We went to Las Navas del Marques last weekend to participate in the first day of the annual fiesta there. Las Navas is a village in Avila province in Castilla y Leon and is Ivan's home town. We drove through the night on 2 July to arrive at 7.30 AM in Las Navas. Slept until about 12PM and then off to have some tapas and see friends, fmaily and acquaintances there.

The big night was Saturday. Our friends who currently live in Madrid came up to pass the evening with us. The children had a good time as there were a few kiddy rides as well as those big blown up balloon play areas for kids without shoes.

After dinner we all got ready and went out starting with the dancing in the plaza. We passed the whole night more or less around the plaza with a couple of paseos up and down the Avenida Principal . Music started at midnight with the first band playing mainly pasa dobles (a popular Spanish dance) and then around 1.30 changed to second group who played more contemporary type music. It was a good night in terms of weather as well so all had a good time. By 6.15 AM I decided it was time to turn in and so retired to bed at 6.30 while those still remaining of the our group straggled one by one off to bed as well, except for Ivan and Antonio who did not see their beds until later that Sunday.

Ivan's cousin Danny is a bullfighter and he was doing a bull fight Sunday afternoon and it was the first time he was doing that in the Las Navas Annual fiesta so all the family went to see (and support) him including Ivan. The tickets were quite expensive for a small village bull fight (more than Madrid so I heard say) so I did not go, I had a nap instead and then a wonder down tha main street, eating sun flower seeds as is a big custom here and waiting for Gabriel and Natalia to turn up (they also missed the bull fight). Sunday evening was a big family gathering on a terrace on the main street which was quite entertaining.

We drove home on Monday afternoon; the drove from Madrid to Juzcar is more or less seven hours. I was pleased to see some roadworks in progress as that Autopista was in dire need of a resurfacing and that's exactly what it was getting.

We were able to head north for the weekend as bookings so far this month are pretty sad; in other words we closed the hotel for the weekend. We have a couple of more bookings this month but nothing to write home about, even with the fantastic offers we have put on.

We have been spending some time organising our new apartment and getting more things moved over from the house.

It is very hot in the sun here. The air temperature is comfortable and there is even a cool breeze at times but the sun... is hot. Hot dry sun, great weather for sitting by the pool and reading a book and sipping a tall cool refreshing drink. Hey, I think I am going to head over the pool right now and finish that book I've been reading.

Fourth of July weekend here in Juzcar and it is quiet and quite hot!! We had a couple of rooms this weekend but otherwise it is too quiet. Took a booking yesterday for late July but we need to have a few more in this month for the month to pay for itself... sabes. July here in the Serrania is always quiet but this is just too quiet... I mean there is quiet and then there is dead and that is what it is like here at the moment. Even with the offers we have on at the moment, we are getting very few inquiries. I know we are in the same boat as many here in the Ronda area but that hardly makes it easier to bear with these slow hot quiet days ("daze!!" actually).

I am trying to not spend so much time working on the hotel website now as well. After almost five years of working on it almost daily, updating, optimizing, it just gets to the point where it should be going solo with some tweaks here and there but not daily... at least that's what I think. Is there someone out there reading this that can advise me otherwise or confirm my own thoughts on that? I know we appear in many Google results which is good and that's what I have been aiming for.

We finally moved into the hotel last week. July first was the day exactly; the first of July was also the anniversary of my accident last year when I fell through a barrel and broke three ribs. Yes, ouch yet again. And they have not fully healed yet either. I have an appointment in Ronda tomorrow for an x-ray to see how they are doing but at times I can still feel them move like they never did before 01 July 2008.

Anyway, the re-location into our newly created apartment was a big highlight of the month... on the first day of the month. I still have to install the handles onto the new closets we bought from Ikea but the bedroom is functional. The lounge area is coming together slowly as we are bringing things over from the house bit by bit... the the entertainment system is in place now, meaning the TV, stereo, DVD players, etc. Even the sofa & lighting are there now so it is all starting to feel like home. And I do not miss the house one bit.

That will be our next project in the coming weeks, furnishing the house, so that we can rent it as a holiday home in addition to the rooms in the hotel. It is a bit of a bummer to have to make that investment but better to have the house ready for letting to someone rather than sit empty and still having to pay for it. Ikea is having a sale soon so that should help.

Meanwhile all the new terrace doors for the hotel rooms have been installed and look great. No more dry wooden doors that leak and are not well insulated. we have to still install this special curtain that will make the rooms a bit more insulated from the heat and the cold in the respective seasons and keep the room darker for those guests wanting a lie-in. We still to install the new door for the bar which we have but have yet to install. We have to purchase the glass blocks which will fill in the space around the door as we are changing that from two doors to one door so the whole bar entrance will have a new look. And when the sun light is coming in during the late afternoon, the bar should be glowing with a lot of colours once those glass blocks are in place.

My recent visit to New York was a nice break but unfortunately, the whole of the north-eastern US was having a very wet spring; it was reported that for the month of June, there were 19 or 20 days of rain. I was in NY for 10 days and it rained for eight of them; the one day I spent in Manhattan on my own, it rained from about from 2PM to about 6PM and at times it was pouring down. Of course I was wet and then sticky as well because NY is a very humid place. Times Square is so completely different today than when I last lived in NY and I really don't like it. Too middle America now (nothing wrong with middle America in middle America, not in mid-town NYC). Packed as well with lots and lots of tourists, some sleeping in those beach loungers Mayor Bloomberg has temporarily installed there... a strange site indeed. And the traffic jams, everywhere I went during the whole week with my sister, we encountered mucho traffic, too much. Everyday, every highway by-way, motorway, packed with cars in every direction, bumper to bumper... it's no wonder there is so much road rage around. In fact my sister informed me that NY is number one for road rage in the country, sadly.

Anyway, back here in quiet Juzcar during my absence, I missed the village's annual romeria, the day festival with horses, picnics, dancing and singing in the countryside. Ivan had a few good days of business with returning clients who missed me. And some lunch trade as well (of which there is none this weekend).

I joined an on-line book club thanks to my friends Dan and Carol who were here in May. They recommended this website where friends can share what they are reading and make comments on and rank books they are reading or are interested in reading. This website is called www.goodreads.com . One must open an account and then one can list books read, or books to read and invite friends and family to share.

Update on the dogs; Bandit, our French bulldog, is going to have more puppies. We are expecting them between 29 July and 5 August. It will most likely still be quiet for us then so a good time to have a few pups around.

And finally, we will be closed from 9 - 13 July as we are going to visit Ivan's village up in Avila for the annual summer fiesta there. It has been more than a couple of years since Ivan last went and he is excited as we are also going with a couple of friends from Ronda so that should be fun and it won't be as hot there as it is here. And it IS hot here, hot, hot, hot!! But it is refreshing to jump into the pool and cool off before lounging poolside with my latest new book which is where I am headed right now.

Hasta la proxima.