When was the birth of your Grandma and what you were saying the middle name of the paternal grandfather was? Are your children actually vaccinated against yellow fever?

These are not really the asked questions when you apply for a new water connection but they almost are, trust us. And sometimes it can be a waste of time. The business and the paperwork in Spain remains a challenge we can get used to… but with difficulty. There are new offices that want to have all of the information you can think of. Fortunately, Helga has more patience with everything related to paperwork than Ton. Eventually, you have to follow the flow.

Hotel

It is early July and the Summer has finally come to Ojen. Temperatures are around 30 degrees and that will not change for the next two months. Furthermore, La Posada del Angel has had a formidable Spring and we are happy for that. From Semana Santa in March we have been really busy with our hotel: always a lot of rooms occupied and many of our guests found our hotel via the familiar booking engines such as “Eliza was here” and, fortunately, via our website.  What a difference from last year when we were in the middle of remodelling!

Our guests come from nearly everywhere. About 40% are Dutch, followed by about 25% who are Spanish. The rest of the guests come from England, USA, France, Austria, Russia, China, etc., etc.

The pool appears to be a good attraction for our hotel, although it doesn’t seem to be the place to camp out all day lying on a bed next to it (we don’t have them). But it is a possibility to refresh after a nice day at the beach, hiking or golfing, with or without a cool drink afterwards.

The new patio next to the pool

Summer

The rest of the Summer looks very busy too, especially in August, when there are quite a few days “sold out”, while the phone starts to ring for September. The Summer occupation is fine thanks to the constant presence of “trainees” from the Netherlands. Currently, Chrissie and Charlotte help us with daily affairs. They also put together activities that our guests can take. For example, today they have gone for an extra hike of about 2 ½ hours (we hope so, otherwise we will send the dog handler off) from Ojen. And yesterday, they made a challenging kind of sport using a GPS (Geocaching), in which you can find scattered treasures everywhere. From now on we have a GPS and a basic explanation available for our guests. And those searching for days with more tension can visit El Camino del Rey, a more inland walking/climbing activity.

Juan

For quite some time we were looking for help throughout the year. Last month we found it. Juan, a 24-year-old Spaniard from Marbella. Not only is Juan very excited about it but he also finds the hotel very nice and he speaks fluent English too. Now, he helps us to communicate with the Spanish authorities, which makes everything a lot faster and more efficient.

The boys and us

The 11-week holiday has started. For a week, we went to Portugal, to Lisbon and to the coast to have some fun together (our hotel was in good hands). After our arrival, we received the final school reports. We are very happy and very proud but we were hardly surprised by the reports of Jochem. For the third time in a row, it was all purely SBs (“sobresaliente”, which means from 9 to 10). Next year, he is going to stay in the following group, but he is also going to take some lessons from the higher level.  Now he is taking English lessons every day during a month at an English language school in Marbella. The surprise this year came from Siebe: after a year of very hard work, lots of extra homework and daily attention, specially Helga, he ended the year with a stunning report: everything was satisfactory, including Spanish, and even four 8’s. Now Siebe visits a local summer school: together with friends, they swim, play and do crafts. A great program in our fight against the I-pads and TV.

On top of a dune in Bolonia (Tarifa)

With the arrival of Juan, we get some more air and it is sometimes possible to get away together to go play golf together or just to do something different. We also made a number of trips last Spring, and thanks to that we are able to share with our guests these experiences. We cycled in a beautiful nature on an old railway line (Via Verde) near Ronda and then we made a trip from Tarifa to Seville. That’s the nice thing about living here: we gradually get to know the area better. These discoveries and other news are posted regularly on Facebook by us. If you want to stay informed, sign up as a friend of La Posada del Angel. You can also find these news on our website: www.laposadadelangel.net

If you want to stay informed, you can “like” our page on Facebook called La Posada del Angel. Furthermore, you can find “news” also on our website www.laposadadelangel.net

After Summer, we will send you the new programmes we are now making with more day trips, overnight trips, walks, golf packages, winter activities, etc. Maybe this is a good reason to come and stay at our hotel or our Spanish finca.

Helga and Ton