So this week was St Valentine's Day. We had an offer for a Valentine's Dinner for two including a bottle of house wine for only 34 Euros and we had no one take us up on it. What a shame. I think 34 Euros for a 3 course meal and a bottle of wine is a fantastic price.
Let's see, what else has happened in the last week? Well, we had a couple who live in Ireland come and stay with us for one night last weekend. They arrived on Friday night last week but had some road trouble along the way which was two flat tires. Apparently the driver went slightly off the road onto the shoulder along our winding mountain road. That road is just that, a mountain road, because it shows that if two flats come of it in no time as well, it could put someone in a predicament. I went and collected them from their car for which they were very grateful. They had a very nice evening with us and then I took them into Ronda in the morning to repair one of the tires and all was well.
We had a booking that came in for one night via one of the hotel search engines... something that does not happen all that often (last time being April 2006). A Spanish couple from Velez Malaga that spent the evening down at Juzcar's own Teleclub, the club next to the church! And a last booking which was unexpected as well. They called from Ronda to ask for a room; they were an American couple living & working in Seville.
We currently have an English couple staying with us for 8 nights. They are into biking and have been going all over with their bikes which they brought with them from the UK. Next time, however, they think they may just rent as that would be much easier.
Tomorrow we have a group of 7 couples from Malaga capital for one night.
Other news... well, we went into the CEDER tourist office in Ronda this week to follow up on some funds that were granted to the hotel under the previous owner but not disbursed to him before he sold the hotel to us. As the funds are granted to the hotel not the owner, we are pursuing getting these funds. There may be enough for us to build the pool we have a project for. That would be fantastic and it does finally sound positive. We pursued this about a year ago but the previous owner still had his fingers in it trying to get the money even though he was not entitled to it. Now the funds are just sitting in a bank account somewhere and the agency seems open to giving us the money. They told us they hoped to have it sorted by the end of this month... fingers crossed!
Paul was here this passed week as well. Paul is the English owner of the rural apartments next door. He came to sort a few things related to his pool project. He is having our maintenance man build his pool (his maintenance man as well). So we (Ivan, me, Francisco and Paul) were all over there at his place checking out where the pool will go, which will be the deep end, how much hill needs to be removed long with a couple of trees, etc. Paul has very generously offered to let us use his pool for our guests so that will be good news when it is all completed and in place. I really look forward to using the pool myself on those very hot July days when there is no one around.
I've also been busy emailing more artists about workshops and tour operators for group bookings or holiday packages. I have not had much luck with the artists, I must say, very disappointing as they have yet to respond even in the negative. I'm not sure I will have any luck with tour operators but I have to give it a go as I have nothing to loose and everything to gain. I've also taken a few more bookings... we have a few for Semana Santa (Easter week) now including a couple of ladies from Long Island, N.Y. And this morning we received a request to cater a small wedding and baptism, simultaneously, here in the countryside so we are working on getting something sorted for this couple from Ronda.
At the moment, our weather is a bit blustery but clear and fresh. More of the almond trees are in bloom and they ares absolutely beautiful!! Here are a couple of snaps I took of trees near the hotel on a rainy day during the week.
Juzcar Almond Flowers
