Snap elections called in Spain over the housing crisis, we took Lecinia to Montrondo her grandfather, Constante's village, Cuban Spanish cousin reunion, photos from Eladio's past, home again, return to Gibraltar and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 11th October, 2026

Eladio's family with their Cuban cousin Lecinia this week

Hi again everyone. How has your week been? As always on a Sunday, here is the story of our week.

Last Sunday we had a leisurely morning. It was our cousin Lecinia's second day with us. If you read last week's blog, you will know she is the granddaughter of Constante, brother of Eladio's maternal grandmother also called Lecinia, who emigrated from Montrondo aged just 17 to Cuba and never came back. This is the trip of her lifetime, a trip to her Spanish roots. 

We went on a walk together and took her to have a very typical Spanish breakfast; "chocolate con churros". It was a lovely sunny day and we all enjoyed the walk and the churros.

On our walk with Lecinia and Pippa last Sunday

Tana was away so I made lunch which I hoped our cousin would like: chickpea stew followed by chicken waldorf salad. We had a leisurely afternoon too until it was time for dinner but I couldn't face food. Since I have been on Mounjaro I am never hungry in the evenings. 

Unbelievably that day in Ceuta, the police were dismantling the campsites on the beaches made by thousands of illegal Moroccans who had crossed into the Spanish territory over 2 months ago. They were to be rounded up and taken to be counted and their request to stay in Spain processed. Many of them knew they would never get asylum so a lot of them escaped. Why did the government take over 2 months to clear the beaches? There are two possible answers: the King is visiting this week which will also anger the Moroccans and secondly for political and electoral reasons. Pedro Sánchez knows people are angry at his inaction in the Ceuta immigrant crisis and wants it to be over for the elections.

Monday came and predictably Sánchez called for a snap election on 29th November. This came after the housing crisis exploded brought about by the eviction of 87 year old Mari Carmen from the house she had lived in for 70 years but was paying a pittance for. The previous Friday he had tried to get two housing decrees passed by Parliament favouring tenants but leading to total vulnerability  for landlords, of which 92% are private owners most of the whom only own one second property to make ends meet. Sánchez is now going to champion housing in his electoral campaign when he did nothing in 8 years. What he did do though was to increase the demand by giving residency to over a million immigrants. He had hoped they would vote for him but didn't stop to think where they would be able to live.  The decrees, if they go through and he is trying to go another route, will only make landlords unwilling to rent and thus sell their properties. In Spain it is dangerous to rent a property as so many tenants become squatters who you can never get to leave. 

Olivia was reporting that morning from the Socialist government party HQ but I didn't see her. We, meanwhile, were on our way to Montrondo with Lecinia. We stopped as we often do at Bodega Palacio de Bornos. We wanted her to enjoy the wine and ham there which I know she did. Here is a photo of that lovely moment in one of my favourite places.

Eladio and Lecinia in Rueda at the Bodega Palacio de Bornos on Monday

We arrived to a warm house as my dear neighbour Salo had put the heating on for us. She had also got us a loaf of local bread. We soon settled in and Eladio and Leci had some lunch but I wasn't hungry after the wine and ham in Rueda. 

Soon Eladio's younger sister, Pili, was with us, having come specially from León to spend time in Montrondo with her cousin. When they were children they were pen friends and Pili and her husband Andrés (RIP) saw her when they visited Cuba in 2012. It was a sweet reunion. We took her for a walk around the village and got some eggs from Manolo for our dinner. Here are some photos we took that rather wet afternoon.

Lecinia on her first day in Montrondo

We all had dinner together at our house and spent time chatting about the family. There was so much to talk about. We also talked about the crisis in Cuba. Cuba was always in our conversations.

Tuesday dawned and it was sunny for a while. Pili joined us outside the back of our house and she found me teaching Lecinia Montrondo vocabulary. I told her the stone bench she was sitting on was called a "poyo" of which there are many in the area. I also told her that our little gathering was called a "calecho". The vocabulary lesson continued: "emporcarse" (to get dirty), "mancarse" to get a stain and "sorrocar" (to get rid of) and many more. I took a photo of the "calecho" to remember the moment.

A "callecho" - gathering outside the back of our house

When we were all ready, we took her to the church, first getting the key from my neighbour. This was the church her grandfather, Constante, would have been baptised in. Here is a photo of her with Pili and Eladio on our way.

Showing Lecinia the village

I then made her walk up the steep stone steps to the belfry to show her the marvellous view. While there and much to Pili's chagrin, I actually dared ring one of the bells which is strictly prohibited. 

We asked Lecinia what her impressions of the village were. Her reply was that it was much bigger than she had imagined. She loved the green and the mountains and the peace which we all love too.  We also visited the cemetery where she saw the family graves. When she had had her fill of the village  we drove to Senra for our morning coffee. It is the only place with a bar, the grumpy man's bar is what we call it as you may have read before.

I made lunch for us all including chips which she so misses as potatoes are hard to come by in her country. From what I gather the staple food is beans and rice and not much more. We are so lucky here but take everything we have for granted.

It was over coffee at Pili's in the afternoon that my sister-in-law got out old photos of the family. There were some treasures I had never seen of Eladio when he was young which I have to include here for posterity. One was taken on the day of the celebration of his ordainment. There was also one of his being ordained lying flat on his stomach at the Cathedral in León but I didn't like that one. I do like this one with the young men from the village and the one below of him opening a church with a big key. 

Photos from Eladio's past

He was aged 23 imagine - almost 60 years ago. I sent them to the family Whatsapp group and Elliot saw them. He commented "Booboo" looks just the same but with wrinkles and that his mother, Olivia, has more wrinkles now than Eladio did then. That had us in stitches. 

Later Pili sent us one of Constante obviously taken in Cuba probably in the 1930's

Constante. Lecinia's grandfather born in Montrondo 

Wednesday was the anniversary of the 7th October Hamas attacks on Israel. Just look what that led us to. On the other side of the world in the US, a prisoner called Christine Pike was to be executed by a lethal injection. Neither the first nor the second injection worked and the prisoner is recovering in hospital. It is so barbaric that the US still has the death penalty. Even worse, this week it was announced that Nidal Malik Hasan former US Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at a military base, is to be executed by a military firing squad on 3rd December.  Not only that, but it will be live streamed on television; i.e. a public execution. This is beyond disgusting and on a par with repressive regimes who carry out public executions like Iran or Afghanistan. But this is happening in the USA and it shouldn't be. It is barbaric. Shame on the USA.

Far away in little and peaceful Montrondo where nothing like this happens, we were in our own little bubble. We were awaiting the arrival of Eladio's other siblings and their partners who were coming from León to meet Lecinia. The only sibling missing was José Antonio who was in Madrid and who had already hosted our Cuban cousin for a  week. Once we had all greeted each other, it was time for a group photo. I took it so am not in it but I don't mind. 

The Cuban Spanish cousin reunion in Montrondo on Wednesday

From left to right - back row: Pili, Alejandro, Yoli, Primo and Adela, Front row Isidro, Eladio and Lecinia. What a happy photo 

We soon left for Senra about 4km away to the grumpy man's bar, Cumbres de Omaña to have lunch together. The food there is basic but good home made fare. The photo illustrating this week's post is of all of us having lunch together on Wednesday. It was simply a marvellous reunion and I think Lecinia must have felt the emotion of the gathering. We all did, really.

All good things come to an end, although this meet up will remain in our memories for a very long time. I will never forget it. We went home to have a siesta and I was asleep when dear Pili left. Later Lecinia and I braved the rain and put on some wellies and raincoats and went to get more eggs from Manolo to take home to Madrid. That night I made 2 small Spanish tortillas (made with eggs, potatoes and onions) using  some from the previous dozen I had bought. No supermarket eggs can beat the quality of the eggs in Montrondo. 

Very late that night we had a visit from more cousins - Eva who was the granddaughter of Constante and Lecinia's other brother, Elías and her son Víctor. Víctor a bachelor who lives in Asturias and works as an ambulance driver is a staunch communist and described Cuba as the last symbol or bastion of communism. I pointed out that there were also Nicaragua and North Korea but my words fell on deaf ears. The conversation was very pro the Cuban regime which I am afraid I cannot agree with. Cuba for me is a symbol that communism doesn't work. There is hardly any electricity which means hardly any internet, sporadic ability to communicate, cook or do anything else. Even water is scarce and don't get me started on the subject of fuel, food  or medicines or lack of. Pension are just 4 euros a month. How can people live like that and yet still support the regime and blame America for all their troubles? Because they are blindfolded and still believe that Cuba will be victorious. I feel for its people though. 

I went to bed late with my head throbbing. And just before I fell asleep I heard that the now famous Mari Carmen, the evicted 87 year old lady had died. She has, of course, become a martyr and is being used for political benefit. That whole story is a shambles. It is sad she was evicted but the house she was paying peppercorn rent for was not hers and when she was offered multiple alternatives, she refused them all. In the end the authorities gave into her which I call favouritism. I am a bit fed up of her story and all that it is leading too. What really needs to happen in this country is to stop the squatting and build social housing. If the government prohibits evicting vulnerable people, nobody is going to rent a property to vulnerable people. Is that so difficult to understand? Sorry about my ranting.

Thursday dawned, the day we were leaving. On our way we stopped in Riello a village near León where my nephew and his wife live.. He is my favourite nephew.  Theirs was another sweet reunion. 

Another reunion with Lecinia, this time with Miguel and Claudia

On our way home, reading my phone, I saw an email from Airbnb. It read: "You are an unstoppable Superhost, Masha!" I had continued to be a Superhost for the last year and ever since I started in 2017. It was a proud moment. The day before, two guests from Boston, Paul and Jennifer wrote this to me: "This place is absolutely lovely. We just discovered the book you have written about your father and I am eager to look at it more closely". The next morning I met them. What a delightful couple they are and I was so happy to hear from Jennifer that she had finished the book and loved it. Music to my ears. She told me she was a teacher of writing which flattered me as I am not a professional writer but she seems to like my writing. Thank you Jennifer.

We arrived home on time for lunch and to pay the builders the second payment for the huge job they are doing on the terrace. No sooner had we eaten and unpacked, we had to go out again, this time to pick up the kids from school. It was great to see Elliot and Juliet who greeted us so enthusiastically. We spent some quality time with them at home until Olivia arrived to pick them up. At 5 and 7 they are a lot less of a handful and are a joy. 

Friday came, Lecinia's last day with us. That morning we took her to a big shopping centre, Gran Plaza 2 in Majadahonda. I don't think she had ever seen anything like it. After a coffee and a pastry, we went round the shops. First we went into Zara where we didn't find anything and then into Primark where I got a jumper for myself and for my cousin. From Gran Plaza we went to do the shopping before our  road trip to Gibraltar and Morocco today. I think she was stunned at the range and quality of the produce in the supermarkets compared to Cuba. Who wouldn't be? Why do we have everything and they have nothing? I think I know the answer to that: communism doesn't work but she doesn't agree. 

The rest of the day was very quiet. We had a good long chat after dinner - another "calecho" where Eladio recited a beautiful poem by José Zorrilla about a Christian Princess from León who is captured by the Moors and taken to Granada. Called "Corriendo por la vega", you can read about it here. I told Lecinia that one of the reasons I fell in love with Eladio was because he is so cultured. His memory is amazing.

I did not sleep well that night and woke up short of sleep on Saturday morning. Yesterday Lecinia left but not for Cuba. She is extending her stay to look after a friend of her sister Rosa who is recovering from a stroke. I hope everything goes well for her. It was wonderful to have her and sad to say goodbye.

Oli and the kids were coming for lunch which was all preprepared by Tana, bless her. We pottered around until it was time for Lecinia to leave for Illescas. By then Suzy had arrived too so we were all there to say goodbye.

Lunch was just us with no guests coming until later. A couple from Vigo came in the afternoon and three young boys from the Canary Islands. They have to come to some event at a discotheque so I hope they behave themselves. My least favourite guests are groups of young boys. I might be wrong. I spent the rest of the  afternoon packing for our trip today.

Today is Sunday and we are going on a road trip with no return date. We shall sleep tonight in a town called Andújar in Jaén and continue our journey on Monday to Gibraltar where we will stay for 3 nights at the legendary Rock Hotel. After that we want to visit Ceuta and see it with our own eyes and also travel to Tangiers and maybe Tetuan. When we first met in the summer of 1980 we did a road trip to Morocco staying in Ceuta and in Tetuán but that is such a long time ago. At the time we couldn't visit Gibraltar as Franco had closed the border and it wasn't opened again until 1985. Just for fun I have dug out a photo Eladio took of me by the closed border when I was just 23. Wow!

Me in the summer of 1980 outside the closed border with Gibraltar aged just 23.

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We went back there with my father 28 years later in 2008 which was great fun.  I have dug out a picture of me there when the border was opened. 

Me by the Rock of Gibraltar in 2008 aged 51

This week I shall take another one to have a trio of photos of trips to Gib, aged 23, 51 and now 69. 

Only recently was the border fully opened to all traffic after the Brexit fiasco. It's not the monkeys I want to see. I am more interested in the M&S and Morrisons there, hahahaha.

Now I must publish this post now before we leave. You will hear all about our travels in next week's blog post which at the moment I don't know where I will be writing from as I have only booked the first 4 nights. We shall see.

Cheers everyone,

Masha