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.