Lockdown in a haven by the sea

In Spain we have already been confined in our homes for several weeks due to the Coronavirus pandemic, but the situation in each home is very different depending on where you are spending these days of confinement.

If you could choose, what would be your dream place to enjoy the lockdown Coronavirus has enforced into our lives? Would you like to be isolated in a villa located in natural setting by the sea? Perhaps this may sound as utopia, but this place does exist and it’s where Rubén & Ana Sánchez are spending their confinement, as residents of AMA Residences Andalucía.

Luxury at your fingertips

AMA Islantilla Resort, where the AMA Residences are located, is a luxury resort with 3 outdoor swimming-pools surrounded by a natural grass and decking area with Balinese divans sheltered by tropical palm trees. The resort offers residents a state-of-the-art gym with a yoga room, a fitness area and an outdoor crossfit patio. In addition, AMA offers the owners of villas and apartments a unique wellness space to relax —a spa with a hammam (Turkish steam bath), jacuzzi, indoor swimming-pool and a private area with 2 Finnish saunas fully equipped with Scottish bucket, plunge pool and pebble cascade. And what about its location? The complex is enveloped by a 27-hole golf course pristinely preserved in Islantilla, on the coast of Huelva (Spain) and at the doorstep of the Algarve (Portugal).

Get to know Rubén and Ana

And to this corner of Andalusia came Rubén and Ana Sánchez last December, a young couple who love traveling, photography and the sea. Rubén is from Barcelona (Spain) and Ana is from Manchester (UK). After living 8 years in England, Rubén and Ana moved to Spain in 2012 and settled in Madrid. However, after 7 years in the Spanish capital, they left the city behind en route to a peaceful and quiet natural setting by the sea. Thanks to the recommendation of some friends, they found AMA Residences Andalucía in the peaceful fishing village of Islantilla. 

You may be wondering, what kind of work would they find in such a quiet spot in la Costa de la Luz?

Rubén works online as a professional translator and interpreter. He has 15-years-experience in translation projects in the UK, Spain, Malawi and Central America, and he has been contracted as interpreter at several international conferences in Manchester, London and Madrid with up to 50,000 people in attendance. Furthermore, both Rubén and Ana are fully certified teachers and give personalised online English and Spanish lessons to clients and students all over the world, from America to Japan. If you are looking for a method that offers you online personalised lessons for all official levels of the language (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 & C2) or if you wish to hone your language skills with conversational lessons to speak English or Spanish like a true native, Rubén and Ana Sánchez can help you from their home at AMA Residences Andalucía.

Lockdown at AMA Residences Andalucía

Now, what’s a day of confinement like at AMA Residences Andalucía? Rubén and Ana let us know: 

“We love doing sport and the AMA premises offer an ideal setting to keep fit. However, when on March 12th the Spanish government imposed the State of Emergency nationwide, AMA Islantilla Resort had to close down its fitness and wellness services for security reasons. So now, we are keeping our exercise routine from home, and the spacious AMA Residences Andalucia’s villas allow you to enjoy fitness both indoors and outdoors. Ana and I get up every day at 7am and the first thing we do is a 30-minute training session that helps us to kick off the day with energy and to fight against the sedentary life and anxiety that confinement could bring about. After training, we take a good shower in the spacious Nordic-style bathroom, we enjoy a hearty breakfast rich in protein (eggs, avocado, tuna…), fruit, cereals or oats, natural juice, a strong coffee and then, we are ready to tackle the day! 

After some working hours with translation projects and online English and Spanish lessons, we enjoy in the afternoon some hobbies we can do from home —I like reading, Ana loves playing the piano and we both enjoy cooking in the kitchen Thai, Middle Eastern and Indian dishes. Then, from the villa’s garden, we gaze at the stunning sunsets over the golf course and, in the evening and at the weekend, we like meeting our friends via videocall and enjoying home cinema.”

AMA Residences Andalucia’s community

Apart from Ruben and Ana, there is also a small Dutch and American community living in other AMA Residences Andalucia’s villas and apartments. Rubén adds regarding life at the complex: “Since the residents are lovely, every villa has a spacious garden overlooking the golf course and all you can hear is the birds chirping, you can breathe a peaceful and calm atmosphere. AMA Residences Andalucía is an ideal setting to enjoy the confinement. After many years of meetings and projects with companies in the biggest cities in several countries, I have never ever worked at an office with such good views.”

Rubén concludes with an encouraging message: “Although we all must obey the restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, if we have a positive outlook, we keep a healthy routine, we are creative and we keep in touch with those we love, we can enjoy life despite confinement and work from the best office we could ever have —our home.”