Latest news from HumbleBee Home Andalucía, September 2010

Dear friends!

There is a light drizzle in the air today and the feeling of autumn is slowly sinking in. We do have approximately 25 degrees C, so it’s not too bad. The summer weather has been very pleasant, just a few days with a heat wave in August with temperatures up towards 40 degrees C. We have already had a bit of rain, but not as powerful as what we had in September last year. Enrique and Alberto have been here with the sheep and grazed down what was left of dry grass and a bit of the weeds. They had a go under the fig trees as well and enjoyed eating all the downfallen figs. According to Enrique, they love figs, but apparently their stomachs get a bit upset by them . We had plenty of grapes this summer and there are still a few left for our guests to enjoy if they get them before the wasps take them. So far we have not made any fig marmalade, but there is still some fruit left on the trees, so we can still make it.

We have also been through the last chapter (at least we are crossing our fingers it is the last) of sewage problems. Another pipe had broken and roots had found their way in. It has been fixed and everything seems to be working perfect now. Hopefully a long time will pass before we have more problems on that end. Apart from this, we haven’t been up to very much since the last news letter. The summer is a bit too warm to start any outdoor projects.

The summer has been a bit too slow for our liking when it comes to visitors. September has picked up though. We hope for a lot of guests during the last quarter to reach the end of the year more or less in balance.

And definitely, there are a lot of temptations when it comes to happenings in the months to come, i.e.:

  • Día de Sopa Perota in Álora happens this year on Saturday October 2nd
  • Feria in Fuengirola 6-12 October
  • In December it is time for villancicos, Spanish Christmas songs, accompanied by the zambomba and the pandero
  • The Christmas streets of Málaga are well worth a visit
  • Christmas and New Year Celebrations at Posada HumbleBee Home
  • Christmas Day verdiales (music and dancing ) in La Higuera
  • Día de los Reyes, January 5th/6th. In Spain the Holy Three Kings bring gifts for the children. On the evening of January 5th there are processions in all cities and villages with the kings. During the night the kings visit the children and put the presents under their bed
  • January/February – the almond trees are in flower, a beautiful view!
  • February 2nd, Día de Candelaria, the night of the bonfires. You will see several bonfires around us
  • February – Matanza (“slaughtering party”) in Ardales. A village fair where they serve food and drinks and have stalls where they sell local produce
  • February 28th, Andalusias day
  • April – Semana Santa – the Easter week is greatly celebrated in Spain, with processions in all cities and villages. For those of you who have not yet experienced it, it is a must!

Día de Sopa Perota in Álora is the first thing on the calendar. It has become a big happening since it started 7 years ago. The town hall orders enough Sopa Perota, the “national food” of Álora, to feed up to 10.000 people and it is all free as long as there is more left. There is also flamenco singing, guitar playing and flamenco dancing performed by local artists. A pure Spanish fair like only the Spanish know how to make it.

In December they organize a beneficiary Christmas concert in Álora for a project in Guinea. We were there last year and it was a really great experience. A local choir, established last year, are these days starting up their practicing and we are looking forward to participating as spectators this year as well. The date has not been fixed yet, but we expect it to be in the beginning of December.

The biggest news since the last news letter is of course that we now have internet at home. It was installed in the beginning of July and we can now offer all our guests wireless access. This also works in the rooms so it is now possible to come here for a combined working holiday. As we now are online (not all the time though), we have sent an application to be on We have heard from many guests that this page is frequently used for reservations. They have online booking and in risk of double bookings, we were not able to use it earlier. We are waiting for the response to see if we are accepted  We have a few more comments on and we hope that more of you register and add some comments about your stay with us. It will hopefully help us to get more guest. We would also like to remind you about the guestbook on our web-pages, we would like more people to see all the nice reviews that we receive from our guests.

We wish you all a lovely autumn and of course hope to see many of you here at Posada HumbleBee Home in Andalucía!

HumbleBee regards from

Anette & Grethe