2017 Year's End

Over the last year, Isla Bonita has welcomed over 60 travelers from all over the world. We gave them a place to relax, do projects, and make art. Some have even returned to see our progress. Many have had a wonderful time and a great experience. I have most of all loved meeting and bonding with people and sharing amazing times together. I was always amazed how the community around us showed great support and gave us donations of all kinds. Thank you to all the travelers who contributed amazing art and good vibes.
At Isla Bonita we have created a art gallery, a place to sell homemade crafts, a table of art by donation, a free thrift store, phycadelic bar, café, and sleeping courters for 11 people. We even do Happy Hour with a open mic jam and tapas on Friday's to help raise donations for "Old Girl" the dog who now a days needs medicine. We feel we did everything that we have intended to do with Isla Bonita and them some with the help of everyone.
Now is the time our family moves forward onto new adventure's. A couple came to Isla Bonita and fell in love with the place. They had already planned on living out their lives in Aguilas Spain. Isla Bonita is just the place for them. They have happy hearts and make crafts. Their names are Gretchen and Phillipe  from Belgium. They plan on continuing Isla Bonita and welcoming artists. We are very fortunate to have met them. The last thing our family wanted was for Isla Bonita to just become another abandoned house in Spain again. Our family felt we did a good thing with Isla Bonita and we are excited to see what project we'll get into next.

Jean Pierre

Jean Pierre has been coming to Isla Bonita since early summer. He lives with his sister who takes care of him, not far from here. He's from France and speaks French, gibberish, and a tad Spanish. Jean loves it here. When we play music, Jean dances, plays instruments, and sometimes sings along. He also likes to paint. We'll set him up with a paint station and let him have at it. One guy, French Leo, put tape on the canvas and had Jean paint over it. The next day, Leo put more tape on it and Jean painted another layer of paint. 3 times they did that and it created a beautiful painting that we hung in our living room. It brings him lots of joy. His art is displayed also in our art gallery. Just as the sun rises, Jean sneaks out of his home and arrives here just waiting until someone wakes up to hang out with. He visits 3 times a day and in between walks the whole town. Everyone knows him. Before Isla Bonita, Jean wouldn't talk to anyone. Now he has all kinds of conversations with people whether they understand him or not. My name is Madame Le Plume from Alaska. Meaning Lady of Feathers. I used to wear a feather in my hair is how I received the name. Now my new name is Madame Florista since I no longer wear the feather and now wear a flower in my hair. Jean every day brings me feathers and flowers. Together we put his flowers all over the place and paint his feathers that he brings. Right before we left, we gave him a bicycle to ride and all the bike gear he needs. It made Jean so happy. Not sure the last time he rode a bike but it made my day to see Jean Pierre ridding all around Isla Bonita with a big smile on his face. Jean brings Isla Bonita so much happy energy and passes it along.

Holliday's

Holidays are funny at Isla Bonita. We're all from somewhere different. Most of the Holidays that my family celebrates  being from United States, they don't celebrate here in Europe of course. Halloween is one of them. They just started celebrating Halloween in some cities in Spain as early as 2 years ago. Most countries it's forbidden to celebrate for they see it as a devil's holiday. At Isla Bonita we all dressed up in whatever silly outfit we could find in our thrift store. We put on a scary movie and ate tons of candy.
The second weekend in December, Seth and I sold our crafts at the Christmas Market. It took place in Plaza de Espanya and lasted 3 days. They had the homemade sweets guy, performer's, poinsettia lady, homemade soaps, and the rest was jewelry made in China. Funny Christmas Market selection.
Christmas was celebrated at Isla Bonita by a huge chicken Paella that we made. A couple named Dick and Mirah from Scotland, donated us a giant bag of chicken for the holiday. I surprised everyone with elephant gifts. It was quite here, since most of our long time members left and went home to celebrate Christmas with their families. Melly from Germany, Mattie and Simon from England, and Leo and Roxanne from Poland all left. A fun surprise was a guy named Sebastian from Poland returned back here. He's been here 3 or 4 times now. We celebrated Christmas the usual date of the 25th. Some places here do December 5 for St. Nicholas and others January 6th for the Three kings Day since they came with gifts. Funny cause I took our Charlie Brown Christmas tree down a day or two after Christmas. Then I found out Christmas hasn't even begun yet here in Spain.