Alba Riera: "We didn't even know what co-parenting meant. We just picked each other's lice out."

BarcelonaThree couples and nine children spent summers together, filled with bunk beds, swimming, cooking, TV3 soap operas, and choreography. Alba Riera's parents found a summer apartment in Cantonigròs (Osona) to share with two other families. There was no political rhetoric behind it. "We didn't even know what co-parenting meant. We just picked each other's brains," says the communicator. She continues: "I think it was intuitive. It came from not wanting to let go of vitality and having a good time sharing with friends within the framework of raising children." She is clear that it was a gift and an experience she wants to repeat with her friends elsewhere, although during her childhood she was embarrassed about not following the norm. "Everyone had their own house. Why should we share it?" she wondered. To the nine non-blood siblings of Cantonigròs –whose hair was cut the same and, later, they were confused around the village– this taught them to share very early on and to "understand that families are very diverse and they don't have to be blood relatives": "We always went together in packAnd now that the first baby of the third generation has arrived, the young people are thinking about looking for another apartment in the village to continue the tradition. For her, summers in Cantonigròs are "a feeling of home" that brings back many fond memories.

Riera tells the anecdotes from baskets. The first day she slept in the apartment, when she was about five years old, she got up alone and went to the Ca la Pepa hostel—which was just down the road and where her family had been staying until they decided to buy the house—and ordered some macaroni for lunch. "Since then, macaroni has been my obsession. It has shaped my life and my relationship with food," she says, amused. Another unforgettable memory from those summers was one year for the local festival when her parents dressed up as bullfighters: "The girls, led by me, did the "if you have to be a bullfighter" by Chayanne in the town square."Never forget", he adds. Nothing could be further from his lifestyle than Chayanne. At home, the music was a lot like Catalan rumba because the father of the third couple to join the joint project was one of the singers from Los Manolos. "I went to class with one of his daughters, and they mentioned it to each other at the school gates without even knowing each other. It was a love story."