Some photos of our new
French Bulldog puppies
taken in the last few days.

The puppies were born on
07 December 2007.
They are available for sale
& are available to be
taken home from
28 January 2008.

Hotel Bandolero le desea


Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo


Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

The weather has turned to winterish. It's been foggy and cool here in Juzcar. Today, Ronda was quite nice, sunny and clear. Here in Juzcar, it was kind of sunny this afternoon but it is now definitely December weather.

Our French Bulldog had six puppies last week. Today, they are a week old and are all doing nicely.

Juzcar is getting a bit of a face lift. New iron benches are being installed around the village, the fountain near the hotel has had a complete face lift in the last couple of weeks. The mirador across the road from the hotel is about to be redone eliminating the ugly chain link fence and installing a nice brick one with the new bench for sitting and enjoying the view. The green iron fence across the road from the hotel is also being removed in favor of a brick one which should be a big improvement.

We had a very busy weekend for the holiday weekend last week. The hotel was full for 3 nights and we had some trade for lunch as well. We had a nice group from Cordoba here for 3 nights. Now, we are in a very quiet period and have few bookings at all. The wine weekend is not really taking off like I was hoping. Perhaps it's just the wrong time of the year. WE have noticed that Spaniards are not out and about so much of late and we think this is due to the increased interest rate on the Euro increasing everyone's monthly payments to the bank. I know our house payment has gone up considerably in the last couple of years so everyone must be feeling the pinch and cutting back on recreational expenditures.

We went down to Malaga yesterday to do a bit of shopping and have a day out of the mountains as well. It was brilliant weather there too.

We also decorated the bar and terrace for Christmas. We have a big tree on the terrace and we have put all the lights on it in the last couple of days. The bar is very Christmas-ie, lots of decorations including a Santa Claus suit pegged to the front of the cigarette machine, finally a good use for that machine (which has not worked in over a year). Looks good too! We have a small tree in the bar with blue lights and lots of gold trimmings which Ivan did... also looking quite festive!!

Happy Holidays!

Thursday, 29 November

This has been a quiet week so far. I've done some work on the website, accounting, paperwork and today I did some marketing to possible workshop providers. I already received one answer in the negative unfortunately. The only way to make things happen is to be persistent so I will just keep plugging away trying to find more people that hold theme holidays and try to get them to come here.

We've been having the hotel painted in the last few days as well. The facade of the hotel is very white now! Looks good and hopefully more water proof now with this paint.

The town has been renovating the fountain where we get our water from. I don't know why they needed to do this renovation project as it seemed to be functioning perfectly fine. Now it is a big alter like thing down this dirt track. Well apparently things are happening in Juzcar. With the new mayor, new projects are being reviewed and implemented. For example, we are told one of the roads will be resurfaced, the name of our street is being changed, a new health care facility for the town, new sidewalks. The new lamps going through the village were already being installed prior to the new mayor so he cannot claim that one. He does want to put all the cables underground which has already been done in a few other villages. The new street lamps are working now and look pretty good actually, very bright.

I got a free report on my website by some service recently and I found something new that I can do to try to improve my search results.... so I have to put some code on my blog, this code in fact...:
Technorati Profile

I want to be profiled by a web service called Technorati, sounds Italian. Anyway, I need to install this code to get some result from them so here it is.

The hotel is full for the holiday weekend starting 6 December, which is good. And my dog, Bandit, is about to have some puppies, due about 6 December, just in time for the holiday weekend.

Exciting times!
That's it for now

18 November 2007

We´ve been busy these last few days. This weekend here in Júzcar, we´ve had a festival of mushrooms. This was organised by the town hall and local hiking club called Pasos Largos. It all started on Friday evening with a seminar about wild mushrooms. There were about90 people here for this including some village people. Yesterday (Saturday), there was also a review in the evening of mushrooms which was held in our restaurant.... it was packed. the road was completely full of cars and this is one of the reasons I did not have a break. Fortunately, we had Iris in the kitchen helping Ivan, Toñi was helping me put plates out in the restaurant and Delia, who used to work here, came in to help out for the day; without this extra help, there would have been no way to make it through the day sanely!!

The hotel was also full both Friday and Saturday nights. So we had all of them for breakfast plus passing traffic waiting to go on the mushroom excursion. Busy busy busy!! The mushroom excursion was up onto Los Riscos and into the countryside in search of mushrooms, "setas" in Spanish. Here in the hotel, we had a special menu of the day that was all about mushrooms, a mushroom soup or risotto to start, dorada (fish) or jamon estufado as a second course and a fantastic mandarin mousse dessert in the form of a mushroom as seen in the photo below... another fantastic creation by Chef Iván Sastre.

Mushroom Dessert - Amanita Caesaria - Mandarin Mousse on Baked Merengue with Kiwi Sauce and Chocolate Sprinkles

Last night, the village held a tostón, a chestnut roast. This year, the chestnut harvest here in the Serranía de Ronda was the best its been in a quite sometime. There was a reported 2 million kilos more chestnuts than last year... that made a total of 5 million kilos of chestnuts harvested this year. So, as one may imagine, lots of people were happier this year than in recent years when the harvest was suffering due to lack of rain. Anyway, the town hall bought 50 kilos of chestnuts to roast for anyone who showed up... it started at11.30 p.m. We did not go because by the time we left the hotel, it was well after midnight (I had been in the hotel since 8.45 a.m. with no break all day). We were just booming yesterday with this mushroom event. In fact, we had 63 people for lunch, Iván´s menu was completely gone by the end and people were still trying to get in at 5.00 for lunch!! A bit late for lunch, even by Spanish standards.

And even now as I write (on my laptop), I am standing in front of a group who are here looking at a mushroom exhibition in the breakfast dining room with a mushroom expert discussing them. There are even mushrooms here that would kill you, dangerous to touch even.

Last weekend, we had a group of English couples here for a two nights from Nerja. They had stayed here before having discovered us when Iván and I were on the radio on the coast a few months back, REM-FM. This group was actually quite surprised that they were the only ones to follow through and book in with us after we were on the radio. They thought we would have been over whelmed with people seeking rooms or food... sadly, that was not the case. Perhaps we should try to get on that radio station again for some more publicity. anyway, they stayed for a couple of nights having booked six rooms, and all were very happy with everything, yet again.

Last week, I also saw a flock of vulture soaring above Júzcar one day on my way into Ronda. Another day, I watched a couple of vulture catching the thermals above the valley, again when I was on my way to Ronda, as I went to Ronda four of five days last week.

The pool project has not advanced at all as the architect we have is quite incompetent, I think. We have to arrange for him to see the pool we want built at a hotel on the north side of Ronda. He can´t make a design change to our project without seeing the pool first. And we´ve now only been waiting more than a month for this to happen.... very frustrating as I was all set to just get this pool built the minute I got back from NY in August. Ah well!

A package arrived a couple of days ago from one of the ladies that were here for the Maggie Price Painting holiday in October. Martha sent us this very thoughtful package from Texas and included some beef jerky, tortillas with hot sauce, peanut butter, music CDs, pecans from Texas which she sells on her website which arrived in a tin can in the shape of the state of Texas (which is very cool!!) and some photos for the resident ladies of the village. How very nice of her to send us this package!!

¡Hasta la proxima!

JÚZCAR, MÁLAGA

Hotel Bandolero is located in Júzcar, in the Genal Valley in the Serranía de Ronda, Málaga province, Andalucia, España.

Júzcar is correctly pronounced "WHOth-car". I write this now because so many people arrive here asking how to pronounce it; "jew-z-car" is one pronunciation, "jewth-car" is another. Some locals pronounce it "WHO-ca" which sounds as awful as it looks. Of course the correct way is "WHOth-car".

That´s it.

Saturday - 03 November 2007

We are have one more night to go of a holiday weekend here in Spain. We´ve been pretty busy these last few days with lunches for groups and now the hotel is full as well.

The weather is cooling off now and the nights are getting brisk; we had our first fire of the season in the bar stove on Halloween night. And then another nice fire last night. the weather is a bit grey today but the people are out and about, walking, hiking, exploring the mountainsides... generally loving being here in the Genal Valley.

We had two Australian couples arrive yesterday for three nights; last night, one of the ladies in the group was saying how she was in heaven being here. so nice to be away from the crowded city areas where they have been touring and to be here in the quiet countryside with Ivan´s delicious cuisine.

We had two separate groups for lunch on Thursday, one of 33 persons and the other of 15. Both groups left very happy.

In a couple of weeks time, we have a mushroom symposium going on here in the hotel, organised by the town hall and someone else... I´m not really sure. Ivan has been more involved with organising this event than I. We are already getting bookings for this event as some people will stay in the hotel. Unfortunately, it is the same weekend that I had hoped we would be launching our wine tasting weekends but as we have not yet had any takers for that, at least we will have some event happening in the hotel that weekend. Ivan is planning a menu of mushroom dishes which is very appropriate.

Our friend Dan was down last weekend as well with his partner and parents for 3 nights. It was very nice to see a good friend for a few days and just hang and enjoy some company of friends, something we don´t get much of these days.

Looks like our Bandit is going to have another litter of puppies. We figure they should be here about the 6th of December, just in time for another holiday weekend as that is Spanish Constitution Day. We´ve already got interested parties for the pups as well but one guy keeps asking for a gift and that is just not going to happen. they are for sale and anyone interested in lovely little French Bulldog pups for Xmas, just give us a call. As soon as those pups are born, I will be advertising them for sale as I´d like them gone by the time they are 8 weeks as I will be heading off on my holidays then and I don´t want to be held back by young pups hanging around.

No news on the pool project. Just as we were told, this architect we are using is very slow. we´ll have to give him a call next week to push him along.

Let´s see, what else is new here at the Hotel Bandolero? We finally got our telephone lines sorted. I got rid of the second Telefonica telephone line as we no longer need that for Internet hook-up. I had the primary telephone number (952.183.660) converted into a multi-use line so we can take two calls at the same time on the one number. My credit card machines and fax will work through there a lot easier now as well. We still have a second number as we have a telephone line provided by the company giving us the Internet connection (951.166.215). We also have the Wifi set up now and it is working very well. In fact, I am writing this blog entry on my laptop in the bar for the first time. I also recently went back to a call provider as opposed to the line provider which is Telefonica de España. The call provider is a UK company. Not only do they have great rate for long distance form Spain to the UK and US, they have given us a direct dial local number in the UK for our UK friends and clients to call us at only the cost of a UK local call and those calls will ring through to our primary number here in the hotel.... great!!

I also put some nice photos of my Mom put up in the reception area. These were old family photos that I paid a bomb for some reproductions. I have her baby photos hanging in the reception area... she was cute baby.

I also updated the website recently. I am finally caught up with guest comments in the guest comment book as well as all the photos I had to put on that page of clients. I had lots of photos pending for addition since August.... so they are all there now.

Well, that´s about all I have to say for now so it´s hasta luego.

Bandolero Wine Tasting Weekends

Now offering the following:

Our two night weekend package comprises:-

Two nights half board basis in Hotel Bandolero;

Tasting of Ronda wines by sommelier Paula MacLean;

Tour and tasting at a top Ronda Bodega, including return transport to the bodega and Ronda itself;

A tapas lunch in charming Ronda;

Free time to explore the fascinating and historic old town;

Learn about the art of Spanish ham curing and cutting from a Ronda-based Spanish national champion;

Marriage of wines of Andalucía with classic dishes prepared by our Cordon Bleu Chef, Iván Sastre.

Not included: flights, airport transfers, beverages at tapas lunch, more than two drinks at dinner.

Only 250 Euros per person !!

Our 2007 Dates:

16 - 18 November 2007

23 - 25 November 2007

14 - 16 December 2007

NOW ACCEPTING RESERVATIONS

If you don't see a date that suits your requirements, please contact us as we can prepare a package that suits your specific needs including dates for 2008.


More on Ronda Wines

23 October 2007

Back in early September, we had a group of painters here for 7 nights from Edinburgh. The same group organiser, Nicky, was here last year as well and she has booked in for three more weeks next year doing various things including a wine tasting week.

At the end of September, the Americans started arriving creating a busy first three weeks of October. Our first group was mainly from Texas although there were a couple of folks from Oregon. The second group was from various locations including Oregon, California, Washington DC, Colorado and Vermont. The instructors, Maggie and Bill, are from New Mexico, same as last year.

The first group was slightly larger than the second one so I had organised bus transportation for them with a driver but with the second group, being a bit smaller, I was the driver. With the second group, I managed to get a bit of painting time in as well, my first attempt at pastel painting. Maggie wanted to show me how to get started with pastels and I have a copy of her recently published book as well ("Painting with Pastels") which is written for those with little to no experience in pastels. I also have plenty of pastels to experiment with as I inherited them from my Mom who was quite accomplished in pastels.

So we travelled around the area painting white villages, distant valleys and mountains, rooftops, churches, trees, clouds, my hotel and other subjects. All appeared quite content with the area for subjects and of course all were happy with Ivan´s cooking at the end of each day. He dazzled them on the final night of each workshop with a medley of tapas and then one of his delicious desserts.

We been quite busy all in all since my return from NY in early August. We still got bookings through early November and into January already. This is not counting the booked weekend for the upcoming workshops next year. If you´d like more info on those workshops, please go to my Theme Holidays page for details at
http://www.hotelbandolero.com/themes/home-eng .

Something new, we are now offering Wine Tasting weekends. We have a package deal on offer currently for two nights in the hotel on a Half-board basis including a lunch in Ronda after a visit to one of Ronda´s fantastic local vineyards, a wine tasting of local Ronda wines and regional Spanish wines lead by our local sommilier, Paula McLean, a marriage of wines and food instruction at dinner in the hotel as well as a seminar on the art of Spanish hams, curing and the art of slicing `provided by a Spanish national champion based in Ronda. All in all, quite a good package, now all we need are some punters to take up the offer.

We´re still working on getting our own swimming pool built but that project moves slowly ahead, something like an ice berg floating along in the sea. Our architect needs to make a couple of revisions to the plan he´s already prepared and he is the one slowing everything down and his has quite a reputation for being that slow, unfortunately for us. I would really lover to have that pool ready for just after Easter which is arriving early next year. so that would mean it would be open for April.

We are also putting our house up for sale so if there are any punter interested in buying a house in Júzcar, just give us a quick ring. the idea of selling the house materialised back in May. Why do we want to sell the house you wonder? Well it has everything to do with monthly mortgage payments... the interest rate has gone no where but up since we first bought the house and since we have a variable rate, our payments have risen along with it and I would just love to put those funds to better use than in a house that we really only sleep in. We have sufficient space in the hotel to create an owner´s apartment, in fact, I think we would have more space in the hotel than what we have in the house so it is going on the market officially in the coming days. We´ve already spoken with an estate agent in Ronda to sell it and so if you´re interested in viewing the photos, I´ll post here the details of where to find the listing so you can have a look for anyone interested in having a lovely house in Júzcar.

There are quite a few things happening in the village of late as well. At the moment, there are road works in front of Bar Torrechelli´s where the town is installing new pipes for sewage. The new village street lamps are still going in, that project was started in early May and does not appear to be making any headway toward getting it finished anytime soon, but ah, that´s how things happen here in Júzcar, perhaps all of Málaga interior in fact. The lamp posts are now standing in place but do not have actual lamps on them, they are just the posts. In fact, this new sewage project seems to be moving along at a faster pace than the lamp project and it only started a week or so ago, so that is very fast in relative terms for Júzcar. Maybe that project will be completed before Christmas. I think it may have priority over the others because there is a road detour and no one seems to be able to read or under stand signs; I know this because the detour is in front of the hotel and many that sees it, stop their car to come in and ask me or Ivan how to get through the village, even though there are these signs with arrows pointing which way to go. Go figure, I guess people are so used to signs that lead to no where that they would rather check with a real person first before driving down a road that may wind up being too narrow for their car to pass through (I had an experience like that in Genalguácil and boy did it ever stress me out!!).

Another big step forward made here recently is that we in the hotel now have wireless available. In fact, I am writing this blog entry on my new laptop and I am standing in the breakfast dining room doing so while Ivan is working in front of me on his new bandolera statue made of paper maché to be a companion to our bandolero. We now have a second PC available for our clients in the salon to access their emails and check the weather and look for their next accommodation, etc. And for those who are very techie advanced and travel with their own laptops, they can hook into my wifi network, which is password protected. I must add all this info to my website to alert the travelling public about another advantage to staying at Hotel Bandolero.

I also now have my website available in Dutch, thanks to the translations provided to me by my good Dutch friend, Edwin. Dutch is the last language that I am adding to the site and this is due to the high volume of clients that come from either the Netherlands or Belgium, keep on coming!!

We´ve also recently added a new double bed to one of the Suites and we are told it is quite comfortable. I have therefore added the other existing double bed to one of the double rooms and now only need to get one more new double bed for the other suite and a new mattress for the existing double bed.

We´ve also changed our cleaning help recently. That was due to her, Maria, deciding to take on other work, not bothering to tell us about it, and then showing up late for work here all the time, all at the time that the hotel was full of guests. when I asked her about it, the first thing out of her mouth was, well if you want to get someone else, go ahead. That was something the Spanish would say was "sin vergüenza", no shame. We thought she was our best employee, we were quite happy with her work, quality of work and attitude... until this happened (after 3 years) and she could not be bothered to give us the courtesy of telling us what was happening with her. Very disappointing behavior but symptomatic of the attitude people here have toward work... if they can get out of working and still get paid, they are done in a NY minute. She informed us after our asking that she got a contract with this program from the Junta de Andalucia which pays 600€ a month for only 15 days of work and then the remainder of the month free. So why would anyone want to work for private enterprise and have to bust a gut when they can work for a couple of weeks, get the same amount of money or more and have lots of free time? It is a program provided by the government which does nothing to promote private enterprise and growth of new work for the people. The people just don´t care as long as they can go and party when they want... that mañana attitude which Iván tells me is typical of Andalucia, not all of Spain but only here in the south. And no wonder when the regional government does nothing to make the people help themselves, maintaining programs from Franco´s days when Spain was still a poor southern European nation... absolutely not the case today!! So now we have Toñi on a full-time basis... she was with us a year a go but left to run her own bar which in the end she decided was not worth the amount of hours she had to put in (7AM to 11PM, way too many hours). She was very happy when we offered her a spot back here and then to take up the cleaning role more fully, she works with a smile and actually speask to our clients which Maria did not do.

Next weekend, we have a couple of friends from London coming to spend the weekend in Júzcar with parents as well from Florida which will be quite nice. And then we have a busy holiday weekend the following week as 1st November is a national holiday in Spain.

I have some other work to catch up with now so I have to say hasta la proxima. I must try to get the next blog entry done sometime next week but in the meantime, I have left quite a bit here for you all to read.

15 September 2007

Well it's been almost three months since my last entry. I was in New York from 19 June until 6 August as my mom was quite ill from cancer; she eventually succumbed to it on 22 July. When I returned to Juzcar, there was a lot to catch up on. Ivan had been virtually running the place on his own.... he had very little help from our "waiter". Fortunately (or unfortunately as it were), June & July are fairly quiet months for us so Ivan was just able to manage on his own. That said, I continued to manage any email booking requests and all the accounting got backed up as that is one of my responsibilities. So I have been quite busy since my return, not only trying to catch up but dealing with on-going things like guests in the hotel, serving food, organising the construction of a new swimming pool, preparing for the art groups which have now started arriving, installing a new on-line booking system on our website and updating the website amongst other things

Upon my return, I found Maria and Inocencio already here. They are our clients from Barcelona who have now spent quite a bit of time with us. As was the case last year, they were here for the month of August; very nice couple. We also had the upcoming fiestas in the valley; August in general the best month of summer for us.

While I was away, one day when Ivan was returning from Ronda, he saw a snake eagle flying over the valley between Cartajima and Juzcar. It was holding a large snake in its talons; as it was hanging over the valley but quite close to the road, Ivan stopped the car to have a closer look. He keeps telling me how fantastic this view was as the eagle was quite close to where he stood. Then the eagle dropped the snake into the valley below, no doubt preparing to consume it. This is just one of the quite exciting sites one can see here in the Genal Valley. I myself have seen eagles soaring above, screeching while searching for prey. Groups of Griffin vultures swirling around obviously preparing to have some kind of meal. And many other smaller birds such as bee eaters and rock buntings swooping around the road between here and the A397, the Ronda San Pedro road.

There is quite a lot for bird watchers to see here but I don't think the bird watchers have any real idea of the quantity and quality of the birds they can see in the Genal Valley as we have had very few bird watchers come and stay with us. for those of you interested in the types of birds you can see here, a major north/south corridor for bird during the migration season, please go to the bird page on my website at Bandolero Birds.

I have also been pushing to get our Wine Weekends moving ahead. This was something I was working on before I left in June and as I was away and then busy for the whole summer, we only recently went to meet the owners of three local wineries here in the Ronda area. We also had a wine tasting "dry run" as it were, only yesterday. Our local wine expert, Paula, was here to undertake this exercise so we could see how it would go and we were all pleased with the results. Now all I have to do is get some pricing in order, create a new web page about the wine tasting offerings and away we go!

Any takers out there.... for wine or birds???

Well, this is it for now.... more later, but not so much as this last time. Now that I am back in the saddle, I'd like to have at least one entry as week for this blog so we'll see how successful I am at achieving that

We now have a lovely pool for our guests to lounge by when they are not out enjoying the local area. Completed in May, there are comfortable loungers from which one can enjoy views of the surrounding valley and mountains.

Here are a couple of photos:

Come and enjoy a swim in the cool pool or enjoy a swim down in the Genal River. It has already been prepared for summer.

The swimming hole in the River Genal in Juzcar is in an area covered with poplar trees with a snack stand that has very refreshing cold beers. The water is crisp and refreshing as well. While one needs to drive down to the river spot (one could walk down but then one would need to walk back!), it is well worth it as it is quite peaceful and tranquil, especially during the week when there is practically no one there. One can spend the entire day reading, napping, eating>, and, of course, swimming.

There are also the ruins of the oldest factory in Spain just a short meander up a track from the snack stand. So one may even enjoy a wee bit of history while taking in the pleasures of nature in this secluded little spot.

Yet another reason to come to the Genal Valley... fabulous food at the Hotel Bandolero, cool swimming opportunities, rest and relaxation... what more does one need to disconnect from one's heavy daily routine?

21 June 2007

Since early May, we had the wedding cake for 350 persons to prepare. We got that done and dusted and the cake was loved by one and all, including the servers at the wedding or so we were told. It was a strawberry mousse with white chocolate and fresh strawberries. Ivan made a five level cake with a decoration on the top and then three large sheets of cake. We had to deliver it the restaurant where the wedding reception was held, about 12 KM from Hotel Bandolero. The whole village plus some attended the wedding. We were unable to attend because we had the Ronda Feria event to attend.

That was on the same day, Saturday 19 May. Iván and I were once again invited to participate in a restaurant culinary demonstration at the feria. Iván decided to do something related to sweets. Our (and I say 'our' because my name was posted on the poster as well although all I did was stand around and clean while Ivan did the demo) time was 8PM that evening, a prime time slot. Iván prepared strawberry ravioli filled with sweet lemon mascarpone cream, strawberry and cava soup and a praline tart. This was indeed a hit.

As May is a big month for first communions, we received orders for three big cakes for people in the neighboring village of Faraján. Again all was well.

Then there was the election on 27 May. It was finally determined that I could definitely not vote as I am not from a European member country (which did not surprise me at all). Anyway, the campaigning finally got into full swing in Júzcar three weeks before election day when posters of the various candidates went up around the village. The candidates themselves went around under the cover of night (or so it seemed) to install thee posters, whether it be sticking them onto a wall, trash bins, houses or hanging them across a road. The PSOE candidates had an event which included some food and drinks but also gave a presentation on what their platform is... an impressive event as something like that had never ever been held before in Júzcar. We were all very pleased to see this as it was a very positive thing for all.

The PP candidates (the conservatives) also had an event, a meal for the whole village, gratis. Ivan and I were not sure if this would really win votes for them, basically saying that they should be elected because they provided some free food. There was no presentation of their platform. Not knowing the people of the village all that well, we were not sure if that would win a vote. Later we were told by our neighbours that it would indeed not win votes but.... hey, free food is free food so the entire village turned up, and why not? A party is a party after all.

The swimming pool installed by our neighbour Paul was completed and filled in with water in May as well. Iván was the first one in the pool; it´s a very nice pool, a modest size but adequate for the need. Again here I say 'our' because Paul has very generously allowed us to send out clients to his pool as we do not actually have our own pool... yet. He is also allowing us to use the pool ourselves and we have. Paul also invited us to participate in his purchase of outdoor furniture for our terraces as he was getting such a great deal on his. Some of that has already arrived and has made a big improvement of the appearance of our room terraces. Once I have the remaining new furniture in place, I must get some updated photos on our website.

Website news as well.... I've now bought the Spanish domain of our website, www.hotelbandolero.es . I have converted the http://www.hotelbandolero.com/ website into an English language homepage and the hotelbandolero.es page is now the Spanish language homepage. This was all done to improve our search results in Google and other search engines. The .es domain only cost 2 Euros for the whole year, quite a good deal.

Business has slowed right down now which was not unexpected. I think for the whole month of June, we've had a whole of four room bookings.... maybe, and passing trade for food has dropped right off as well. July does not look much better either... this even with that pool on the website for about 4 weeks now. I was hoping that a pool would improve booking queries but that has not really happened thus far. Makes me wonder whether it would be folly for us to bother spending any cash on a pool of our own... especially when the one next door is so nice.

I am actually now in NYC visiting with my Mom. The day I left, David Fernandez, the new Júzcar mayor, asked Ivan to prepare food for 200 people at the Juzcar annual Romeria on 30 June. I won't be there for that as I arrive from NYC on 1 July, but in any case, that would be good business for us. The Júzcar Romeria is an annual event which takes place down by the river where there is a camp-site and the river swimming area. There are horses, singing, dancing, food and drinks.....an all day event in the campo which I wouldn't have minded attending, especially as we may be doing the food. The romeria starts off with a procession of the Virgin of Moclón, Júzcar's patron, from the village down to the campo. Iván will have some help from Iris and Danny, our weekend workers if we does actually prepare all the food.

So, the story of Diego... I must post that here, perhaps tomorrow but this entry is now getting too long so I will say Adios for today.

21 June, Thursday

Boy!! Time has flown by since the last time I made an entry here. We've had a lot of things going on including the break down of my PC (again!)preventing me from doing my normal work as well as from making entries here.

I don't have a lot of time at the minute but I do want a new entry to be posted so I am going to close this one saying that we have a new mayor in Juzcar, the one we wanted to win and voted for.... well at least Ivan did as I can't vote in Spain. His name is David Fernandez, a 33 year old resident of the village who we believe will make a big difference not only for the village but for us as a business in the village. He took up his office last Saturday at 5PM. So, more on this and other news hopefully later today if not, tomorrow.

Hasta pronto!

Tuesday, 15 May

We've been very busy in the last few weeks. First of all, the Jazz Night we had went very well. The quartet that came played very well. We had a decent sized crowd with folks from the surrounding villages attending as well. And all were very enthusiastic about the music as well. I did not think to make room for people to dance but that's what was happening, shoving tables out of the way to dance around. All in all a very good night.

Then we had the stag party with 45 men of varying ages. They left the place in a shambles but all had a very good time. They enjoyed all the food and drink and then the ladies until just about 5AM. Another late night. Ivan made a delicious chocolate orange cake in the shape of a lady which I still have not yet had the time to load up onto our cakes website. The cakes are a bit shocking to see so I don't want to just put them out there, especially the cake he made for the hen party, the big penis. I want to load them on as thumbnails so one would have to click on the photo to see it better.

Anyway, since then, we have had a political gathering here one evening for the PSOE party, the Spanish socialist party, well, liberal in effect. There are elections all across Spain on 27 May when every town hall in Spain is up for election so one can imagine lots of politicking.

The way the elections seem to work here, the party has their candidates in groups of five, one candidate standing for mayor and then the four various deputies. And apparently one does not need to live in the town where one is running as a couple of the candidates in this village actually live in Ronda, not Juzcar. Anyway, the campaigning is now getting into full swing. We have posters going up around the village; the PSOE held a meeting here one evening recently for the village people to see the candidates and to meet a couple of important people from the Malaga provincial government from the same party (of course). Then the other side held a dinner for the whole village a week or so ago. The mayoral candidate for that party, the PP or the conservatives, paid for the dinner out of his own pocket, we are told. Some were worrying that this would gain votes for him but apparently vote by way of the stomach is not working.

And of course, suddenly there are things happening in the village that should have been done ages ago but are being done now. The town hall is currently controlled by the PP. Our mayor, Diego Fernandez Fernandez, is the oldest serving mayor in Spain having been on seat for more than 33 years and having been appointed by Franco himself. As a result of this, Juzcar is probably one of the only places in Spain where you will still find names of street after Franco and his pals despite the fact that a law was passed in the early 80's requiring these names to be changed.

Change is what is really needed in this village. Thirty-three years of the same people, same party, same policies, same politics..... needs to be flushed away and new blood should be allowed to trickle in and make some much needed change. Everyone knows that when one government is in power for too long, they loose the plot and stop being effective; they are not open to council on what the needs of the town are and that is certainly the case here in Juzcar!

So politics is the big topic of discussion now a days. And we are suddenly getting new lighting in the village, and the fast connection Internet is being held up by the town hall due to this campaigning.

Anyway, we in the hotel, have been very busy lately. Reservations keep rolling in although things are settling down from June. We had our first catering event last weekend. We provided food to the Andalusia Language School for an international event they were holding; then they brought their 45 participants here to the hotel the following day for lunch. And Ivan will be making a cake for this wedding, the same on with the stag parties. A cake for 300 persons... that's a lot of cake! We are also invited to the wedding but won't be able to make it as the Ronda May Feria is the same weekend, this one coming actually. Ivan will be participating in gastronomy demonstration on Saturday evening at 8.00, prime time this year as opposed to last year when he did his demonstration on Thursday and there were hardly any people in the audience.

We received a letter from the Diputacion de Malaga about our solicitation for permission to put our road signs up about where the hotel is. The permission was denied and they fined us 253 Euros. We are hoping not to have to pay that but don't know where we stand on that at this point as someone in Ronda is handling that for us. This just makes us think that the local governments don't have a clue about how tourism works in the province. We took the signs down already and asked for permission to put them up again and still they fine us. They told us if we wanted to put up sign, we could only put up official blue sign with no names, a bit unhelpful actually.

I had a couple of cousins here last week with their husbands... actually my mom's cousins, cousins nonetheless. They were here for four nights and had a very nice time, trying the menu, exploring the area; I went into Ronda with them on their first day to play tour guide for an afternoon. Ivan's Aunt and Uncle were here for a couple nights the week before; it's nice to have family visit every now and then.

We've got some new terrace furniture which should help to spruce up the terraces a bit. We'll be getting some more tables and chairs as well soon. this has come via our neighbor, Paul, owner of the apartments. He bought some furniture and offered to let us hitch on as well as he was getting very good pricing. His pool is just about ready as well. I'll be adding that onto our website as well. Perhaps that will bring more summer guests. It's a very nice pool as well. Ivan's been in it already, I've not yet been in.

The weather last week was glorious, brilliant sunny clear days, nice breeze. But then a cool front must have moved in because these last couple of days have not been as warm, although the sun is brilliant again today with very little cloud in the sky.

24 April - Tuesday

Well, it's been a busy week since I last wrote. We had a German couple in for 4 nights last week and then John and Rose came up from Alhaurin for Rose's birthday. John and Rose spent their honeymoon with us a couple of years back already and have stayed a few times more since. We had a couple of late nights with them and then we had the hen party.... and 6 rooms of guests on the same night!

The hen party was last Saturday night starting at 10.30. There were 34 women from the village in the end, quite a good crowd. It was a lot of fun actually. They were all calling me... "David!!! David!!" Later they a couple of them said they would have liked me and/or Ivan to do the dancer stripper bit but we don't do that! They had a very nice young Argentinian man in for that from Malaga... we left them to their fun when he was in there performing for them! Before I knew it, it was 3.00 AM. We were all dancing in the restaurant by then and several of the ladies wanted to dance with me and Ivan. In fact, one of them was teaching me how to dance Sevillana and Flamenco. I need to practice for sure but I did learn that one grabs the apple reaching very high from the tree, elegantly, bites it and then tosses it away behind you, curving/spinning the fingers. I asked if it was always an apple and the answer was yes! It was fun.

I found out that there are many people in the village that think I am very serious but was told that it was obviously not true and I should relax more, enjoy life, not worry about tomorrow (typical Andaluz approach to life, I must say and nothing wrong with that either). They do like us and think we’re very nice and (modestly I say this) handsome! The whole event was quite good for us as we got to interact with the village ladies in a different way than before. In fact, this party was probably the best one we’re had in the hotel so far! Ivan made a special cake to order for them that was a rather large, orange-chocolate penis with caramelized sugar for hair which was delicious. Of course the cake was a smash hit. I will be loading it up on our cakes website shortly along with the female version we had for Rob's stag party last month!

After the party wound down, we were asked to come down to the Tele-club, you know the one next to the Juzcar church, which we did. By this time it was after 4.00. When we walked in to find a good crowd, I was immediately called over to where few of the guys were. I looked over at them and said “Who, me?” “Si, si, ven aqui David!”, they said. So I walked over and was immediately picked up and tossed in the air by about five of the guys including the groom to be! It was very nice and fun as well. Ivan got the same treatment after me. After sipping one drink for a while and watching a few of the boys doing that flamenco clapping, fast and hard to the rhythm, we headed home as it was about 5.oo by then and we had breakfast at 09.30 for the hotel guests.

Actually we didn’t make it to the hotel until 10AM but they were all fine with that, no one was waiting outside the dining room door when we arrived. We decided to be closed after they all left as we were absolutely wrecked and it was raining anyway so we didn’t think we would be disappointing anyone passing by. We were also told that this party was a very good thing for the village; I guess they mean that a lot of the people are coming together for this and any bad blood, so to speak, has been put aside so it is all good for us as well in our relations with the village folk.

The bar and restaurant were cleaned up Monday although I did clean up the restaurant Sunday morning, clearing tables of glasses and bottles and dirty ashtrays & table cloths.

Yesterday afternoon we were asked if the boys could have the stag party here for the groom this coming Saturday. They will be more participants, 40-50 men, and they will no doubt drink more. This coming weekend is a long one as 01 May is a national holiday in many European countries. So far we only have two rooms booked for Saturday night. I don't think having the stag event will be a problem for our guests either. I must say though, a male event is very different to the female event as the boys tend to drink heavier than the ladies so we shall see.

Next Friday is also our first music night in the bar / restaurant as well so we have been very busy these last few days preparing, advertising, etc.

The radio interview this morning on REM-FM in San Pedro went quite well I think. I suppose we shall know how well it went depending on how much business, if any, comes our way as a result of it.

The weather yesterday and today has finally become spring like. The ambient temperature is quite comfortable while being in the sun is the same as always... hot!

Hasta la proxima.

Sunday - 15 April

Today is tax day in the USA, the final day to get your annual tax return submitted. I suppose it will be tomorrow as today is Sunday.

Well, it is finally beautiful weather again, no chill in the air as has been the case up until two days ago. Today there is bright sunny skies, light clouds, light breeze and very comfortable.

Our three rooms all had breakfast promptly this morning and then departed, having had a good meal last night with us and then a restful evening. Today we have three new rooms staying one, two and three nights respectively. We also had a few tables for lunch so not a bad day.

Then we had some of the village people come in and request to have a hen night here next weekend. Ivan is making a wedding cake for this couple who are getting married on 19 May and who have booked Suite 11 for the night. The wedding cake will be for 300 people; we are also invited to the wedding. Well, the ladies that came into this afternoon are looking to have a despedido soltera, as we say in Spanish, for 25 women next Saturday night. That should be a loud night, I would expect. Ivan will make a cake appropriate for the occasion as well and they said they were going to have a male dancer come in too, a first for us in this hotel! I like first time things.

I was hoping to have a first time thing on 27 April with a music group but I have not yet heard back from the musician after waiting for 3 days and having left two messages and one SMS. I think I will have to change that date as I don't think I will have enough time to publicize the event to get enough of an audience. oh well.

Anyway, just a short entry for the moment to cover the weekend's activities.

Ciao for now.

13 April Friday

Today we had another meeting of the Genal Valley group at the hotel in Benarraba. We had about 15 attendees. Again there was confusion on when the meeting was supposed to begin, some having arrived at 10 and the rest at 11 or later.

When we got under way, I suggested that we needed to make a decision on the group name and the form sooner rather than later. A small committee was agreed to complete the form creating an association. We also agreed to close the door to new members until this was settled, hopefully by the next meeting. We agreed the monthly dues to be paid and that would give a vote to the member. So all members now need to pay their monthly dues in order to be able to vote at the next meeting. We will also need to vote on a president, vice president and treasurer.... I think I will stand for the treasurer as I already opened the bank account for the group.

So we are making a bit of headway but it sure is slow going.

Friday, 13 April

Well, busy we have been for the last few days. It's been a while since my last post so let me tell you about the bookings we have had in the last week or so.

First, our guests from Barcelona arrived on Sunday and stayed for eight nights; they plan to return for the month of August as well. Then we had a foursome from Belgium arrive on Monday for 3 nights, four very nice ladies. A German family of four arrived on Tuesday for four nights so Monday through Wednesday, the hotel was half full. Then another three rooms arrived on Thursday bringing us up to 7 rooms, almost full and for Friday and Saturday, the hotel was complete. It did not stop there either as we had five rooms for Sunday including a threesome from Madrid in addition to a Dutch couple that stayed four night through Tuesday.

On Friday, we had a group of 21 motorcyclists arrive at 2.00 for lunch which we were expecting. Thursday was a disappointing day for lunch but the weather was not cooperating at all with cloud, fog and rain. We also had a bad experience on Friday with a Spanish couple that came through right at the height of lunch. As I told everyone that day, no one could order anything that was not on the menu. This woman however insisted on ordering fried eggs with manteca. Actually, this story is starting to bore me because this couple reeked havoc with us this afternoon and I've already recounted it a few times. Basically long story short, I told her she could only order things on the menu but she insisted on her fried eggs. I tried to make her happy but there was just no doing that! In the end I lost my cool and told her and her husband that if they passed through this village again in the future, please pass the hotel!

She asked to speak with someone who understood Spanish (a bit of a slap in the face for me, no?). I told her I was the owner and we were doing the best we could for her which obviously was not good enough. After I told them not to come back, she asked for the complaints book, a first for us!! Of course I did not know where the book was and was so busy in the restaurant that I did not have time to spare to look for it (although I did try to find it and gave up). I thought they will have to wait as my diners were more important than her complaint. Meanwhile, her husband decided to call the police because we did not have the complaints books available, a requirement!! This couple was just completely unreasonable, no. Everyone around them saw what was happening and were very supportive of us. Ivan came out of the kitchen to speak with this woman after having told me that I should not be telling guests not to come back. He was with her for a few minutes apologising and trying to make things better but when he returned to the kitchen, he said he wanted to wring her neck!! She and her husband were just intent on making trouble for us no matter what anyone said or did.

Eventually I found the complaints book (an official form from the Junta de Andalusia) and she completed her form which neither one of us signed. She took all copies with her and then paid her bill willingly even after Ivan told them he did not want their money. Ivan refused to sign the form because she did not write what actually happened. Some of the other people around told us not to worry as we did not sign it and she did not give a copy so we had nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, this couple had sat around waiting more than two hours to complete this form on a holiday weekend. We all thought they should get a life. Anyway, that's behind us now.

So Easter in Juzcar... they have a tradition here of cutting down trees in the countryside to decorate the whole village, kind of cool actually. Branches adorning all types of surfaces, a creche of sorts by the town hall for the Virgin of Moclon (the patron saint) and Jesus. There are things happening thorugh the week with lots of drinking, another tradition. Unfortunately some of the village festivities during the week were somewhat rained out, not as lively as in the passed two years. There was dancing on Sunday afternoon though in the school with a music group playing. And we had a bigger procession this year than in the past I think because this is an election year; a big band arrived at 10.40 on Sunday morning, some of them dropping into the bar for a cafe or juice. They accompanied the virgin and Jesus through the village on its way to the creche. In the past, the band was comprised of people from the village and the valley... this year, I'm not sure where they were from but certainly not here.

The weather is still not so great; it's like winter arrived when spring was supposed to start. It's been raining here on and off all week and there is more forecasted for the coming week. We had water in the bar of course with this amount of rain. And to top that, a hole appeared in the yard a couple of mornings ago. Francisco is repairing it today, the result of the rain and low quality work of the previous owner, yet again!

I've been taking more bookings which is good. We had two Danish couples stay one night this week who had tried to stay with us in the fall when we were full. They promised they would come back as they enjoyed themselves but want to return when we have better werther. Last night we had three rooms including Diana and Francisco from Cadiz with their loud daughter. They've been to see us a few times now and will be back for sure.

Tonight we have no one in the hotel but we are looking forward to sleeping in a bit tomorrow as we have had little rest in the last couple of weeks, a good thing actually but tiring nevertheless!

Hey, readers, I have a request of you.... my mom asked me if anyone ever comments on my blog. Now I know that I have some readers as I have been told by some that they do read my blog and enjoy it. So my request is please make one or two remarks if you will. Do you enjoy my writing, am I boring, do I write too much... not covering something you'd like to know? Mentioned something once and never mentioned it again. Any questions.... really, anything, please!

Speaking of parents, Ivan's were here for 10 days along with his grandma, and we really appreciated their help. Paz made a few dishes which we sold as well such as veggie soup, a fried milk dessert (yummy) and torrijas, Spanish sweet toast.

Well, that's it for now. Tomorrow we have three rooms and then on Sunday two new rooms for a couple of nights each. In fact, we have some bookings every week through June. And I received another group enquiry for October 2008 thanks to my friend JoAnn in Colorado. I'm waiting to confirm that booking; it is a group with a different theme than painting which is fantastic as I would like to branch out into other areas besides painting!! When that booking is confirmed (thinking positively here) I will add it to the theme holiday index page and you all can see who and what that will be about!! In the meantime, I await some of your comments, please.

Hasta luego!

05 April -

Today is the first day of the long weekend. There has been a bit of noise out there in the streets of Juzcar as the fiesta starts with bangers going off (scaring all the dogs in the village) and car horns blaring. The hotel will be full tomorrow and Saturday which is good news. We still have a couple of rooms available for tonight; the phone keeps ringing with enquiries but they all want more than one night and we only have tonight available. C'est la vie.

We had four very nice ladies from Belgium depart today after three nights with us. I asked them to sign our guest book but forgot to take their photo. We also have a German family of four with us until tomorrow as well as our clients from Barcelona who have now booked for the month of August, same as last year.

We had one cancellation this afternoon for tonight which was a one night booking. I just had a feeling this reservation would not materialise and I made the mistake of not taking a credit card number to charge them as is our policy with cancellations, especially for this holiday period. Occasionally, there are bookings that just don't sound legitimate and this Montse was one of them. She called and said she had enormous problems and could not come. Well, this is a mistake I will not make again as someone else did the same thing to me a few days ago. I am rather annoyed about that and want to move toward only taking bookings with a credit card for confirmation; that way I can always charge the card when they don't turn up or cancel at the last minute which is outlined in our policy.

We did not have many tables for lunch today which was disappointing but we are hopeful for much more business tomorrow and the rest of the weekend. Ivan has prepared lots of food which will keep if we don't sell most of it this weekend but there is a lot of money invested in that food and it would be nice to see it move. If nothing else, we do have a group of 21 bikers coming for lunch tomorrow. Some have been here back in October including the organiser. They were a group of 53 back then. They should have a very nice meal tomorrow. Ivan's mother has made leche fritas and torrijas, which is a traditional Easter dessert.

We had a very nice couple from England staying next door earlier in the week and they have already booked for their 20th anniversary in June 2009 with us. Gavin had an iPod as well so he let me copy his music collection so now I have another music file to go through. I still have not finished going through the music that Din from NYC gave to me back in January 2006 not to mention Alberto's from August 2005. Lots of tracks to go through and decide if I want them. Anyway, Gavin and Linda were very happy to have discovered this area and the hotel bar. They were very complementary and we do look forward to seeing them again, our first booking for 2009. So now we have bookings for two years ahead of time which is fantastic!! Now if we can only get this year's book filled to at least 50 percent capacity everything would be dandy!!

We had Lolita's father here this week as Bandit had gone into heat. Otto, as he is called, stayed with us for three nights but it was too much work for a holiday week so we sent him packing back to his owner's place on Tuesday. We hope that the work that needed to be done got done; the timing was just unfortunate. We shall see if we have more pups after 7 weeks or so.

Thanks to one of our clients recently, I am going to be on the radio on 24 April, as I mentioned in my blog entry from 26 March. This radio station down in San Pedro on the coast called REM-FM which stands for Radio Europa Mediteraneo broadcasts to the Costa de Luz, Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Mallorca, Menorca and the Canary Islands. It is an English language talk radio station covering various topics about things happening in Spain. As I mentioned in my 26 March entry, I contacted them at the suggestion of Campbell who stayed in the hotel recently. They spoke with him as well and then made a date with me. It will about 15 minutes and I need to put together a list of talking points about the Genal Valley and the hotel. Ivan and I will both go ... so that is kind of exciting!

The weather so far this week has been very disappointing. I am sitting here writing this entry with cold feet under the table and wearing a sweater. It's been cold and cloudy outside as well as slightly damp which does not help. I was told by a Norwegian client that dropped in last week that their daughter was sitting out on a terrace with short sleeves last week in Oslo[!!] while we are cold with fires going and this being the start of April in southern Spain!! The forecast is not so bright either and those folks that told me the weather would improve by today were obviously wrong! This weather is so unpredictable... after all that warmth we had back in January and February. I know I should just enjoy the cool temps now because when it heats up, it will be scolding but it's hard to think of that now with cold feet, sabes!!

Well, I'm going to relax for a while with an episode of Grey's Anatomy so ciao for now.

29 March - A busy day for me trying to catch up on my back logs of invoices and revenue before I send everything off to the accountant for the formal accounting. I received a tax refund today which was a pleasant surprise... I had forgotten that it was coming. I was able to pay some outstanding bills with that!!

The pool next door is moving along nicely. It should be ready before the end of April.... I am looking forward to jumping in there.

We had a few tables for dinner last night which was unexpected... all English as well. We had no guests in the hotel last night; we'd had a young Belgium couple here for a couple of nights earlier in the week and today we have a Spanish couple in for a couple of nights. On Sunday, the first of the Semana Santa guests arrive and they will be here for the whole week. They are returning clients of ours from Barcelona; they've stayed with us three times already so quite loyal.

We've now got some art on display in the bar and reception. The artist Jaime who lives in Parauta, two village over from here, is a wood sculpture. We've been getting to know some other people in the area better via these meetings we've been having for the Valley promotion. At the last meeting on Tuesday, we agreed with Jaime to allow him to display his art for sale. We don't expect any commission either as we are happy to help sell locally made products of any kind here. Plus the art work is interesting looking and improves the bar as well. They are interesting statues, mirrors and plant pot & coat holders. It would be nice to sell some of his work for him.

And Ian and Sandrine stopped by for some tapas today. They are the couple living in Cartajima with a rug business (Andalucian rugs that is) and offering walking guide services. They offered to give us a rug or two to display in the hotel for possible sales as well. In fact, they sold several rugs to our clients in one of the art groups last fall. We are looking forward to that.

And it is going to be busy next week so Ivan's parents arrive on Sunday from Avila to lend a hand. Ivan's mother makes some nice desserts for Semana Santa and helps Ivan out in the kitchen.

Well, the Genal Valley group's last meeting was a bit disorganised and started late. The woman who organises them changed the venue at the last minute without much notification to the members. Still not sure how this will progress, there are obvious reservations by many of the participants at this point. We need to make some firm decisions at the next meeting as this is just not going anywhere.

And that's about all the time I have for now. We are almost full for Easter. We still have one double available for Thurs through Saturday nights and I sure hope it sells as I would be very happy to be full for at least two nights of the big weekend!!

one more thing, I got some new business cards made recently and picked them up yesterday. They now feature our names as everyone always asked that and wrote it on the cards and they have a slightly nicer look about them.

Weather of course.... we heard the weather for next week is not supposed to be very nice, unfortunately. We'll wait and see what happens ... it's been rather fresh since early March, cooler than in January and February. Yesterday and today though have been bright and sunny, just cool. And I have some lovely flowers to pot for the terrace now before the sun goes so I'm off.

More later. Bye for now.

26 March -

The clock moved one hour ahead this passed weekend here in Europe. That was a rude awakening on Saturday night at 1.30 AM when Ivan told me. We had a hotel just about full and had been very busy all evening so I was tired and looking forward to a good night's rest... but that was not to be; we changed the clocks and by the time the lights went out it was close to 3AM!! And we needed to be here for 9:15 at the latest!

So what's been happening here in Juzcar of late? Well, first off, today it's raining with lots of fog; I awoke thinking I was hearing rain but imagining it could not be rain. Wrong! Rain and lots of it.
I was having problems with this PC last week and so did not take the time to make a blog entry, well, in fact, I could not as the computer was driving me mad last week. It decided to become very slow, blank screens, tower making all sorts of clicking noises, slow internet connection, maddening really! I did a system restore (which appeared to do nothing to help), a virus screening (with zero results) and nearly slammed it to the floor in frustration! Then suddenly, it was functioning like normal. I just don't get it. There does not appear to be a bug or anything like that in it but now it is O.K. again.

Anyway, what's been happening here in the hotel. For St. Patrick's Day weekend, we had the lads here from London for a stag weekend. They arrived Friday, a smaller group than we expected but friends of ours. The groom, Rob, is a former colleague of Ivan's. He wanted us to attend his stag but thought it might be difficult for us to come to London so he brought the party to us here in Juzcar. We all had dinner at the bar here in the village Friday evening and then partied for a while in the hotel bar. Ivan prepared two whole suckling pigs for dinner on Saturday for the nine of us and he made Rob a special cake, the torso of a nude woman!! It looked so real and it was delicious, chocolate with a sugar topping. We all went up to Francisco's finca on Sunday for the views, his liquor and to hang and then went into to Ronda for dinner. A very nice weekend all in all with friends. The restaurant was closed to the public for this event so that we could participate as well.

We had not planned on having any other guests in the hotel that weekend but there was a slight disaster with one of the adventure company's, called OcioSport! They are based in Malaga and had asked us a few weeks ago if we had some availability for a group of 130 odd people coming to the valley for a 4X4 event. We explained that we would not have any rooms available that weekend but we would check in the apartments next door. They sent us an email with a list of 6 couples asking for rooms....I book all five units for them in the apartments and sent them response explaining the prices and room sizes. They accepted the price quote, transferred the payment to Paul, the owner, and then never bothered to follow up with a list of names of the people who would be staying there. Of course 7 couples turned up for 5 units at 6PM Saturday and I had to deal with the mess this company made; all of them had prepaid for their lodgings. So I had to explain to them that there were only 5 units available and I had a list of names and I crossed off the ones I could not fit. In the end, we had to rent two rooms to this group as we had them available and they had no where to go. Obvious to say we won't be working with this company in the future.

This was the same company that put us in a brochure put out by the Junta de Andalucia for package offers for seniors without out permission. We have no agreement on pricing, payment method or booking procedure... but we are in the catalog and are expecting to get some enquires. we've told them we are not happy with this but they have not bothered to come and speak with us.

After the lads left on Monday, we had a couple here from Monday through Friday; one of them was a friend of one of our guests from last month and his German girlfriend. They travelled around the area including Ronda, the coast and the Cueva de Pileta, a cave with 25,000 year old drawings and a 25,000 years old calendar as well.

Then we received a booking though one of the on-line agents, something that does not happen very often (we wish for more of that of course) for Friday and Saturday. They turned out to be a Scottish couple with a place on the coast. Very nice and interested in providing ideas for promoting the hotel. In fact, Campell suggested we try to get on a radio talk show based in San Pedro aimed at the English speaking community on the coast to talk about the hotel, our services and the restaurant. He said that he's been on the program a couple of times himself and he would recommend us to the producer who I've already emailed. We'll see how that goes.

On Friday (23/03 which was my birthday), a couple of Dutch ladies dropped in asking for a room. Turns out they live in Amsterdam so we had a jolly conversation with them about the Netherlands, one of our favorite places! And they then decided to stay for one more night as well. On Friday evening, while we were in the bar with our four guests, Ivan came out with my birthday cake and we all had some which was very nice.

Strangely enough, there were 5 other people in the hotel on Saturday with birthdays in these few days starting with one each on 20 and 22, me and one other on 23, another on 24 and one more on 26 March! All Aries, as I went through their IDs upon check in and saw this, I asked myself, what's going on here?!!

On Saturday, the hotel was nearly full with seven rooms booked, first time since New Year's that we had so many rooms at once. That's why I was running so much on Saturday evening. we didn't expect so many people at once and so it was just make and Ivan. But in the end, all were happy with the food and the service. The English family of four who left this morning told me last night that they thought all went very smoothing on Saturday evening even though I thought they waited (patiently I add) for their desserts. They said service was so bad back in England that this was quite well run! We also had an American in the hotel Saturday night, a guy living in Cadiz with his English fiance.

Yesterday, most guests checked out. It was a gorgeous clear day as well. The Dutch ladies were walking to Ronda or hitching if they could get a ride.

Now we are starting our preparations for Semana Santa. Guests start arriving for that on Friday. We have quite a few bookings but still have one double available for the weekend itself thanks to some screw up by someone. This guy called on Thursday last week asking for rooms, we had a suite and a double left at that point. After speaking with his wife, and calling me twice more with questions, he booked the double as he did not want to pay 80 Euros for the suite. Someone else called right after that and took the suite. This guy then called again the next morning to cancel because his wife wanted a room with a balcony or terrace!! Meanwhile I had turned away two other queries for the same time because he booked and was going to make a deposit the next morning. Now I still have that room free and am very annoyed at this man for having jerked me around. The trails of being in this business I suppose!! There is still time to book the room nevertheless still annoying!

Well, I need to go and get myself ready to run into Ronda as we have some shopping to do. Maria Jesus just arrived to clean the rooms and feed Diego (who I still need to tell you about in another entry).

Hasta luego.

15 March - Well I have been remiss in not posting any new entries for a couple of weeks. I've been busy with other things and have not have the time to get around to a new entry.... so I made some time today.

This morning, we had the second meeting of the people interested in promoting the Genal Valley and the Serrania de Ronda. Basically owners and service providers of one sort or another including artists. We had the first meeting last week at a place called Finca Algaba which is located off of the A369 near Ronda. This finca has been open for a year but not many people in the area actually know much about the place. Goes to the heart of the problem we have here in the area, little to no publicity, even to those of us that live here.

Anyway, Finca Algaba has a program in place where people can go and stay on the finca in a primitive surrounding to ascertain how people from long ago survived, growing their own fruit and veg, living in a primitive village that was purpose built on the finca. They are also open for other activities and have live stock wondering around the property.

We all met there to determine if we, as a group, were interested in working together to further our own businesses and interests together. There is definitely more influence and power as an organised group than as individuals. You know the saying, "united we stand, divided we fall". So this morning we had the second meeting here in the hotel. We came to some agreements and we are first going to work toward organising a website with information about all there is to do and see in this area, the area being the Serrania de Ronda and then the Genal Valley more specifically. There is also a consultant on hand who is working for the Junta de Andalucia whose advice and guidance we are seeking. His mandate with the junta is to promote cultural and tourism related activities and events in the region. Let's see where this will take us.

Business has been slow as usual. We had a three rooms last weekend including one drop-in which is always nice. We had no one for lunch on Saturday but our clients all had some dinner; Sunday was a better for lunch and we had another room arrive that day and so they also had dinner. We had a client come for lunch who has asked us to do some catering for her job in May when they are hosting some Europeans from out of Spain for a workshop. Alicia works in a language school in Ronda and Ivan made her wedding cake last year as well as her new husband's last birthday cake. She is a devoted client of ours and she thought of us when this event came up at her job. So we are going into Ronda tomorrow morning to look at the facilities to see what we can do for them.

I've been taking a few bookings these last few days for Semana Santa and Easter as well as May and June. I also had an email from Maggie about her painting workshop in October; she wrote to inform me that it is just about full and she thinks she may be able to get a second workshop organised for a few days after in October. Very good news. I also contacted the other two artists Maggie introduced to me. One confirmed workshop dates for April 2008 and the other confirmed interest in his September 2007 workshop. Artescapes has also contacted me recently saying they have confirmed their September workshop so all good news.... if only we had some of this business now to help with the current stack of bills!!!

We also finally went to meet Guy Hunter-Watts, owner of a B&B on the road to Sevilla. He also puts out a book about small places to stay in Andalucia and I want to try to get an entry in his next published guide. He was very pleasant and told us he would put us in his diary for the next time he is going to do a round of visits, after the summer. He has a beautiful home next to his B&B; he also told us his B&B will be changed into a rental property as he and his partner are now going to start travelling.... what a nice idea that is!! I'd like to do that myself some day, travel around, review hotels for a travel company or guide book.

We also finally went on one of the walks in the valley after being here for 2.5 years. We took the dogs and went on this walk from Juzcar to Cartajima down through the valley and then up to Cartajima. It was really very nice and one sees such a different perspective of things when one is walking on a dirt track down in the valley.

The weather has cooled off since the beginning of the month. It's been cloudy with no rain and cool to cold in the evenings, a turn I did not expect to see again but do appreciate as when it gets hot here, it's darn hot! We have sun today but the air is cool so relatively comfortable actually.

Tomorrow we have a group of lads coming from London for a stag weekend. The groom is a friend and former colleague of Ivan's. He and his fiance have invited us to the wedding in September but I doubt we can attend because the airfare is so expensive. Anyway, he wanted us to come to the Stag Event but understood we have a business to run so he opted for bringing the lads to us. They have nearly filled the hotel which is good and will be here for 3 nights. Rob tried to get them to have a day in the countryside undertaking one of the out activities but they would not have it... they only want to drink and hang! Ivan and company (as at least 3 of the lads including the groom are chefs) will be preparing roasted suckling pig for dinner on Saturday.

Well, this is a good entry for now. Must dash.

03 March - Another gorgeous day in Juzcar... too gorgeous for a normal 3rd of March. It truly feels like May already, well during the day as it was cool last night but even so not cold.

We had a group of 14 for lunch today. The arrived in their classic cars at about 2.30. They all enjoyed their lunch very much. They had last been here before we arrived and were sorely disappointed. When one of them saw the placed had changed hands via our website, they decided to give it a go and see if there was an improvement. They were very happy indeed.

We also had a few other tables for lunch so the bar and terrace were busy today. It was good day although there was another booking for lunch for a group of 13 that did not turn up nor cancel. Slightly annoying but, I ask you, watyagonnado?

I bought some flowers yesterday as it is definitely time to make sure the terraces look good. There were a few geraniums that did not make it from last summer so they were replaced as were the marigolds on the bar terrace. On Monday, we will be reinstalling the shade covering on the terrace as the sun is already that warm. The three guys that had lunch on the terrace today were in the shade of umbrellas without shirts.

Ivan made a delicious new treat, ravioli de pina colada, a ravioli made from fresh pineapple filled with pina colada flavoured mascarpone... very yummy. I took some photos of it this morning and it will be shortly featured in our menu page of the website.

There is a full lunar eclipse here tonight around midnight or so. We plan to observe that... the moon is quite full at the moment and with a cloudless sky, perfect for viewing.

I've got clients waiting for me to bring them extra pillows and pine cones to start a fire (cosy in the room a tonight this way, still) so I'm off. Ciao.

01 March

AS I mentioned in my last post, I get these fraudulent emails.... here's an example of one received today:
On 01/03/2007 19:37:58, George Clark (george01clark@yahoo.co.uk) wrote:
Dear Sir/Madam
I want to make a reservation in your rooms for 6 delegates.
So we would need an accomodation from the 9th of April to 14th April 2007.
If the rooms are available do calculate and get back to me the total cost for 6 single or 3 double rooms including breakfast and tax. Awaiting your response. Regards, Dr.George Clark Phone +44-702-401-3213

SO I ask, is this a real person? Is that a real UK telephone number? The word "urgent" was omitted in this text showing that maybe someone is editing it and perhaps even thinking.

Yesterday, I received the following email:
"----- Original Message -----
From: "paul girlings" paul4girlings@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 11:55 PM
Subject: booking enquiry!!!
Hello there I want to make reservation for i and my 14yrs old daughter that would be coming to your country on vacation i would need just a room for 2weeks starting from the 4th of May to the 18th of May 2007,get back to me ASAP with the total cost in EURO so that reservation can be made...i hope you accept credit card as a
means of payment... PAUL +447045702971 "

ONCE again, it has that format that appears suspicious to me. I responded to this one as if it were a real booking query but, I mentioned that we do not accept advanced payments in any form and credit cards are only charged in the event of a cancellation in accordance with our cancellation policy. Naturally I have not heard back from.... "Paul".

TODAY was another gorgeous day here in Juzcar. When I drove into Ronda this morning, it became very foggy by Parauta and all the way into Ronda. By the time I returned, the sun had come out but it was still nicer here in Juzcar. I did a lot of shopping today, buying some chicken filets, cheese which we ran out of and I forgot to buy last week, dog food (not for clients of course, hehe) and a few other things. I forgot to buy legs of lamb, something we should always have on the menu as it is a favorite of our diners.

WE had a few people for lunch today as well. Yesterday, Andalucia Day, we had a few for lunch as well... not a cracking business that we hoped for but something more than a normal Wednesday nevertheless. Today we had two parties of clients drop in unexpectedly, one from Cadiz, the other from San Pedro. The ladies from San Pero have been before for lunch and said they are recommending us to all their friends as the food here is really quite good. The other couple from Cadiz drove up to have some lunch and say hello. They stayed in the hotel back in December along with their 3 year old daughter.

I also found out today that the meeting with the UK consultant is on for sure next Tuesday. I am now awaiting the agenda to see what we're discussing exactly.

More later.
Hasta la proxima!

David

28 February, today is Andalucia Day, a bank holiday here in Andalucia.

What beautiful weather we've been enjoying these last couple of days. Seems that spring has sprung, not surprisingly as this year is predicted to be the hottest on record for Andalucia and probably Spain and greater Europe. That is not great news but, we have flowers already. Our lavender plants that we cut back in January are already growing nicely. The almonds trees have already lost their blooms and are covered in young new leaves. Our hibiscus plant has flowers on it as well as a few other flowers for which I do not know the names.

We collected three large containers of lemons from our lemon tree yesterday and today... well Ivan did. I helped packed them into bags to sell them, 4 kilos for 2.50 Euros. They are quite nice lemons too, strong scent, firm, and large as well. Ivan is planning to make lemon tarts (which my mom loves!), lemon curd, lemon marmalade, and other things lemon!!

Ivan met with the Juzcar ladies association the other day and we are now waiting for word back from them on how many would like to attend Ivan's cooking course.

Our weekend business was slow as usual. We had a couple of singles which I mentioned in my last entry... they set off early Sunday morning before we arrived in the hotel. And the "drop-in" that was here for one nightset off fairly early as well. We did a few tables for lunch and most sat outside as the weather was so comfortable.

Yesterday afternoon, we went Pujerra to collect pine cones which we were out of. That nice stretch of road on the other side of the mountain from where the village is is convered with pine trees that have lots of pine cones. We prefer the pine cones for starting fires to those fire starters soaked in kerosene and stick of it as well. I'm not too sure how many more fires we will need to be starting with this weather but it's good to have a provision of them around in any case.

I had a call yesterday from Phil and Nicky over in Alpandeire about an upcoming meeting next week. Turns out that the Junta de Andalucia has hired a marketing consultant from London to help promote cultural and tourist related businesses. An American living in the lower valley has apparently arranged for this meeting with business operators such as us and this consultant to hopefully get some (any, PLEASE!!) publicity for the Genal Valley. And it appears that many of the valley businesses are suffering the same as us.... i.e. low business flows which equals low cash flows which equals late bill payments .... oops have I said too much!!? Well that is one of the ugly realities of running your own business, the accounting side of things... never pretty unless of course you are racking them up!! Anyway, the meeting will happen next Tuesday, 06 March.

We also need to now follow up on that possible grant. They told us they hoped to have things sorted by the end of this month and.... that's today. So tomorrow we will ring them to get an update, hopefully!

Other news, the work on the new pool next door has commenced. They have started digging out the side of the hill to make way for the pool. I'll be very happy to see that work completed. We are going to have to buy nice sized bath towels for our guests to take to the pool with them.

Another thing that happens all the time (I receive emails that is) and is kind of annoying as the recipient... that is these fraudulent e-mails that come from "somebody@yahoo.fr" or from someone from Manchester, UK or Edinburgh. Basically they are almost always worded the same, "I am so and so from the Christian organisation so and so and we are planning a religious summit in your country for 8 delegates who will stay at your hotel for 2 weeks (or longer in some cases if you can believe that)." I always wonder why these fraudsters don't look at a map to at least know what town to which they are writing. Anyway, they go on to say that they want to know the total price of the rooms and URGENTLY await this information in order to send their credit card for payment. Always the same wording but always from a different email address and sender. Surprisingly, I recently got one of these from someone who said he was based in Miami, FL. Normally they arrive from the Ivory Coast, the UK, another country in Africa or India. Sometimes they are requesting information related to the wedding reception of their son who wants to have his reception in my hotel.... oh REALLY?? Oh but can we order 10 Nokia mobile phones for them first and do we accept credit cards? I could go on about this subject but won't.

I updated my website in the last couple of days as well. The guest comment page now has photos of the guests making the comment (when I have a good photo of a guest to put onto that page, of course). And I have revised the theme holiday pages to include new paintings by Maggie Price.

We received a request for a proposal for a wedding/baptism in June. Someone from Ronda that found our catering website,