Cosmo Guada is a small company that was born in the heart of the Starlight Cielos Reserve in Guadalajara. Saelices de la Sal is our birthplace, the place where we have lived for more than 10 years. Let's go back a few years to see how we got here.
My name is Lola Silva. From Madrid by birth and Saliceña by adoption, I came to live here due to “life circumstances” and I stayed here. In these 10 years I have tried by all means to find a livelihood that would allow me to stay in this town and earn a living. And it's not easy.
We are talking about a municipality in which there are 45 registered inhabitants but in winter they become about 25, those of us who call ourselves “year-round”. When the summer season arrives, this census rises to around 200 souls, something that is difficult to handle for those accustomed to solitude and silence.
In Saelices we have a treasure, a heritage that is thus recognized, qualified as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC), the Salinas de San Juan. Yes, you read correctly, some salt flats, in a town in Guadalajara. My passion for the salt flats led me to investigate what it would take to give them the value they have and make them known to the world. And this led me to my second passion: the night sky.
In March 2022, I took an Astronomical Monitor course in Molina de Aragón with the help of the prestigious Starlight Foundation, and with the invaluable support of the Community Board of Castilla La Mancha. And I found a self-employment outlet that can be combined with almost anything.
Astrotourism, or star tourism, is a new concept of tourism that “departs” from what is standardized. And it can be combined with any other route, guided tour, monument, city or place that you can think of. You can take a guided castle tour and stargazing below. It combines perfectly with a day or night route through the countryside. Pairs divinely with a wine tasting in a natural setting…
So I took the plunge. I started by registering as self-employed in 2022, buying some astronomical binoculars and spending many hours getting to know the night sky. Later I jumped into the pool and bought a telescope and, overcoming all my fears and resistance, I began to do activities in which we observed the night sky, walking through the constellations, talking about astronomy and mythology.
Observing the night sky is something that unites us with our ancestors, with any of the cultures that have walked the earth before us. And I'm not going to talk about those that will come because it depends on light pollution and the megaconstellations of satellites that we can continue enjoying the nighttime spectacle.
To be able to start this journey I have had help. And I want to take this space to thank the JCCM for its financial help. And more specifically, to the Head of the Tourism, Commerce and Crafts Service, Ana Rebollo, for her personal involvement and the support she has given me whenever I have needed it. Thanks also to the Guadalajara Provincial Council for the financial aid it offers to companies. And thanks to the Starlight Foundation for the training, the Coffees with Stars and the Starlight Festivals. Thanks to the Barrio, to that Starlight family, monitors like me who are the ones who pushed me (literally) and advised me, taught me and supported me in my beginnings. Thanks to Gemma and Miguel, for giving me the opportunity to do activities with you who know perfectly “the terrain” of entrepreneurship.
And of course, a million thanks to Rubén, my private astrophysicist, my handkerchief of tears, the one who has to “put up with me” every time I am scared to death when facing a new challenge, who tells me what new objects to study, what new workshop I can do. Without their advice I wouldn't even have a telescope. I wouldn't have dared. You were right when you said that I already knew the sky and that I was ready for the telescope.
Cosmo Guada is not born alone, nor from nothing. She is born well clothed, takes her first steps with plenty of hands to support her. He is born with smiling faces around him, words of encouragement, gestures of support. Sara and Julio, Marta and Ángel, Carlos, Pili and Gabi, Fernandos (both photographers, Pater and Luz), Toñi and Juanvi. Thank you all for everything you have contributed to my life, to my way of seeing things.
Finally, I want to thank the Saelices de la Sal town council for all the support they have always offered me to continue living there and to carry out my business project. I hope that future projects see the light and that together, people and companies, we make our municipality and its treasures known to the rest of the world.