And just like that, we're already approaching the final hours of 2023. A year full of experiences, lessons learned, and milestones, but I'm not going to tell you about that, nor are we going to tell you about it now (Spoiler Alert! It's coming soon 😉)

These words I'm writing here are my last of 2023, and I'm going to use them to tell you about a project we recently launched, which we're passionate about and which we see as having a very bright future.

A few weeks ago, we wrapped up the first edition of Pueblos Remotos Universidad de La Laguna – Garachico (which we affectionately call PR ULL – Garachico ). The project is a new kind of experience, launched in collaboration with the university, through which university students help solve challenges in rural areas.

In this way we broaden our framework, giving even more meaning to our mission and our purpose.

We want to revitalize rural areas, empowering local entrepreneurs and promoting conscious tourism.

As I mentioned above, today I want to turn these words around and tell you in great detail what we experienced in this picturesque municipality in the north of the island of Tenerife.

Betting on young talent

Before we get to the location, let me introduce you to the true protagonists of this story. And those are none other than the 10 university students who joined us from different faculties to be part of this experience:

• Omayra Herrera Palma, from the Law Degree program.

• Kevin Álvarez Méndez from the Degree in Art History.

• Eros López Suárez from the Degree in Geography and Spatial Planning.

• Mar Pérez García from the Degree in Philosophy.

• Gabriel Acosta Jiménez from the Degree in Spanish, Language and Literature.

• María Samara Ascanio Castro from the Master's Program in Regional Development.

• Gara María Rodríguez Luis from the Degree in Sociology.

• Izan Izquierdo Moreno from the Degree in Francophone Studies.

• Sara Rodríguez Socas from the Philosophy Degree.

• Lucas Romero Borrajero from the Degree in Environmental Sciences.

But that's not all. This talented young team, eager to contribute and help others, from the University of La Laguna, was joined by other talented young people from our side. Yes, for this experience we have Ane Kortaberria (a LEINN degree student doing her final year internship with us) and Ariana da Rosa (also a LEINN degree student and collaborator on our project) as part of the Pueblos Remotos team.

Now, looking back, we can feel completely proud of the result achieved, especially because the average age among participants and our team (well, apart from Elsa and me) does not exceed 22 years.

Young talent, mentored by young talent. Another step in the curriculum we are building.

Garachico, a town with history and local entrepreneurship

Now we can get to the location, the place where it all happened, the northern municipality of Garachico .

To give you some context, if you're not from Tenerife or the Canary Islands (even though Garachico is a well-known municipality for being recognized as one of the Most Beautiful Villages in Spain), let me give you some background.

The municipality of Garachico is located in the northwest of the island of Tenerife, framed within an area called 'Isla Baja' (together with the municipalities of Los Silos and Buenavista del Norte) and extends from the coast to an approximate height of 2200 meters (the Arenas Negras area). It currently has an approximate population of 5000 inhabitants.

Once the place has been put into context, I can now more comfortably tell you what happened there during the 5 days we lived our experience.

PR ULL – Garachico 2023

PR ULL – Garachico 2023 experience took place between November 29 and December 3 , 5 days in which we were able to work, connect, develop, meet and learn a lot.

The core of the project consisted of providing a solution to three challenges previously identified in the territory, based on the question: How to generate a more sustainable tourism offer in the municipality of Garachico?

The three main challenges that the students had to face were the following:

• Integrate the neighborhoods in the upper part of the municipality with the historic center.

• To promote the well-being and better interaction of tourists visiting the municipality with the local population.

• To help control the flow of visitors, thus preventing overcrowding of the historic center.

To address these problems and find possible solutions, we embarked on a work process called Design Thinking, a methodology that helps to project and solve problems using 5 fundamental steps:

1. Empathize (with the territory, in this case)

2. Define (the problem or challenge we are going to face)

3. Ideate (generate ideas and define a value proposition that we will work on to achieve a solution)

4. Prototype (propose a prototype of the solution we are going to propose)

5. Communicate (publicly present the solution we propose)

With everything reasonably clear (all the participating students were facing this work process for the first time), we got down to work, forming three teams that worked together to propose the best possible solution. This is how the following teams emerged: Con Altura (the team made up of Lucas, Mar, and Gara), Arenas Negras (made up of Samara, Eros, Sara, and Izan), and Garachico Local (made up of Omayra, Kevin, and Gabriel).

The truth is, although everything looks very simple here, the process involves a considerable amount of work and that's what took up most of our time, with group work sessions, team building activities and 'field trips' to compare the progress they were making with the residents of Garachico.

But the students were not the only key element in this whole process, as we also had 4 local entrepreneurship projects that helped us to better understand the problems of the territory.

Local entrepreneurs, true architects of change

If you've been following us for a while, you already know that all our projects feature local entrepreneurs. People who have chosen to start businesses in their own communities, bringing direct value to those areas.

In the case of PR ULL – Garachico we were able to count on four luxury projects:

1. Rutas Garachico , a project by Sonia Francisco , offered us an activity through which we discovered the history of this town, from its founding to its main landmarks located in its historic center. It was an incredible opportunity for us all to get our bearings and learn more about the unique character of the place.

2. The second project was a two-for-one, as we were able to enjoy two businesses in Garachico run by the same family: Omar Páez and his mother, Olimpia . The first business was El Escritorio de Olimpia , a boutique café selling local products from the Isla Baja area, where we sampled a unique drink: meristem (a liqueur made from the pseudo-stem of the banana plant). The second business, more closely linked to Omar's entrepreneurial spirit, was the Bestia Marina . It was amazing to discover all the products they make there, from their seafood charcuterie to the fresh fish sourced from local fishermen.

3. Where are we going today ? was the third entrepreneurial project we learned about, led by Isaac Hernández. With Isaac, we enjoyed a visit to the Arenas Negras volcano (also known as the Trevejos volcano), a very important element in the history of Garachico and a sensational place to enjoy its trails.

4. The latest local entrepreneurial project we came across was Finca Las Pérez , co-founded by Sara and Jonay . We met with them at the La Montañeta Cultural Center to learn about their entrepreneurial journey and finished by tasting the delicious honey they produce.

During these visits, the students were also able to take the opportunity to ask them all kinds of questions, about their businesses or the problems of the municipality, as well as compare the solutions they were working on.

I take this opportunity to thank Sonia, Omar, Olimpia, Isaac, Sara and Jonay again for all the attention they gave us.

Solutions with impact

As I began to describe above, the idea of ​​this experience was not only to enjoy the territory, but it ended with a presentation of the solutions proposed by the students.

They had the opportunity to communicate these solutions on Sunday the 3rd in the morning, in front of the rector of the University of La Laguna, Francisco Javier García Rodríguez , the director of the secretariat of Internships and Employability of the Vice-Rectorate of Students, Inés Ruiz , and on behalf of the City Council, the mayor of Garachico, José Heriberto González Rodríguez , the councilor of Social Welfare, Education, Equality, Diversity, Youth and Childhood, María Candelaria Pérez González and the councilor of Festivals and Culture, Andrés David Hernández Méndez .

The three proposed solutions were the following:

• Arenas Negras, Helping to control the flow of visitors thus avoiding over-saturation of the historic center: within this challenge, the concept of a mobile application was developed to help control the flow of traffic and parking that reaches the historic center of Garachico, allowing its users to reserve and pay for a place in advance and offering discounts for those who attend cultural activities in the municipality.

• With Height, Integrating the neighborhoods of the upper part of the municipality with the historic center: Within this challenge, the concept of a social activity was developed to integrate the people who live in the historic center with those who live in neighborhoods of the upper areas of the municipality of Garachico (for example, La Montañeta). This activity would include educational trail routes (explaining traditions of the area being visited) and a community meal, in which all the residents of the municipality can meet, talk calmly and connect with each other.

• Garachico Local: Promoting the well-being and improved interaction between tourists visiting the municipality and the local population: As part of this initiative, the concept of a virtual map was developed, featuring a network of signs with QR codes. These codes, located at various points throughout Garachico's town center, will link to videos explaining emblematic sites, narrated by local residents. Information on how to access these points will be distributed throughout the municipality (including the tourist information center, currently closed to the public), ensuring accessibility for all visitors to the historic center.

Undoubtedly, a tremendous amount of work on the part of all of them to prepare and conceptualize everything in just 4 days.

Lessons learned and next steps

This entire experience, as we always share, has been a learning experience in every sense.

For us, it has been the first opportunity to work with talented young university students and learn from them.

For the students, it has been an opportunity to work in a real environment, facing real challenges in a territory and presenting a solution to them in public.

I don't know exactly what our next steps will be, but I do know that we are completely proud to close out 2023 with this experience, which I sincerely hope will be the first of many.

For my part, I bid farewell to 2023 with these words and hope to continue bringing you everything we do from Pueblos Remotos throughout 2024.

Happy Holidays! 🥂 and we'll talk again when we get back 👋🏼

Photographs by Fonsi Martín ( www.fonsimartin.com )