Caudete

When we moved to Spain we thought we would open a business to help fund our new life and the renovations to the house. We opened an Internet Cafe in the August after we moved here.

The costs of opening were quite horrific, as we had to pay for a water main for the apartment block above the shop to be moved, so that we could build a ramp to comply with EU regulations. The same regulations also meant other changes to toilets and the general layout.

The electrics also had to be upgraded to handle the computers, which set us back over 5000€!

We traded for a year, but we lost over 40,000€, which ate all our funds for changing the house.

I then spent a year working for an estate agency, but as the market had died I managed to earn virtually nothing in the time I worked there.

In April 2006 I decided to sit down at my computer again and regenerate my web design company. We are now earning again from this business and have resumed the building works on the house.

The town has been here for hundreds of years, its castle was built by the Moors, and is one of a chain of castles running from the coast for hundreds of kilometres inland.

These days it is best known for its trucking companies, the HQ of several companies with over 3000 trucks are based here. The town also has a major glass recycling company, and a factory making most of the beer bottles for Spain.

These are a few pictures of the town. The last picture is the view from my office when I worked at the estate agency.