely the biggest challenge, as it was full of uncertainties and questions like these: how much food do we buy; where we get tents (it can always rain, this is Bizkaia); Who can we ask for chairs, tables, trays. They also had to take care of tasks such as calling the commonwealth to request containers, requesting permission to create the campsite, designing information posters or invitations for local institutions, writing notes to the media, asking for help from specialists in dry toilets, etcetera etcetera. Finally everything was happening: the institutions provided us with everything we requested, our friends turned to support us and provided us with everything we needed. The communities that have already hosted events of this type know well what it entails. Building community to welcome a larger community is a challenge in itself.

At last the day came and little by little 400 people The expected ones were arriving integrating in the group movement and tuning in with the illusion, the purposes and the enthusiasm with which we had started this adventure.

For the Amalurra community it has been especially gratifying to be able to share these days with the volunteers who arrived ready to support without reservation and with everyone who approached the place and took care of it with respect and affection. We have enjoyed their company, we have exchanged songs, dances and ideas, we have shared and nurtured each other from the knowledge acquired in the different journeys of community life.

On Amalurra We still have a good taste in our mouths from an encounter that has flowed in harmony. We are very grateful for this opportunity to take another step in opening up and for having been able to share the dream of walking together. It has been wonderful to see that these types of encounters serve to unite us and sound like different notes united within the same symphony.

Thanks to each of the people who have made the dream of making possible COMMUNITY , In uppercase. Until the next meeting of the RIE.