The Canadian creative director and writer makes fig jam, shops for vintage treasures and dreams of Nudo's raw fish delights.

Sonia Cardinal was born and raised in Montreal and spent her early career working in communications, content production and programme development for television. After leaving her native Canada to travel, Cardinal met the Ibiza-born DJ Jaime Fiorito &ndash; son of Balearic beat pioneer Alfredo - during an event in Portugal. The pair met again in Tulum and then reconnected in Ibiza, where Cardinal, 36, now works in communications for brands such as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/elsilencioibiza/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">El Silencio</a> and <a href="https://laylahibiza.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Laylah</a>. Cardinal and Fiorito have recently set up an agency -&nbsp; <a href="https://www.elusiveroads.com/">Elusive Roads</a> - that aims to connect the worlds of hospitality and events through music, design and entertainment. She lives near Santa Eulalia.&nbsp;

&ldquo;I live in the campo, very close to nature. The first thing that I do as soon as I wake up is turn on the coffee. I grew up in Montreal and my family are French Canadian, so good coffee is non-negotiable for me. I take my cup of black coffee and I get my little cushion and I head outside. There are some fig trees outside my house and two trees with funny little apples on them. I go underneath my favourite apple tree and the scent is so rich and dreamy, this warm sort of fuggy appleyness. I sit on my little cushion with my back against the tree and I meditate for 15 minutes, then I drink my coffee and I pick some figs and I go back indoors. For me, as someone from Canada, to pick figs in the morning is quite amazing. I would never have predicted in my life that I would wake up in this way - it&rsquo;s a happy accident! I feel like I find my pleasures in those simple things now - picking fruits and cooking and making jams &ndash; I&rsquo;m making a lot of fig jam! These simple little things are the foundations on which I can build the bigger things.

After breakfast I open my computer. I have a lot of folders on my desktop that I fill with images that I love and that inspire me. Because the work I do is very conceptual I do a lot of mood boards and I need to soak up a lot of imagery to both inspire me and to calm my mind. It puts me in a good state of mind, like I&rsquo;m immersed in ideas. Then I write all my thoughts down in my notebook and deal with any emails and calls. When I&rsquo;m done with my emails, I might walk to the Troc, which is a vast warehouse in Ca Na Negreta that&rsquo;s filled with second-hand homewares. It&rsquo;s basically like a house clearance place and it is totally packed with treasures. I go most days and spend an hour or so rifling through whatever is new. Last week I found three little low tables that sit together and a great lamp inspired by <a href="https://www.anthonyburgess.org/a-clockwork-orange/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A</a><a href="https://www.anthonyburgess.org/a-clockwork-orange/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Clockwork Orange</a> that is crooked and quite unusual for Ibiza. It looks like it was from a film set and we are trying to figure out how to install it at home. I&rsquo;ve always loved vintage things. Even at home in Canada, my home was filled with mid-century finds from junk shops and upcycled pieces. I love vintage clothes and jewellery too, so I might take a look at the old watches and necklaces before I leave.

Lunch is often on the beach. I like to eat healthily and pick something simple, so I might just take some fruit that I&rsquo;ve picked up at the market. On a good day I might meet friends at <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nudo_ibiza/?hl=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nudo</a>, which is my favourite place for lunch, on the beach at Es Figueral. They do the best ceviche and I would happily eat raw fish three times a day. Then I go for a little swim. Sea swimming is a real part of my routine and has been ever since I moved to Europe. There&rsquo;s a freedom and a calm in the ocean that I don&rsquo;t find anywhere else. Perhaps because I&rsquo;m a creative, my mind is always racing. In the sea it goes totally quiet, like someone switched the sound off. In the summer I lived near San Juan, and swimming at Benirr&aacute;s was our daily sunset ritual, followed by a clara in the little chiringuito. Now I&rsquo;m closer to Santa Eulalia, so I go to Cala Olivera because it&rsquo;s quiet and a bit wild.&nbsp;
In the afternoons I tend to see my clients. I&rsquo;ve been working with El Silencio all season, so most afternoons I would head down to Cala Mol&iacute; and check what&rsquo;s going on. We&rsquo;ve done a lot of collaborations at El Silencio this year, including an ongoing one with <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CeqgG6BqnvG/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nanushka </a>that has been a really fun project for me, with a lot of dinners with island friends and influencers and some beautiful activations on the beach with performance artists. In August we did a little sunset guided mediation cruise with La Meta and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/christopherconnors/?hl=en">Chris Connors</a>, who is this incredibly creative, intuitive, meditation guru and inspiring human who lives in Ibiza. We also did some great community hikes from the cove. El Silencio remains an important piece of my puzzle from the summer.&nbsp;

After work I might meet up with my friends Lea Russ and Paul Conradi in Santa Gertrudis. They have a very hip clothing line called <a href="https://canpeprey.com/">Can Pep Rey</a> &ndash; named after Paul&rsquo;s family finca &ndash; and we like to do a little bar hop from Bar Costa to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/barmilagrosibiza/?hl=en">Milagros</a>. I&rsquo;m obsessed with olives so I will basically order a huge plate of them and a little raci&oacute;n of manchego on the side. Olives are kind of my calling card; it&rsquo;s a bit weird!&nbsp;
In summer my evenings are relentlessly social &ndash; whether that&rsquo;s work events or villa parties or residencies. Often Jaime and I will have been out together or perhaps we are coming home from the airport really late. If that happens then we often end up having late night supper and drinks at Can Muson on the San Juan road.&nbsp;Jaime has become a very dear friend. Somehow this encounter with him opened up a new way of living for me and made me jump on a different path here in Ibiza. It&rsquo;s not always easy but I trust in the process &ndash; life has a bigger plan for you than you will ever know.

If I have night off, then I like to stay home and cook. I do a great soup with these organic wild mushrooms that I buy from the San Juan market and some soya cream. It&rsquo;s very rich and quite comforting. I guess it reminds me of home somehow. I&rsquo;ve been travelling constantly for ten years now and it&rsquo;s funny how the most random things can transport me mentally back to my hometown. It&rsquo;s quite reassuring. In the evening I like to watch the sunset from the roof and have a moment to reflect. I look back on the life I led in Montreal, where I was a true city girl, in the fast lane, working for a TV broadcaster. Now I live in the campo on a tiny island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It&rsquo;s so completely different that it&rsquo;s hard to see the two lives in tandem. I have such a defined sense of my day here; I am very connected to nature and to the rhythm of the seasons. I am much more in tune with myself.&nbsp;
If I&rsquo;m at home, then I go to bed around 11pm. There&rsquo;s a window above my bed that I always look out of at night. Sometimes I think of my grandmother, who&rsquo;s not with me anymore but whose presence I feel very deeply in Ibiza. She had a house in the countryside in Saint-Lazare in Quebec and she knew all about the forest and the pines and the birds and the trees. She taught me all about nature and how to care for a garden. I feel very connected to her here in Ibiza, as though we are living in parallel somehow. When I fall asleep, I feel totally at peace and so optimistic about life. Whether it&rsquo;s been a good or a bad day, each day in Ibiza shows me something different. It's all part of the island energy, and even when it's difficult I wouldn&rsquo;t trade this life for anything.&rdquo;

A Day in the Ibiza Life: Sonia Cardinal

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