Fiesta forever!

Happy fiesta! As you read this blog, here in Ibiza it is an official ‘fiesta’ – the Spanish equivalent* of a bank holiday or public holiday, depending on where you’re from – and so I am taking a rest from the computer and soaking up the sunshine with the rest of the island’s population (although I must say I do know a beach that’s still secluded at this time of year, and that’s where you’ll find me), while we still can.

*Fun fact: Spain has more public holidays per year than any other country across the globe, and Ibiza has more public holidays than any other town in Spain!

Now I know it may sound like I’m bragging here, but let me assure you, life in Ibiza is far from a permanent fiesta for most of its residents. Sure, the party season runs seven days a week, for four months of the year, we have about a zillion public holidays (imagine – a holiday dedicated to the patron saint of each town: Santa Gertrudis, San Juan, San Jordi, San Rafael, San Antonio, Santa Ines and the list goes on and on…), and it has a reputation as a holiday town, but from the inside looking out I can promise you… it’s very much a worker’s town too!

While many of our readers are eagerly researching their hotels, meticulously planning their itineraries, plotting their holiday wardrobes and booking their valuable holiday time with their employers, our colleagues, clients and friends here on the island are gearing up for your arrival.

Soon many of them will work seven days a week – yes really, from June until September – or work two jobs missing out on parties, dinners, beach time and fun in order to make and save as much money as they can so they can enjoy the winter time. Fiesta forever? We wish!

So in summer 2014, I implore each and every one of you: when you visit the white isle on holiday, spare a thought for the guy driving your taxi, for the hotel receptionist checking you in, for the waitress bringing your coffee, the chef slinging your food, the beach boy carrying your day bed, the girl behind the counter in the supermarket, the resident DJs in the bar by night… and your humble Ibiza bloggers, typing at crazy hours of the night in order to bring you the latest Ibiza news and gossip!

Of course, we hope you all have an amazing holiday. We hope you keep coming back year after year. We’re grateful to you, the visitors old and new, for keeping us in business every summer. Because for all our grumbling and groaning about no time off, not getting to see the beach, and even the island being full of tourists (sorry!), we wouldn’t have it any other way!