Surrounded by hills and forest near San Juan, Mowita and her family have built a life that feels deeply connected to the quieter rhythms of the island. Originally from Venlo in the Netherlands, Mowita’s relationship with Ibiza began gradually. After studying tourism, she left home at eighteen for a series of internships abroad, moving between Menorca, mainland Spain, London and Saint Martin before eventually being sent to Ibiza through work. “In the beginning I was a bit sceptical, like loads of people,” she says. “But somehow I kept returning.” Four summers later, what began as something temporary slowly became permanent.

At some point, without really planning it, Ibiza stopped feeling like somewhere she visited and became home instead. “Going back to Holland started to feel temporary,” she says. 

“Landing back in Ibiza always gave me this feeling of peace over me, like… okay, I’m home.” 

Now married to her Ibicencan husband with two children growing up on the island, she can no longer imagine living anywhere else. “Holland is where I’m from, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore.” Like many people, her understanding of Ibiza shifted over time too. “I think most people only imagine the nightlife and beach clubs, but there is so much more than that.” Beyond the image most associated with the island, she speaks about something older and quieter – the bohemian history, the spirituality, the freedom people arrive searching for. 

“Ibiza amplifies whatever state you arrive in.”

Around her, the landscape itself feels deeply tied to that energy. The rocky cliffs, turquoise coastline, olive trees and cicadas humming in the summer heat all form part of the feeling she now associates with home. Life today revolves around family. Alongside her work as a house manager on the island, her days move between school runs, after-school activities and the quieter rituals of daily life at home. 

“We try to make lots of time for beach afternoons, little trips to Formentera, slow afternoons by the pool, feeding the chickens, looking after the rabbits, dog walks and spending time in the veggie garden.”

Motherhood, she says, completely changed the way she experiences the island. Before having children, life revolved mostly around work and weekends with friends. Now, she sees Ibiza through a completely different lens. “You discover new beaches, parks, birthday parties, new people, new friendships. It opens up a whole new world.” Much of what she loves about raising children here comes back to nature. 

“Childhood feels very close to nature in Ibiza.”

Her children spend most of their time outdoors, surrounded by animals, beaches and open space. At home, they grow up alongside dogs, chickens, rabbits and a vegetable garden, immersed in the natural world in a way she never experienced growing up herself. “Even just seeing them strolling on the beach after school and on weekends, especially in summer, I think it’s amazing.” For Mowita, the openness of the island is just as important as the landscape itself. “Everybody in Ibiza can really be themselves,” she says. “I don’t feel like there’s a lot of criticism or judgement.” Growing up surrounded by different cultures and languages has shaped her children’s experience of the world early on, and she hopes that sense of openness stays with them into adulthood. 

“It doesn’t matter your skin colour, your culture, what you wear or what you think. People just accept you for who you are here. I hope my children carry that with them into adulthood.”

At the same time, she hopes they remain connected to the island’s traditions too. “I hope they keep all the family recipes from grandma, making hierbas, the Ibicenco dancing, making wine, driving around on the tractor with their dad.” Those smaller cultural details matter deeply to her, particularly now that her children are growing up between both Dutch and Ibicenco roots.

Some of her clearest memories of motherhood on the island are the simplest ones. A day on the beach in Formentera with her children searching for crabs and seashells for hours. Watching them running through the mountains near home. Picking olives with family to make their own olive oil or gathering grapes together to make wine. 

“Sometimes I stop and think wow… this is their normal life.”

Those moments, she says, are when the feeling of growing up in Ibiza becomes most visible. Much of family life unfolds between familiar places across the island. They spend long afternoons at Port de San Miguel, just minutes from home, and regularly return to Cala Nova and Benirràs, beaches she feels each carry their own energy. Playa S’Arenal Petit remains one of their favourites for its calm shallow water and slower atmosphere. Trips to Formentera have also become part of their rhythm as a family. 

“The children absolutely love the adventure of taking the boat over to another island, to Formentera.”

Living in the north shapes everything about the pace of their lives. “We live in such a quiet place in the mountains,” she says. “The only sounds are animals or the occasional aeroplane passing over.” Afternoons unfold more slowly there, far from the noise and pace often associated with Ibiza elsewhere. In nearby San Juan, where familiar faces cross paths daily, she feels a strong sense of community and calm. “It’s peaceful and slow.” As the island continues to evolve, Mowita hopes Ibiza doesn’t lose the places and traditions that give it its soul. 

“We don’t need any more five-star hotels or fancy beach clubs.”

Instead, she hopes the old family-run chiringuitos, traditional hotels and long-standing places woven into island life remain protected. “I think we need more typical things from the island back.” For her, what makes Ibiza so special is ultimately the contrast it holds so effortlessly. 

“You have nature and music, stillness and intensity, simplicity and luxury all existing together on one small island.”

Somehow, despite all its contradictions, it continues to hold space for many different ways of living at once. And for Mowita, it has become the place where her own life slowly rooted itself too.