Today we are closed. We went shopping in Ronda and Ivan is now in a wine tasting, the last part of a short course he´s attending on wine.
It´s still hot here in Ronda. We still have one room in the hotel but the guests, a Spanish couple, wanted us to have a day off and insisted that they would not dine in the hotel today... Tuesday they said. How considerate!
We have two bookings already for New Year´s Eve and received another query today for 6 rooms. I have another couple of pending a reservation as well so it looks like we could be very full for that event. Our New Year´s Eve offer is on the website, www.hotelbandolero.com, under "Offers". Check it out.
I´m now in Ronda at an internet cafe. Telefonica still has not called and I called them again about that second telephone line that is not working. Let´s see exactly how long this will take. I´ll keep you posted. And I have story about the meanest couple in our village.... of course they live across the street from the hotel so they are out to get us. Am I being paranoid? Maybe..... but I will tell you about them in another entry later and you decide. You can tell me with some comments. Later then!!
Saturday 28 October 2006
Today, Thursday 26 October, is my last day in Yonkers, N.Y. I've been here for 10 days now visiting my mom who is ill with cancer. This afternoon she has another chemo treatment down at NY Presbyterian Hospital and I'm taking her downtown for it along with my sister, Julie.
This evening I fly back to Spain. I'll arrive in Málaga tomorrow around 12.30 p.m. if I make the connection in Madrid (why do airlines always make the time between connections so tight??). Ivan will be there to collect me at the airport and then it's off back to Júzcar.
We have guests coming into the hotel this weekend. I can't remember how many bookings we have but I know there are at least a couple. My hotel is called Hotel Bandolero and is located in the very small village of Júzcar in the mountains of the Serranía de Ronda, just 30 minutes away from Ronda, a very popular tourist destination, and only 45 minutes from the very popular and crowded Costa del Sol, the southern coast of Spain in Andalucia. Ivan is my partner of eight years and he is the chef. We've been running the hotel for just over two years now.
We arrived in Júzcar on 12 October 2004 so our anniversary just passed. It's been a crazy two years. I'd thought about writing about this experience in one form or another and recently thought "why not start a blog". When I mentioned it recently to one of our guests, she encouraged me to go ahead and do just that so here I am, starting my own blog.
This blog may just be a bit of therapy for me as well because this job, this business, this village (!).... can be very frustrating at times. It may be helpful to put the proverbial pen to paper and describe how things unfold, to describe the people of the village (I call them the 'Village People'), the problems we encounter, the red tape in this country (!) and just the day-to-day of running of a small hotel and how our business has been growing.
This evening I fly back to Spain. I'll arrive in Málaga tomorrow around 12.30 p.m. if I make the connection in Madrid (why do airlines always make the time between connections so tight??). Ivan will be there to collect me at the airport and then it's off back to Júzcar.
We have guests coming into the hotel this weekend. I can't remember how many bookings we have but I know there are at least a couple. My hotel is called Hotel Bandolero and is located in the very small village of Júzcar in the mountains of the Serranía de Ronda, just 30 minutes away from Ronda, a very popular tourist destination, and only 45 minutes from the very popular and crowded Costa del Sol, the southern coast of Spain in Andalucia. Ivan is my partner of eight years and he is the chef. We've been running the hotel for just over two years now.
We arrived in Júzcar on 12 October 2004 so our anniversary just passed. It's been a crazy two years. I'd thought about writing about this experience in one form or another and recently thought "why not start a blog". When I mentioned it recently to one of our guests, she encouraged me to go ahead and do just that so here I am, starting my own blog.
This blog may just be a bit of therapy for me as well because this job, this business, this village (!).... can be very frustrating at times. It may be helpful to put the proverbial pen to paper and describe how things unfold, to describe the people of the village (I call them the 'Village People'), the problems we encounter, the red tape in this country (!) and just the day-to-day of running of a small hotel and how our business has been growing.
So, I'm back in Juzcar. As I predicted, I missed the connection due to the tight timing... thanks Iberia! I wound waiting another 2 hours for the next flight. The flight itself from NY to Madrid was uneventful... I slept most of the way which was good.
It's been raining here in Malaga since I left. Not today though. We had a few tables for lunch. It was just me and Ivan... him cooking, me running around. Four tables in the bar, one on the terrace and one in the restaurant with seven people. Good business today. And the hotel is almost full tonight (seven of eight rooms booked). We had two bookings when the day began, then a phone call and wham, another booking for 3 rooms... and a short while later, a couple dropped in and asked for a room. We only had the suites left so they took one of them, Room 11, the nicest and biggest room we have. Then they had lunch. Busy day so far.
And I've been cleaning and reorganising things that were not done while I was gone. First the money, then reorganising things in the bar and sweeping the floor in the restaurant... que sucio (how dirty)!! And today it was very hot and humid so I was sweating.
Last night the village had a power black out and then on and then black out and then on and then black out. ..etc. We tried to watch a movie but that was not a good idea. So we sat at home with candles going with the dogs. There was a lot of wind which I think was part of the problem. We have a generator in the hotel which cost a bomb and we have not yet used it. Also I think I should put candles in the rooms so that our guests don't find themselves in the dark when the lights go out! So many little things to take care of.
Also, the phone line for the fax, credit card machines and this computer is not working! At the moment I am on-line because I'm using our main telephone line which means no one can call at the moment. I called Telefonica yesterday and they said the technician dept. would call but they haven't. Oh, today is Saturday, I guess they don't work on Saturdays. I don't expect that to be repaired until Monday or Tuesday then so I'll have to juggle our talk phone line with the PC to get our emails. (and write a blog entry or two).
Well must run as someone may be trying to call us!!!
It's been raining here in Malaga since I left. Not today though. We had a few tables for lunch. It was just me and Ivan... him cooking, me running around. Four tables in the bar, one on the terrace and one in the restaurant with seven people. Good business today. And the hotel is almost full tonight (seven of eight rooms booked). We had two bookings when the day began, then a phone call and wham, another booking for 3 rooms... and a short while later, a couple dropped in and asked for a room. We only had the suites left so they took one of them, Room 11, the nicest and biggest room we have. Then they had lunch. Busy day so far.
And I've been cleaning and reorganising things that were not done while I was gone. First the money, then reorganising things in the bar and sweeping the floor in the restaurant... que sucio (how dirty)!! And today it was very hot and humid so I was sweating.
Last night the village had a power black out and then on and then black out and then on and then black out. ..etc. We tried to watch a movie but that was not a good idea. So we sat at home with candles going with the dogs. There was a lot of wind which I think was part of the problem. We have a generator in the hotel which cost a bomb and we have not yet used it. Also I think I should put candles in the rooms so that our guests don't find themselves in the dark when the lights go out! So many little things to take care of.
Also, the phone line for the fax, credit card machines and this computer is not working! At the moment I am on-line because I'm using our main telephone line which means no one can call at the moment. I called Telefonica yesterday and they said the technician dept. would call but they haven't. Oh, today is Saturday, I guess they don't work on Saturdays. I don't expect that to be repaired until Monday or Tuesday then so I'll have to juggle our talk phone line with the PC to get our emails. (and write a blog entry or two).
Well must run as someone may be trying to call us!!!
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