With this paper we would like to reflect on Proyecto Humboldt Digital's strategy for building digital capacities –that is, learning new skills and methodologies at an individual and organizational level– through collaboration. The international collaboration established in Proyecto Humboldt Digital has not been limited to carrying out a technical workflow but continuously organizes the exchange of research activities and experiences, and builds on a wide set of both internal (team oriented) and external (community oriented) training activities. Despite restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, short stays in both Havana and Berlin have taken place since 2019 as well as monthly meetings in virtual format; more recently, in 2022 an international DH conference and a workshop about digital scholarly editions took place in La Habana (Cuba) organized by the team members. During these encounters, we were able to define software requirements, present our main results, share the main issues and progress made in retrospect, and plan our following activities in order to publish online a collection of texts related to Alexander von Humboldt's trip to Cuba in the 19th century.