From three foreign pupils to modern Mojácar: town honours teacher who saw it change

Beatriz Gómez Bonillo arrived in Mojácar in 1971 and later helped create the town’s music school and municipal band. Now the retired teacher and former councillor has received its ceremonial key as this year’s San Agustín opening speaker.

Three foreign pupils once signalled an evolving Mojácar

The surprise came on Gómez Bonillo’s first day in a Mojácar classroom, when three children from overseas were among her new pupils. From the 1980s onwards, the presence of pupils from other countries became far less unusual in her classrooms. At Bartolomé Flores school, she taught generations of local children alongside classmates from other countries and welcomed the increasingly international mix. She described those changing classrooms as “positive and enriching” for teachers and the wider community, recalling that pupils from different backgrounds were welcomed naturally.

Her own journey began inland. Born in Arboleas, she started teaching in Los Santos, in the municipality of Alcóntar, where she had just five pupils and travelled with her brother on his Vespa. A subsequent posting took her to Los Llanos del Peral, in Zurgena, before she arrived in Mojácar in September 1971. At the time, the seafront looked very different. She remembers the Parador and El Puntazo among the landmarks already there, years before the coastline developed into the destination residents recognise today.

 As local councillor she helped establish Mojácar’s music school and band

Gómez Bonillo’s contribution continued beyond the classroom when she served as a Mojácar councillor from 1991 to 2003. She counts helping to create the municipal music school and the town band among the achievements of which she is proudest. The band remains part of the town’s cultural calendar, including the San Agustín celebrations, and continues to accompany events across Mojácar.

Beatriz eventually retired to care for her unwell husband, after viewing teaching as a vocation she had been reluctant to leave.

A ceremonial key recognises decades of community involvement

Her selection as this year’s San Agustín opening speaker includes the traditional address in Plaza Nueva. At a civic ceremony, mayor Francisco García Cerdá presented her with Mojácar’s ceremonial key, and she signed the town’s book of honour. “I was overwhelmed. I never expected it,” she said.

The official San Agustín programme runs from Wednesday August 26 to Sunday August 30, with the annual festivities honouring Mojácar’s patron saint.

Although she remains proud of her Arboleas roots, Gómez Bonillo said Mojácar welcomed her from the moment she arrived. More than five decades later, her affection for the place that welcomed her remains deeply engrained: “I carry Mojácar in my heart.”