Hotel Reina Cristina in Algeciras serves as the first Spanish lodging for Manolo Arroyo during his return under the assumed identity of Peter Louzán Valero. After the Francoist authorities keep him waiting in Gibraltar for a week, the hotel becomes a brief threshold between supervised entry and his journey onward into Spain.

Arrival and Required Stay

The authorities reserved up to a week to approve any request to enter Spain, even one supported by the guarantees and endorsements submitted on Arroyo’s behalf by the American embassy in Madrid. Bob McKay, his CIA escort, drove him from Gibraltar, across the frontier, and to the hotel’s door. McKay had booked two nights there, making the stop part of the arrangements for Arroyo’s entry rather than an immediate departure for Madrid.

A Pause Under Supervision

At the reception desk, McKay explained that although Arroyo’s family was Spanish, he should take time to get used to the country, its forms of address, food, and the way people spoke. He predicted that Arroyo would be grateful for the preparation by the time he reached Galicia. Arroyo thanked him at once, effusively and in a conspiratorial manner, while inwardly cursing his father. The hotel thus holds two contrary experiences together: McKay’s paternalistic oversight and Arroyo’s private resentment of it.

Departure for Madrid

Once free of the CIA agent’s oppressive supervision, Arroyo enjoyed his stay in Algeciras. On Thursday, 19 September, he collected the car he had rented in advance and set off for Madrid in good spirits. The hotel’s narrative importance lies in this small change of circumstance: it is a temporary landing place, but also the point from which Arroyo resumes control of his movement and continues into Spain.