Happy New Year to all my readers.

Our Christmas was spent working here in the hotel for the first time. This year, apart from all others, we had 5 enquires for Christmas, a first and in the year of a recession, perhaps heading toward depression!

Well, we were pleased to work with the hotel full with this family from Algeciras, Cadiz. They were all very nice people, as usual. They brought a guitar and a karaoke machine which we heard them singing with into the late hours on the night of 23 December. Ivan prepared a lovely Christmas eve dinner for them of grilled shrimp with rock salt, boiled langoustines, plates of Spanish cured meats, Manchego cheese, baked stuff mushroom caps, pisto on toast with baked pork tenderloin, consume of langoustine, all followed by roasted leg of baby lamb with rosemary sauce and a roasted turkey with mashed potatoes. Dessert was a baba au rum, OH so yum yum!!, with whipped cream.

This family was so nice and unassuming, they asked before dinner if we were dining with them! Very nice but of course we could not even though our new waiter, Tony, was here with us. WE were busy getting those plates out there, dirty ones in and cleaned. After dinner though, we sat with them and sang and Ivan danced with one of the girls. We were with them until 4AM.

All in all, a good Christmas. While we did not spend the holiday with our families, it was a good Christmas all the same because we spent it with very nice people.

Now we are in the midst of preparing for the big New Year's Eve Dinner. Ivan has been preparing food in the kitchen since yesterday already. We are serving our usual eight course dinner with wine, cava and grapes at midnight (as per the Spanish tradition, one grape with each gong of the bell it strikes midnight). Ivan is making consume of langoustines, terrine of fresh cheese with brazed vegetables with a sauce, grilled scallops with sweet potato, quail with dates, lemon sorbet, fillets of monk fish with an aubergine alioli and finally sucking pig confitado with a spiced honey sauce. Dessert is a 3 chocolate brownie with red fruit sauce and whipped cream. WOW, that's sounds yumilicous to me and is making me hungry as I have yet to have some lunch.

I have been busy setting the table, preparing the packets of grapes and helping in the kitchen as well. We have the bar closed today as is our custom on this day because the kitchen is quite busy with all these plates of food coming.

We plan to take some holiday in January, closing from 19 January until 3 February. Bookings for 2009 are starting to roll in as well. We have a booking for 2 January and then a group in February, and bookings in March and May already as well. Our group bookings are improving as well so things are looking up for us these days. Hopefully the first few months of this new year will not look anything like 2008 as this was a pretty miserable time for us, Jan to July that is.

The weather here is cooperating as well as it is dry and cool but not cold. We just had a wood delivery yesterday of 3,000 kilos; that should last a few months. Good burning wood as well, encima and olive.

Well, it's time for me to put some food in my belly so I will sign off here with my last entry of 2008. Oh, one more thing, I have enable a counter on this blog page as I was curious to see what kind of traffic I get here. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I have some very interested readers, some who come back and check me out here once a week. To those dedicated readers, I saw sorry for the long break without new entries, I was recuperating from my fall and then lost my momentum here. But now it's back and and I am in full swing with a couple of entries a month, at least. So, keep on reading.... and thank you for reading.

Happy New Year everyone!! Let's all hope it's better than 2007 and 2008. (Well, any year WITHOUT George W. Bush as President of the United States of America has GOT to be a good year!!!)

Ciao.

Today is another quiet Saturday. Last weekend was kind of slow to dead as well. 'Tis the season they say but not much happens in this part of the Serrania at this time of year.

We do have a family coming for Christmas, a first for us. This year of all years with the economic problems around, we have received the miost enquires for Christmas than ever before. Normally we are closed for this time and spend the holdiay with our families, either in NY or in Avila. This year, we decided that if the business was sufficient, we would stay and it has worked out that way. And today we receoived another booking as well for the same time. This family that is coming has seven rooms booked. So we took a booking today for the same period and filled the hotel, a bit of Christmas cheer for us then!!

For New Year's Eve, we have six rooms booked for far and hopefully the last two will fill as well. We are offering our usual festive dinner with drinks and a bit of a party afterwards. And of course the party people of Juzcar will be out and about celebrating the new year as usual, all night in the pub, dancing, drinking, partying!!

We are in the midst of preparing our new living space in the hotel. We have put up a couple of new walls making two bedrooms, we've got some windows going in shortly and a completely renovated bathroom. All should be quite nice, much better than living in the house we have. I'm not so sure what is going to happen to the house as it is for sale but there is no market for houses now, like everywhere else in the world it seems.

We decorated the bar last week and put up our Christmas lights outside the hotel. We decided to skip then outside tree this year for environmental reasons... so just lights which look as good. Ivan has been busy making Christmas cakes and Turron. The turron is so delicious, all kinds, almonds, egg yoke, crispy rice, etc... all so good!

Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner? Time to get out that box of decorations and start decorating the bar and the hotel for that festive of all seasons.

It has been way too long since my last entry here. So what's happened since July? Well, we've had a pretty good August, September and October. We have seen that given the current economic climate, guests are waiting to make booking to the last minute. But we've had a good steady flow of business since then. Things were very bleak in the first half of the year and have gotten better since summer.

Our American artist group was here in October for the 4th workshop with the largest group yet. Some were not actually painters so they found that there are plenty of things to do here even if not painting. They went on walks across the mountains with Sandrine, mushroom hunting one afternoon as October is a good month for that (if the weather cooperates) and even had a cooking class with Ivan, his first.

Ivan discovered that he really does enjoy instructing people how to cook which was a good first step in offering cooking classes. So the cook book is still in the offing but we hope to have more takers of our cooking offer meanwhile.

We had a couple of takers for the relaxation package we have on line, which came as a surprise actually. One puts these things on line hoping people read them and act upon them but when it actually happens, it is a surprise, a pleasant one of course.

We are preparing to move house which is something I am looking forward to. We are now in the process of building a flat for ourselves here in the hotel; the hotel will now have a proper owner's unit of its own. We have ordered new windows and doors for this and are building walls, so real DIY work!! Not sure when that will be ready but soon I hope. The bathroom is nearly there as the plumbing has been done which is key in a bathroom.

In the same project, we are making a few changes to the large room located next to the flat space where we are planning to install an art gallery. This is an idea I am especially excited about as we have artists that come here to paint already and now we will be able to have their art work on display here as well going forward. We are also working with someone in Ronda who has been searching for such a space in the Serrania for local artists to display their work as well. We hope to have a permanent exhibit as well.

This weekend here in Spain is a 3 day holiday weekend so we have a full hotel tomorrow and Sunday... always good news. And then we have a family coming for Christmas as well, our first time staying here for Navidad. And then there will be the Fin de Año celebrations. I think we are going on holiday in January so the hotel will be closed for a couple of weeks.

So that's my short update. I'll tell you about the big mushroom weekend we had here in early November next time.

After a bit of a delay due to my accident on 1 July, I have now finished preparing and installing a couple of new package ideas for our hotel website. I have added Ivan's Cooking Class offer, a Relaxation Offer and added the English Language courses being offered by an American woman living here in the Genal Valley. Perhaps we will get more bookings this way as having a nice variety of offers should entice some bookings out of the travelling public. I myself would take up the relaxation package, a face massage poolside sounds heavenly to me.

Have a look:
www.hotelbandolero.com/themes/home-emg.htm - English

www.hotelbandolero.es/themes/home-esp.htm - Castellano

It has been more than one month since my last posting to this blog. So what's been happening at Hotel Bandolero recently? June was a quiet month in terms of bookings.

The Spanish travelling public needs a bit of education about what their own native land has to offer as they seem to only consider . Here in the mountains, it is hot during the day and very cool and comfortable in the evenings. Great for swimming in the rivers, lakes or pools available nearby. There are plenty of activities to undertake as well even if you are on a budget; one can still enjoy the nature surrounding the area. There are plenty of birds to see, paths to follow, white villages all distinctly different. There is history here worth investigating.

I recently bought some print advertising in an English language locally published paper of which I am not all that impressed in an attempt to increase our traffic. That did not work as we have not had one query as a result of that advertisement. How can I be so sure you ask. I can be so sure because the ad offered a complimentary bottle of wine with the meal if the advert was mentioned. Not only has no one mentioned it that has dined here recently, we have not had many diners at all in fact recently.

Our painting workshop booked in October has not only confirmed, but has paid a deposit as well. Unfortunately, our September workshop has also cancelled, maybe next year. But we have received a few more bookings for this month and a couple of new ones for the Juzcar fiesta in August as well as a couple of new bookings in September. "Think Positive" is the meaning here, perhaps more business will come our way. We still have plenty of availability during the first two weeks of August available so make your bookings now. We have an offer on until the end of July, all rooms at the same price of 60 Euros per night plus VAT. A pretty good offer I think.

Júzcar had its annual Romeria during the last weekend in June. Ivan prepared the food for them which was a ham stew with carrots, peas, onions and potatoes. Delicious was what the people said when they brought back the empty pots. He also made litres and litres of traditional gazpacho of which none remained, in fact it was finished before the event was and some did not get to have any. Many people have told Ivan that he makes the best gazpacho they have ever had. It is quite good and healthy for you too.

It was on the 1st of July that I had an accident, a week ago today in fact. We have this beautiful big oleander tree on the bar terrace. It has pink flowers. All of the oleanders that I see in the last couple of months are full of flowers, white, burgundy, pink, yellow. But not ours. Our has suffered from an annual infestation of small yellow bugs that eat all the new growth on it. This has been the case for the last couple of years up to mid to late July when the bugs disappear and the flowers can finally bloom. This year, I decided that I needed to kill those bugs and let my plant flower. We bought some insecticide and spray bottle. As the plant is quite high, about 3 M high, I could not reach the upper levels of the plant. So I climbed up in this barrel that has been on the terrace since we arrived here almost 4 years ago. I stood there happily applying this liquid for a few minutes actually. I even took photos with my mobile of my dogs from up there.

Then it happened; the top of the barrel gave way under my weight and I went crashing through, smashing my back against the rim of the barrel in the process. Ivan was on the terrace heard this loud noise and then me, screaming in pain. Together, we some how managed to get me out of there fairly quickly. Neither of us remember exactly how we did that as I was in such agony, that was what all the focus was on. I quickly stretched myself upon the terrace breathing fast and feeling lots and lots of pain in my back. Neighbours started arriving, enquiring what was wrong. Ivan called for an ambulance as there was no way I could sit down to go to hospital. Then we waited. Forty five minutes later, the ambulance arrived. Ivan was quite anxious waiting for them and let them know he was unhappy about the length of time it took for their arrival.

I would venture to say that they get that kind of reaction to their arrival quite a lot because the first thing the medic said to Ivan was he would call the police. I think there have been many angry family members waiting for an ambulance that does not come fast enough and someone is suffering. Anyway, I didn't care, I just wanted them to take care of me. Clearly I was not dying but I felt terrible. They managed to get me onto a stretcher and into the ambulance. They administered oxygen and some pain meds and got me to Ronda. Ivan followed in our car.

The hospital staff were actually quite attentive. I was seen right away and taken into radiology. I had many x-rays taken of my back and side. Then we waited. Then more x-rays on the next floor and a sonogram. Then more waiting. Finally the doctor came in and told me I had not one, not two but three broken ribs. Everything else was checked such as liver, kidney, spine and other functions. All checked out fine. I only had three broken bones. Two other doctors came in to consult, as they say. They told us that when there are 3 or more broken ribs, they advise a stay of 3-4 nights in hospital. But in my case, as it was a clean break and nothing else was affected, I could decide whether I wanted to stay or recuperate at home. Naturally I chose home with pain meds.

So for the last week, Ivan has been taking care of everything and I have been prone on the sofa watching old movies, reading, sleeping and getting to know my new mobile phone. Today, I am doing some work here at the computer as sitting straight up does not hurt so. I can now get up and lie down without assistance... already. The doctors said it would take up to 40 days for this to heal. "Poco a poco" as they say here in España. Having had time to reflect on what happened to me, I can now say that I was very lucky to have only broken 3 ribs. A more serious injury would have been a bigger drag, an unfortunate event. But as luck would have it, it is only 3 ribs. And a week later here I sit able to work again on the PC. Ivan has been very supportive and patient, I am lucky to have such a wonderful spouse.

Ivan made three beautiful cakes for a communion held this afternoon. I have some great shots of the cakes which I will add to this space some time this coming week.

The weather has not been cooperating of late. The temperature in the last few days has been well below normal... and Dutch & English clients have said how the weather here has been just about the same as theirs at home. So most uncooperative of the weather to be this chilly in late May. I just checked with a weather service on-line and it shows that we will have no rain for the next week which is good news. While rain is always welcome, normally, it is not now as I am a bit fed up with this cool weather. It should be warmer already. Come on!! Move in you warm air from where ever.

We have a couple of English couples staying with us who've been here since last Tuesday and will be here for a couple more nights. They're here for a week exploring the area and perhaps buying something in the village, a new holiday home. They like the dogs and have taken Pasky out for a few walks as one of the couples used to have a German Shepherd themselves. We also had Nicky here for a few days with her friend Helen. Nicky is one of our artists who had planned to be here now with a group of painters and walkers and wine tasters but that did not materialise as there was no interest. Just as our American friends had to cancel the painting workshop they had scheduled with us for the first full week of May due to lack of interest. I think the lack of interest is really lack of funds at this point.

Many people here in Spain are suffering as a result of the high interest rate on the Euro. Many people discovered new found freedom (of the wallet) when Spanish banks made qualifying for loans so easy over the last few years. So many people went out and bought new cars and apartments/homes with these loans and now they are paying for them. And with higher interest rates, more of their disposable incomes are going toward their monthly payments leaving less money to spend on weekends away in Hotel Bandolero. Now, of course, all that lending has come to a grinding halt with this credit crisis created by American bankers and their London friends in the UK banking community as well. Spanish bankers are no less guilty in my view as they are still offering low interest credit card specials. I personally receive a solicitation every few weeks from a bank here in Spain. In general, monthly salaries have not increased but expenses certainly have... we all feel the negative effects of the price of fuel, whether you are a air traveller or a driver on the packed roads, one has to pay for fuel.

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks already since we had our first wedding here in the hotel; that was on Saturday 17 May, two weeks to the day already. The hotel was full of family and friends that came as far away as Amsterdam and New York City to attend the nuptials. It was a special wedding being performed by the mayor of Juzcar in Ronda at the Palacio Mondragon.

It all began with the arrival of the parents a few days before the actual day. Soon after, other family members and close friends began arriving. On Friday evening, there was a delicious paella prepared by Ivan’s mother, made by special request of the guests. On Saturday morning, after the remainder of the guests arrived from central Spain, Mojitos cocktails were prepared and quickly consumed as the group all sat on the pool terrace, children in the pool and a b-b-q in the making. There were pork brochettes, grilled big shrimp, filets of panga in tomato sauce, a huge pasta salad, grilled pork filets and more Mojitos. Ivan had decorated the terrace for the event so it was very festive with coloured lanterns and flags waving over head in the light spring breeze, bright and sunny as well.

After the meal, things quieted down as they all went to prepare for the early evening ceremony. The bus arrived at 5.15 to take the group off to Ronda. The Juzcar mayor arrived at 5.30 and then they began coming down in their fancy dress. The groom was wearing a black suit with a gold vest, cravat and shiny black shoes. The other groom (yes indeed, it was two grooms marrying) was wearing a double breasted black diner suit, burgundy hounds tooth bow tie with braces showing the Statue of Liberty; both had a white flower in their lapels. The cameras were flashing away and then they all headed into the bus which someone in the village had decorated with white and pink streamers looking very festive and wedding-like.

When they arrived at the Plaza Duquesa de Parcent in Ronda’s historic old town, there were preparations for the Romeria which was happening that evening as well; this meant girls in Sevillana dresses, horse drawn carts, bulls, and a full Spanish procession in the making. Cameras were flashing again as the group headed to Carmen la de Ronda, a Tapas bar, a for a quick drink before heading to the Palacio Mondragon for the ceremony. Upon arrival there, the photographer started doing his thing. The flowers they ordered were there on a table in front of four chairs for the bridal couple and their respective witnesses in the Patio Mujudare. The ceremony began, by Don David, the Mayor of Juzcar. He read a nice piece he had prepared and then the commitment part of the ceremony. While this was going, tourists started accumulating off to the side. And then there was the exchange of rings and the pronouncement of a wedded couple and the cheers and applauds from the invited guests and tourists was very cheerful. Again the cameras were flashing. Off to the gardens for photos and then off they went to the bus to then head to the restaurant with breathtaking views of Ronda as the backdrop.

A festive dinner ensued and then they returned to the hotel on the bus. Ivan had made the wedding cake, chocolate orange covered in white chocolate and sugar flowers. Here’s a photo:


Dancing and drinks followed until they had to go to bed at about 4AM. Some of the guests were to head out on a train from Ronda at 10Am the next morning and so wanted at least a couple of hours sleep before heading out. The others all got a good lie in. The following day was not nearly as nice in terms of the weather. Cloudy, windy, a bit wet and cool. But the next day, after another one of the guests departed, the rest of them went off to Seville for the day, a wet cloudy day to start but turned into a bright sunny day in Seville.

All in all, it was a memorable and special wedding party. All danced, ate, drank, toasted, and merrily celebrated a very festive and special event.

We have another wedding scheduled for September as well, a mixed couple, English & Spanish. Ivan is making their cake as well and they have guests coming from the UK so it should be another festive and happy event.

I promised myself I would not let a lot of time go by before writing again but here it is more than a month later since my last entry. We've had a few things happen here since the 8th of April.

In April, the Juzcar village hall organised a weekend seminar about the history of the Ronda mountains. We had speakers come from Morocco and Madrid and interested participants from Malaga city and Juzcar. It was a successful event, like the wild mushroom weekend held here back in November.

We had a lovely couple from Stockholm that stayed with us for a few days. They had a very nice stay here from all that they said. They went on a guided bird watching tour with Peter from Spanish Birds. They went for a guided tour of vultures in their nests and soaring off for the morning up into the thermals with Frank in Cadiz. They had a very nice long walk across the Riscos with Sandrine checking out all the wild flowers along the way. They had a very nice day in Ronda after Ivan and I helped them change a flat tyre (for which they were so grateful they gave us a gift each upon their return to the hotel).

We also had the return of a guest from Germany who stayed with us a couple of years back.... nice to have return business.

Then there was the long holiday weekend from the 1st of May. For some, it was not a long weekend as some schools were open on the Friday; but for others it was indeed a long weekend so the hotel was fully booked. We had a lovely family from the Netherlands here, all of whom enjoyed having a swim in the pool. That was nice to see... guests enjoying the pool, even though the weather was not the warmest. And a couple of families from Murcia who also enjoyed the pool.

Last weekend we had a group from Marbella stay with us for a night. They came to have a walk through the area but the weather was not cooperating so instead, they went tapas hopping and made the best of the time they had here. They all seemed to enjoy very much their dinner and then they were singing until the wee hours in the restaurant.

It was this last group of guests who left this morning, that left us with a bad taste in our mouths. I'll keep this short as I could go on about this one. Yesterday at mid-day, a group of women from England, well, most from England and one eastern European with a UK passport, arrived from the coast for a two night stay. The eastern European was the one who caused a problem last night, too much drink in her and not enough sense to know when to stop. Then becoming belligerent, aggressive, violent, damaging hotel property and worse because she was a woman.

All this because I, yes, me, David, had suggested to her after she spilt her 9th or 10th drink (beers, then wine, then brandy then rum.... just a few drinks) that perhaps she was at her limit. That lit her fuse, setting off a bomb. Consoling her with an apology and offering her a drink was just not enough. She said I had humiliated like no one had in her whole 32 years, ever. She told us how she is a big entertainment executive and that she could handle her drink, that she was not out of control, knew her limit and how could I suggest she was a loose woman? Ah, no one said anything about a loose woman, those were her own words. All her actions pointed to the contrary about control including her crying and on-going irrational anger, no matter what anyone said, her friend, included; my apology fell on deaf ears. Talk about humiliation... her own behaviour did that quite well actually as everyone watched her throw herself at the village mayor, pawing him. And she became insulting to me and threaten to write bad things about us on the web. All this after a couple of her companions slipped out of the bar to their room giving the appearance that perhaps they knew what was coming?

Later (after everyone left the bar due to this outragious behaviour), on her way up to their room, Miss Aggression Herself pushed over some plant pots smashing them to the floor below and so I had to go up to their room and ask them to leave. Having guests in the hotel who are belligerent towards you, do not respect you and make irrational, unreasonable accusations makes everyone uncomfortable, including those travelling with her, I would imagine.

So this morning, after they had their breakfast and paid their bill including covering the damage they caused, they left, without a word of apology, of thanks or even good-bye. Apparently, we were the bad guys in the end (although they had said earlier that they really enjoyed their dinner and the whole area). Guests like her don't come this way too often... well, never actually and hopefully never again. We do not need this type of aggregation from a crazed 32 year old big hotel entertainment executive. Shame on you woman for your behaviour and your friends for putting up with it; you are the one who should have known better, your behaviour was out of control and way O.T.T.

Moving on, we have friends and family arriving from Madrid, NY and Amsterdam later this week which should help make this a pleasant week despite last night, so a party is in order.

The weather is trying to warm up as we just had a bit of cold weather come our way, unexpectedly, along with some rain. But that is May for you, unstable weather and possible rain which is good for all those gorgeous wild flowers out there. In fact, the whole countryside is just choka full of wild flowers at the moment, reds, yellows, deep purples, blues, pinks, greens, etc.... all just so amazing to see.

The Juzcar mayor informs us that there will be a book fair held here in the hotel in June so another up tick, as they say on the stock market. Juzcar is now becoming a cultural location in the Upper Genal Valley and this bookfair in addition to history and mushroom seminars are positive steps toward that objective.

The Juzcar Romeria is at the end of June while the Romeria in Cartajima, our neighboring village, is on 07 June, somethings to plan for.

It is cool, wet and raining in Júzcar today. No playing poolside.

Just got my PC tower back yesterday from the IT shop; the tech told me I had a virus that caused the meltdown this time. He was unable to save anything and had to reinstall everything. Yet another nail in the coffin of the PC tower I think. With all these troubles one can encounter with a PC, I am becoming inclined to beleive that an Apple computer would be the better choice... I´m informed by MAC users that Apple products do not get infections and do not crash nearly as much as PCs do. No more MS windows would be nice. So I am looking into getting one of those now.

My ACER laptop is finally in working order with all the original softeware from the manufacturer which I had to buy extra and load myself to resolve all the problems caused by the IT store where I bought it. Fantastic, only 8 months after buying it, it finally works well.

We had a nice couple from Belgium here for 4 nights over the weekend and we also have an American guest who is spending a couple of weeks with us. She is doing some walking with the tour guide from the next village and so is exploring the area quite well. A bird watcher as well, she has recorded more than 25 varieties of bird seen already, some only heard.

Yesterday, Ivan and I saw a couple of Griffon vultures flying toward Júzcar very close to the fog that was lingering near the mountain tops. And a couple of days before that on my way to Ronda, I saw a couple of those vultures again near Cartajima, the next village. Hanging there looking for something and then shortly after that it was an eagle soaring around the mountain tops as well. The European Bee-Eater has already returned as well as all the swallows and other small birds.

The wild flowers are springing out now as well and today´s rain will help to rouse more flowers into bloom. The thistle is coming out in full force so Ineed to go out cut some to put on display in the bar.

We sold the last of the puppies this passed weekend to a young couple from Ronda. The pen-ultimate puppy went during Easter weekend to a young couple from Antequerra, here in Málaga province. They all appeared very happy and I was happy to see the little Chico heading out, now having a nice home of his own. Here is one of the last photos of the two together:

So adorable but lots of work. Ivan thinks perhaps one more litter but I am less sure about that.

Well this is it for this entry. Ciao.

Photos of our new Bandolero swimming pool are here.

Have look and do tell what you think.

The pool is finished... now all we need are some guests to use it and a bit warmer weather. It´s still quite fresh here and in the evenings, quite cool. Last night, however was more comfortable.

We had a good Easter with many guests from Sevilla staying with us who were quite nice and really enjoying themselves. My dad was visiting from NYC as well for a week; he wanted to be here for my birthday which was on Easter this year. As Ivan´s parents were here as well, we were full in the house. My dad was very popular with all the townsfolks too. He was taken around one day by a hotel guest to all the village events which included free food by the river and then the loud festivities of the townsfolks in the village center.

The weather this year was better than last as we had less rain, although rain it did a couple of the days. Last year, Semana Santa was a wash out for the bigger celebrations such as Sevilla due to a lot of rain.

We´ve planted lots of flowers and plants in the pool area, the filter finally arrived on Wednesday and has been busy cleaning the water ever since. It´s almost there, ready for a few photos. I´ll be taking some shots in a day or so when I can set up a good scenario, poolside.

We´ve got a couple from Switzerland staying with us now; there was another Swiss couple who were here earlier in the week for a night.

We also have one French Bulldog puppy left for sale. We sold the pen-ultimate one last weekend to a Spaniard from Antequerra. Honestly, I can´t wait to be rid of the last pup.... too much work now with the other dogs. And Lolita has a rash and has been to the vet three times in the last couple of weeks so we have enough work with the dogs without having to care for a pup. Any one interested locally?

Another spectacular day in the Upper Genal Valley. Brilliant sun, blue skies, birds singing!

The pool is finished being built and so is just about ready for use. We began to fill it this passed week but we are still awaiting the arrival of our filtration system and until that is here, we cannot fill the pool completely. Here is a photo of the area early last week:

It's a bit more full than this now but not complete.... and it's not big pool.... one of my sisters said in an email, "looks small, how many people does it fit?" I thought, "not so many actually" but we are small hotel and I really doubt we will have the hotel full with everyone wanting to be in the pool at the same moment so not to worry.

We have bought a whole bunch of plants and flowers and one can see the Yucca tree we already planted in the rear between the lemon tree and the wall. We've also planted some bambu and all the plants and flowers are laid out waiting to be planted. It is taking shape. In one of the photos, one can see the fountain on the wall side edge of the pool. It now has a mosaic on it that Ivan made in blue and white tiles.

Ivan also recently installed a couple of mosaics in the lavatories of the bar. Here are a couple of photos of that work:

The Blue Dragon is in the men's while....

the warm sun is in the ladies.

Ivan has recently also painted all of the rooms. One wall in each room has been painted in primary colors. I'll put some photos in the coming days.

The wild flowers are already coming into bloom. The weather had been quite comfortable but then went cold. Yesterday it was the first warm day in a few and then today it is cold once again.

The pool is coming along nicely. The team of tile workers installing the tiles inside the pool completed the sides and steps but were unable to complete the bottom due to an eye injury of one of them. We are waiting for them come and finish the bottom tiling now to fill the pool with water.

I have photos but they are not prepared to load on-line yet. I'll do that this week.

The almond flowers in Juzcar are still in bloom and, as you can see below, are just gorgeous.

We returned from our holiday on Monday, 11 February. We had a nice break away from small town Juzcar in small city Amsterdam. We stayed with our very close friends Steve and Daica in the city centre. We enjoyed a few current films in version original (films in Spanish cinemas are all dubbed over original performances and we prefer original), we ate a lot, walked around a bit, took a boat tour (Ivan had never done that before) and just rested in general. The weather was unseasonably warm and dry (only one day of rain) which also help to make it a nice holiday.

When we arrived back in Juzcar, we were pleasantly surprised to see the hole had been dug for our very own swimming pool. It is well underway now. The hole had already been prepared for the concrete base t5o be poured which happened on Tuesday. The rest of this week has been spent preparing the sides of the pool and the piping inside the walls. We also had the back wall of the hotel rendered as that had never been finished when the hotel was built. Boy! What a difference that makes in appearance. We will also have a new exterior wall built so the pool will be enclosed and private. We now expect the pool to be ready for late March.

Here is a photo of the hole as it was last Tuesday morning (12-02-2008):

I'll put some other photos on this site when I have them prepared of the pool construction as well as the new look of the rooms Ivan painted before we went on holiday. I have not photographed the rooms yet but I think they look quite nice. Our current guests also appreciate the work Ivan has done.

The weather is not that bad but not so great either since we returned. The levante which has kept many fishing boats in port is having an affect up here in the mountains as well. Last night, it was very blustery and damp cold, the worst cold. But today it is a bit more mild, temperature-wise but one can see the misty clouds coming over the mountain tops from the coast. The air has a dirty look about it.

More later.

Yet another warm, bright, sunny day. Yesterday, the temperatures were around 20C here in the valley, a bit lower in Ronda. Very unseasonably warm.

All the wild almond trees are now in bloom, which is about the right timing. Every year since we have been here, these trees have started to bloom in January, so now is about the time. There are small purple crocuses as well dotting the mountainsides; quite lovely.

The renovation work across the road from the hotel on the lookout is just about finished. I'll have to snap a photo and install here for readers to see.

We have been busy redecorating a bit in the last few days. Ivan has painted a couple of the rooms; one wall in each room with a different color than the plain white which we've had since day one. Yes, the white is traditional and perhaps rustic, but a splash of color will make the rooms more distinctive and hopefully more cosy. I've been finishing the shelves we bought to put in the rooms and also am re-painting the hanging sign we had with the name of the hotel. The sign had become very difficult to read the hotel name, defeating the whole point of having a sign out there.

Once we have our pool completed, which we are hoping will be in early April, we will also install the name of the hotel above the pool, in tiles that we had made quite a while back. These tiles were just sitting in a box for the longest time so I finally removed them to have a look. There was some minor adjustments we wanted to make which we've now done. Once the pool is completed, the tiles will go up adding more color on the building than has been there. The whole hotel is white WHITE and it is a bit too much.... we were trying to find a way to make it less so and colors and plants will make the difference. I have to get some geraniums in early March as the ones I had have dried up and died so there is no color there, just empty pots hanging in the walls (I've now removed them). Anyway, many things to keep us occupied in these quiet times with no clients.

Today is yet another bright clear day. Yesterday, the temperature here in the valley was about 19C while in Ronda it was more like 13C so much more comfortable weather here in Juzcar.

We have been trying to keep ourselves busy with "things" as it is very quiet here at the moment so it is a bit boring. We've changed our operating hours for the month as there is no one around after lunch. We are closed after lunch until at least mid-February.... that's not to say that there are a who;e lot of folks around for lunch either but IF there are people around, it's more likely during the day than after lunch into the evening.

We ordered a big Yucca to plant by the pool once that's completed. Our pool should be underway in the next few weeks. We've agreed all aspects of it with the contractor and the town hall inspector who had to agree the project. Now I am just waiting for the final paper approvals to arrive and then we can hopefully get the project underway. We expect it to be completed by mid-April which will be just perfect timing, if that works out. We had to change the project from what we originally envisioned as that was going to cost too much money and the architect did not really like our idea... he kept coming up with obstacles. We took care of that by firing the architect (no point in having a consultant work for you that tells you "not possible" all the time without providing an alternative idea, eh?) and changed the plan in the end anyway more related to the cost than the "could not" factor, if you will. Anyway, we think we will be very happy with the end result and we will have our own pool for our own clients on our property (instead of having to send them next door). We will also have a new exterior wall built, a terrace, a fountain (we think) and then have a new garden area around the back of the hotel. The back end of the hotel will also finally get a finished facade on it which will complete the hotel.

The village is also undertaking some works. Across the road from the hotel, the mirador (look-out point) is getting a face lift. The ugly chain-link fence has been removed and a brick wall with brick columns and iron railings is being installed; the bricks are in place now and only the fencing needs to be installed which is sitting there waiting to be installed. Then the ugly iron green fence across from the hotel is also going to be replaced with the same sort of brick/iron wall. It should be a great improvement to the entrance of the village.

The village is also installing a sidewalk and wall on the other side of the village from where we are and that is looking pretty good; that project has been underway for months but it is only being done by the part-time village workers so it is slow going where as the project across from the hotel is being done by a contractor.

We sold one of our puppies the other day..... good news. So we have three left to go (we have five but two are fro the male dog owner). They are getting big and will soon be escaping from the box where we keep them which is going to be a headache so I hope to sell a couple more this coming week.

We will be closing the hotel for our holiday at the end of the month for a couple of weeks. We are thinking of going to Amsterdam again this year to visit our friends there who may be leaving Europe this year. Alternatively, we may go to Morocco as it is near-by and inexpensive. We'll see where we go but I am definitely looking forward to a holiday away from here.

My PC went down again this week. Suddenly in the middle of doing something, the PC froze. I had no choice but to re-boot and when I did so, it would not restart as there was a "corrupt or missing file in the system registry. This is something I just don't understand.... this PC technology... my clock does not do this to me, nor my TV, radio, telephone. All these things just continue working normally if handled correctly. But the PC, for no given reason, will all of a sudden decide it is not going to function for you and BOOM, you're done. I had to take it into Ronda to have a technician fix it for me. Then he did not bother to reconfigure the PC the way it was before so I am still re-installing all the stuff that I had on here including MS XP Service Pack 2. Oh what a pain and it will function fine until the next time whenever that will be!! Oh the horror of modern technology.... it is so helpful and so frustrating at the same time. Now I have to restart the PC after having installed SP2 so adios for now amigos.