I bought my first pair of Moroccan leather slippers about 6 years ago .. and they are still going! I now have about 4 pairs (i´m not ashamed) .. I just love the cool soft leather under my feet, perfect for pottering around the house (esp in the kitchen), I even wear mine out in the garden in the summer for spot of weeding and watering (glass of vino optional of course).

Therefore, they were near the top of my list for starting off the Happy Hammock range and in Novemeber 06 I headed back to the Marrakech Souk to check out the new styles and see what I could bring to you.

Et voila …

These are a new style and come in 5 glorious colours … Turquoise, Bright Red, Orange, Cream and Dark Brown. Retail Price GBP15. The patterns on the front are cut out of the leather.

These were sourced in the Slipper Souk area of the Marrakech Souk. If you explore some of the side streets and alleways of this area you will find little cubby holes and streets where the leather is bought and sold and where some of the slippers are made.

Here are some pictures of the artisans taken in the side streets …

A couple of tips for those of you thinking of visiting the Marrakech Souk for a spot of shopping …

1) Approach … it is more than likely that you will enter the souk via the main square or ´jamma el fina´. The shops around this front area are typically the most touristy, most expensive and in my opinion the least interesting. Keep walking as far down into the souk down the main streets as you can … the deeper you get into the souk the better it gets. In fact, I often try and enter via the back alleways avoiding the front bit all together. It´s actually not as big as it first seems so a couple of times wandering around and you should get the hang of the key streets to look out for. If you do feel lost just ask for dirrections to the ´jamma el fina´and someone will help you get your bearings back.

2) Bartering … the Moroccons are very good at hooking you into a sale, even if you weren´t aware you actually wanted the item that much in the first place .. if you start to barter at all they will think the sale is made and all you have to agree on now is the price. If you do decide mid barter that you really dont want it … say so, smile sweetly and walk away quickly and politely …don´t get drawn in to more conversation, just walk away not looking back.

3) What to pay? There are a few good things to remember. Firstly, what is it worth to you? It doesn´t matter if someone else paid $1 less than you .. what do you think its worth? Secondly, as a general rule of thumb i test things out by flippantly offering half of what they initially suggest, if they look at you in disgust and walk away then maybe you´ve gone to far … if he enters into a discussion about it .. say offering 15% discount then have a play around, see if via persistance you can get him to half price, all the time saying that you´re not that interested in the item anayway. If by pushing hard on one item you can get your maximum discount then this should apply to other items as well. It´s worth noting that I frequently cut costs in half in the souk .. in other markets around the world the maximum you could get off is say 20%. Remember bartering is a GAME and should be done with good humour. ´

4) Stress levels in the souk … You´ll have a better time in the souk if you can keep your sense of humour about it and not get too stressed or over whelmed by the level of attention. For example, they have taken to shouting ´fish and chips´at me … now I tend to counter with either ´tagaine´or ´cous cous´and this tends to get a laugh. They will always shout after you to come into their shop, dont get drawn in if your not that interested, just smile and say no thank politely and keep walking. It´s just an approach .. but it works for me and i´ve been shopping in this souk on and off for c. 10 yrs now. I also find avoiding direct eye contact helps me but then I am a woman on my own .. so maybe this won´t be necessary for you.

Hope you like the slippers!

Š

The Little Hobo trip to source amazing items for the Happy Hammock range and ultimately your delight … begins in Mexico City. The biggest city in the world no less. I arrived here in mid Jan, a little over a week ago and proceeded directly to a couple of the main craft markets to get a sense of the types of things that might be of interest to y`all in Mexico. I`ve been very lucky to be staying here at the lovely home of Dave and Sue who work for the Bristh Council. Sue will be joining me on a couple of the sourcing trips as her Spanish is very good and mine … isn`t.

Inital thoughts from the maket are silver (amazing quality), hand painted laquer boxes (beautiful), some lovely cotton embroidered childrens clothes and of course traditional vibrant wool textiles. Here are some pictures that i took in the market that first day …

Trying to plan this trip to get to the right regions for certain products has been a little tricky as time is tight and Mexico is ENORMOUS. I have a rough plan and direction with key places to hit … so we`ll see how it goes.

As in all good trips … this one must start with a few days on the beach to unwind and plan PLAN PLAN … purely selfish but I´m feeling a little bit white and pale right now and I`m sure I will feel a whole lot better when I have the startings of a tan and I can contemplate not wearing make-up in the day. Also … I need to get rid of those dark circles under the eyes that the English winter and office life seems to so readily bestow on me.

Soooo … firstly I`m off for a few days rest to catch some rays and start to morph in to the hippy happy sourcing hobo that I love to be.

Initial impressions from Mexico City …. VW Beetles EVERYWHERE .. I never expected that. There are big Beetle factories in Mexico so most people are driving them .. most of the taxi´s are green and white Beetles, so easy to spot although I´ve heard that they`re not that safe. Also, for all those clothes horse girls out there … ZARA is here (and currently has a sale on!) and about 1/3rd of the price of the UK .. I may have to stock up on some fabulous items when I come back to the city and post back to the UK.

Bingo!! As much as I came here to rest I couldn´t resist just quickly checking out the market for you to see what was on offer. I went in with attitude that I would just have a quick look, more like a gentle browse really … all the time thinking of these clay bowls painted with chillies that I had seen in Mexico City. Then low and behold I found an area devoted to to hand painted wooden and clay, bowls and trays … and there were some LOVELY designs. I just fell in love with them straight away and had to see if there was a way I could get them back to you in England.

Here´s some examples of the stalls from the market:

                          

These are FAB .. I knew from the first time I saw them that I had to find a way to bring them back for you.

I have linked up with one family of artists, the head being Augustine Concepcion Rios. Together we are going to bring Happy Hammock a beautiful range of wood hand painted laquer bowls and trays.  Please see the pictures below:

1) Trays. Small and large trays ordered. 3 designs;

Chillies (green or red on a black background, L & s sizes)

Lilles (very traditional Mexican flower, think Diego Rivera paintings). Black (L & s), Yellow (s only) and Red (L only).

Sunflowers (Jirasol in Spanish, again a traditional Mexican flower)

2) Salad Blowls. Pepper range, large size, perfect for serving food from the middle of your table. Red peppers on either a black, white or yellow background. I LOVE these !

  

2) Smaller Dips and Snacks Bowls. All int he Chilli style. Various colours and sizes from small (good for salsa) to medium (good for Tortillas).

            

I think these will all look fabulous in your home and also make really different, interesting and alternative wedding gifts.  

They are being painted right now and I will go and collect them and send back to the UK some time in March.

Before I go, here´s a picture of your artist and his family .. Augustine Concepcion Rios. Also, a picture of his son, learning the family trade .. he seemed a bit too cool for the family shot!

                  

Onwards and upwards .. I wonder what else Mexico has to offer!

Hobo out.

 Š

After Accapulco I flew to Oaxaca and Sue came to join me from Mexico city. Oaxaca city itself is absolutley beautiful, very refined and elegant with a moderate temerature that is warm enough in the day but a little milder at night. Lots or culture here … art galleries, good restaurants and bars, a grand Cathederal and central Zocola with beautiful trees and plants and lots and lots of live music. My first night there there was a wonderful small orchestra playing in the main square .. i dont know what they were playing but it was really really lovely, my Dad would have loved it, I wished he was there for that evening.   

I found the wool shawls I was after in the local market, Sue and I then decided on a road trip into West Oaxaca to try and find their source. This ended up being a bit of a false lead and a wild goose chase, but on the plus, a piece of travel it was very interesting as hardly any tourists went to the areas we got too. It´s amazing the extra freedom a rental car can give you. We headed inot he hills and diverted off onto a dirt track to reach a small village called Ocotocpec. There, there were many women in their traditional dress which eventually they agreed to let me photograph.

                                  

I explained that I was after this specific wool shawl, which they had no idea off. As an alternative they asked if I would like to but one of their traditional dresses … I commented how lovely they were and politely declined. I´m not sure if the Gloucester Road is quite ready for this fashion!

Very good couple of days … but still havent found my wool shawls.  

 

�

Sat 3rd Feb. Sue and I arrived in San Cristobal, Chiapas region (near the Guatemalan border) at the beginning of Feb. The town seems very nice, full of artisans and many different indigenous peoples from the surrounding mountains. I found a Co-Operative shop that was selling some amazing items, including some examples of the hand embroidered clothes I had seen in the market in Mexico City. The Co-Operative works in that it sells items from the different villages. it is a vehicle for them to sell their goods to tourists. Each village has its own traditional dress and artesan speciality, and a representative for the Co-Operative.

The Co-Operatives is called: Union Regional de Artesanas de Los Altos de Chiapas, S.C. de R.L.

Sue and I were lucky that there was a meeting of the different village represantives at the shop on the Saturday. We effectively gate crashed the meeting and were asked to address the group. At first this was pretty nerve wracking …. but Sue did a sterling job translating for me and interpreting my sentiments to the group. I communicated that I was sourcing artesans goods around the world to sell in the UK and that the ethics of where and how I was sourcing was very important. I said that I was impressed with the quailty of goods in the Co-Operative shop (which I was) and that I was interested in visiting their villages to take photos and learn about their traditional methods so that I could educate people in the UK via my website.

I think we both realised how extrodinarily lucky we were to catch the group of represenatives together. We were also lucky in that there was a Spanish woman called Isabel Boyer at the meeting. I believe she is working for the Spanish Government doing an Anthropological (sp?) study on these people. She communicated to the group and helped us to organise a schedule over the next 3 days of visiting c. 6 villages to lean about their different traditional techniques and what they produce. This would have been near impossible for us to do on our own. Firstly, we wouldn´t have known what villages to go to, and secondly if we had got to the villages, we wouldn´t have known where to go as all of these products are produced directly in peoples homes. Thirdly, we may not have been welcome just turning up in the villages, some of these people are intensly private peoples who do not take kindly to nosy foriegners, especially if they are taking photographs (something which I needed to do for the website).

Here are some pictures of that meeting. You can see the different styles of dress that the  women are wearing .. they all came from different villages.  

              

So the next 3 days were packed. Not sure what we´d find but exciting none the less.

Meetings with Villages.

1) Sun 4th Feb 07. Magdalenas Aldama village.

A remote village c. 2hours from San Cristobal into the mountains. When we arrived were were taken into someones house, a very simple room but with concrete floor, so one of the more affluent ones I think. Then c. 15 women all came in all in the same traditional dress specific to their village and peoples (thick wool skirts, red and white embroidered tops and ribbons in their hair for the older ladies) and again Sue spoke to the group on my behalf (well I spoke in English to her, she spoke in Spanish to the representative and he translated into the local language to them!). They also brought out some examples of their work … mostly hand woven clothes, that whilst nice, wouldn’t really sell easily in a Westernised culture. They sat intently looking at me .. staring .. all I could think was .. what the hell do they make of me? I got to ask them a few questions at the end .. I asked them what their hopes and dreams were … they looked bemused .. one of the older ladies said that she hoped that I would bring money to the village. My heart sank at this point … I desperatley want to be able to buy from these people but I can’t buy if they are not producing ’saleable’ items. I spent some time explaining my dilema to them, and used this extrodianary meeting as a first step in developing a relationship that ‘could’ in a few years yield something. I have asked them to use the traditional material they weave for their tops and make this into cushion covers. They also embroider their tops with the most wonderful traditional designs/logos in bright almost flourescent colours. I have asked them to incorporate this into their designs. We shall see how the samples come back and take it from there.

We were treated to being able to see them weave the cloth … they brought out their looms (back strap) and let us watch and take pictures. Amazingly lucky really. It all felt quite Nat Geo.

                 

After about an hours talking we were asked to join them for refreshment, which we happily accepted. Refreshment came in the form of a large crate of Coca Cola .. it seems no matter where you are in the world, and no matter how poor you are Coke is a necessity, it really is the most global brand. I watched breastfeeding mums take their babies off their breasts and litterally pour coke down their throats … i guess it’s a treat as its full of sugar. That said, the teeth situation is pretty bad. Here’s a great photo of them with the coke bottles and also one of the group as a whole including me and Sue.

           

2) Mon 5th May am, Bayerlemo Village

Much the same story as the first day, we were invited into the representatives home (Rosa) which was very simple and her group of women weavers was there sitting around the edges of the room with samples of their work waiting for us. Rosa had already put samples of the work up on the walls and on a string line, which was very helpful. Balyerlemo produced different goods to the first village, they were more focused on very detailed embroidered cushion covers. The also produced traditional clothing but the cushion covers were the most practical items that i could see. The detail really was amazing and it can take one wome over a week to make one (in between looking after the kids and taking car of the husband etc…). Also, the cloth has to be handwoven first by the traditional back-strap loom. So we were looking at truly hand made items and to a VERY high standard. I liked Rosa a lot, of all the village representatives she seemed the most ‘forward thinking’ and professional.

Here are some pictures of our meeting and the group.    

   (traditional loom again)

  Rosa on the left .. deep in discussion .. none of which I could understand, but it sounded interesting.

 The Bayerlemo group and me .. I seem huge in comparison to them!

I picked up my order from Rosa in April and was really pleased with what the group produced. It certainly wasn’t cheap from a wholesale point of view (as potentially people in the UK would assume) but the qulaity was excellent and it was exactly as I had ordered. The money will be distributed around many of the women in the group as it was a collaborative effort.

Here are some pictures of the cushion covers:

           They are quite smart and have a slight ‘Laura Ashely’ vibe to them .. could be good for as a present for a mother/in law or grandmother. Remember these are all hand stiched and the cloth is hand woven first! I have chosen colours that fit well together in sets.

I also got some kids tops made .. see what you think:  

           They are actually really funky and certainly different (ages 1 - 3). They would look sooo cool with a pair of jeans and I think would go down well with the mummies in the festival crowd.

Just amazing to think these have come all the way from the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico!

3) Tuesday 6th May. Huixtan Village  

I came here in search of some of the white embroidered Children’s tops.  

I found a small group of ladies, one of which had made the very top I was after (I had seen it in the Co-Operative shop) and had made it for her daughter who was also at the meeting. I asked her daughter to model it for me … see below. Her daughter’s name is ‘Flor de Maria’ .. so I have named the shirt after her.

Flor de Maria :  How cute! I wanted to kidnap her and take her home with me.

The pictures were so good that i placed an order for the group to copy the exact same shirt for sale in the UK (ages 1 - 4). Unfortunatley when I returned in April to collect the results were not so good. I have c. 8 pieces which I think are good, the rest are un-saleable. This was a classic example of having a product which has potential but these villagers really aren’t set up for any kind of mass production (and I only ordered c. 12!). They have very little understanding of sizes and can only make the goods in their free time. If something more important comes along then they have to drop their embroidery work. Hence it took c. 2 months to make c. 8 pieces. Not commercial at all … and this is the battle I fear they face if they want to make any money for their families doing this. Well decent money anyway, they sell the odd one to tourists now and then, but from the sounds of it not that many. The Co-Operative only pays them when an item has been sold and often the record keeping is so poor they often don’t actually know when an item has been sold. Tricky.  

Group meeting (everyone else is working whilst I swan around taking photos!):

Traditional dress .. check out the ribbons in her hair and the embroidery on their tops:

 

A good example of potential but nothing really coming of it. I have left it with them that this should be a learning experience and that they should consider working in larger groups with a ‘manager’ type person overseeing quality control. I think this may well have been a bit over their heads. These villages are relatively small and VERY traditional, they seem to resist the idea of joining other groups to make bigger production units because there are many old standing rivalries within the villages and they can’t countenance the idea of collaborating and working together. It’s very complicated …. ho hum … I may visit next year to see how they have come on and whether things have changed at all.  

3) Tuesday 6th May. Chamula

Now I understand why they wear these very thick wool skirts .. boy was it chilly, and when you live in a hut on a mountain side, with not necessarily even a cement floor, you need layers big time. I felt a bit silly in my flip flops.

These people produce wool goods .. using the wool they weave for their skirts. they are also famous for very intricate embroiderry. The goods here were lovely. Wool purses with bright embroiderry on and white kids tops with the same embroidery on. To embroider 1 kids top can take one person c. 10 hours. The colours are AMAZING .. soo vibrant. The work is so detailed.  

Talking and working away:   Spinning the wool :

Some examples of the goods:

       great little purses with strings for putting around your head over your shoulder .. lots of different sizes, I particulrily like the ones that are small, they are perfect for a night out as they fit your mobile and a credit card in perfectly .. how cool!

Lucas’s (the village represenative) son modelling one of the kids tops:

  he wasn’t too happy about it ! Maybe it wasn’t his style …

Grandma supervising the younger generation learning the trade:

I placed an order with them and collected in April and was really really pleased with what they produced. This was one of 2 deals that i think was a success (Bayerlemo being the other). The goods are salebale in the UK .. they are cool, funky and definately different and there is a great story because the money that I invested with them (c. $400) will go along way and will be distributed around the group as it was a collective effort. They were really happy and so was I.

At the end of the meeting they presented me with a gift .. an embroidered stuffed toy in the shape of a turtle … in their language it is called an ‘Ogg’. They wanted to show their appreciation and I was truly moved. Unf I can’t find my picture of him, so I will have to add that in later.

Conclusion:

I invested a lot of time in Chiapas and it was fascinating. From a purely commercial buyers perspective there is still a long (and I mean a LONG) way to go. These villagers dont have phones (and def no internet) and most of them dont speak Spanish (my Spanish isn’t too hot and their local languages and dialects are some of the strangest I have ever heard, funny but definaltely unusual).. so placing an order is a difficult and long winded process. Also, becasue of their traditions and their strong desires to maintain their traditional ways, goods are all hand made which from my point of view makes them a) expensive, b) the lead times are way too long and c) qulaity control can be an issue.

I am curious to see how people respond because I would love to continue my relationships with a few of these villages and develop something really special for Happy-Hammock that is unique and actually makes a difference. My gut feel is that this will take many years and a certain amount of investment (time and money). What the region could do with is some people time investment from an NGO type organisation .. teaching and educating them in adapting to more commercial ways … not losing traditions but adapting them.  

For my part, I have introduced the Co-Operative to an old Argentinian lady that I met in Nicaragua (Marta). She has been living in the mountains of Nicaragua for c. 20 years and is a weaver herself. She was employed by the government to help re-introduce weaving to a region that was all but erradicated during the war. She has taught them to change from the back strap loom to a pedal loom which is much faster and has also taught them about qulaity control and how to produce more ‘commercial’ items. I know that she intends to visit the Co-Operative in August and I await to hear back from her how this goes. It is a very very long process, I really can’t stress that enough, but maybe this is one small step to helping them to develop and grow so that these very poor people can start to bring more money into their villages.

Before I sign out I must say that none of this work would have been possible without Sue’s excellent translator skills or Isabel’s willingness to give of her own time to guide us and introduce us to these wonderfully fascinating people. A big thank you to them.

Enough from me … I could go on for hours on this. Time for a beer.

Hobo out.

Here’s one of the thing’s I love about travel … I love the surprises and I love the people that you meet … Mitch and Anna really embody both of these things.

I met these two in a place called Placencia in southern Belize in c. Feb 05. We hung out for about a week and all was good. Anna and I kept in contact via email over the following year (they live in Boston) and I think neither of us were expecting what happened next.

In Feb 06 (almost to the day 1 year later), I walked into an open air Cinema in Southern Cambodia (a town called Sianoukville (sp?)) and who should be casually sitting there awaiting the 7pm viewing .. Mitch and Anna .. neither of us knew that we would be a) travelling or b) in this part of the world or c) in this town in this cinema at this time in this part of the world. Freaky deaky to say the least. It took us most of the night to stop staring and laughing at each other because we couldn’t quite believe it, especially as we had kept in touch. Gotta love travel for the surprises.

Anyway, again Anna and I kept in contact and I knew they were planning a week off in Centeral America somewhere and I would be in the viccinity. I recommended Roatan which Suzy and I had visited in 2005 (after I had met Mitch and Anna the first time), and we’d had a great time. I wanted to go back and I thought it was a good place for a weeks R&R for them and a break from the bitter cold in Boston.  

So here the threesome (don’t get too excited, just platonic) met up again to hang out for a week. Great to see them. There’s also a few pictures of our visit to an Iguana farm (fun!).

           

For those that are interested Mitch is a partner in a company that sells Hemp made (and related) products. They’re website is www.hempist.com  …. they already ship quite a bit to the UK. Check it out.

Anyway, very nice to have a week off and catch up with these crazy kids. Couldn’t quite switch off .. had a look around for some goods but not too much being sold .. the more booming side of purchasing in Roatan is probably in relation to Property.

     This is an example of a property you can buy there … this is newly made in quite a remote place on the island .. more of a speculative buy .. but beautifully designed in Ballinese style, all open plan and wood with large deck and garden etc… if only I had loads of money!!

I did see some nice art on the beach though .. I was planning to buy art on this trip but now I’m not too sure .. not sure why. Have a look at these pictures as examples and see what you think.

           

I loved these. Something to consider for the future I think.

Off to Nicaragua now.

Hobo out.

Nicaragua is somewhere I first visited in 2005 as part of the whole Central America trip I met Mitch and Anna on. Suzy was here for a bit too when we visited The Corn Islands and Granada.

Sooo .. from a  sourcing point of view  I was keen to re-visit Masaya a town south of Managua (capital city) which has a big market of handicraft goods. There aren’t many goods you see ‘from Nicaragua’ so I was interested in seeing if there was anything for you and for Happy-Hammock here.

Another big reason to pop back into Nica was that in 2006 I met Jeff Cassel in a town called Kampot in Southern Cambodia. It’s not often you meet an Australian (we won’t hold this against him) in Cambodia who lives in Nicaragua.

So I took this as another travel omen and decided to pop in and hang out at Jeff’s here for a while. I must point out that I didn’t just turn up .. I was invited. Jeff was very kind to put me up in his tiny, modest, really quite embarrassing house in Managua. After having the luxury of being invited to stay at Sue and Dave’s in Mexcio City, it was once again lovely to be able to stay in someones home. It really does make a difference after you have been travelling for a while, and you tend to see a different side of the city.

I visited Masaya and was a little disappointed, I think my memory was playing tricks on me a bit and I had built it up to be something more than it was. There was however some great art and also some amazing matts that have pictures woven into them. These are the type of matts that are really thick and you would use to wipe your feet on outside your front or back garden door. Apparantly it’s a bit of a speciality in the villages and they do huge pictures in these matts that people hang up on their walls. I tried to find out where they were made but again I came up some similar answers that I had been hearing n Chiapas, Mexico … i.e. they are made in local villages, in peoples homes, each one takes a week to weave, no two are the same. I didn’t have enough time to follow this up so i bought c. 5 in different designs as samples. I really like these and think they really have potential in the  ‘unusual gift’ bracket, so maybe this is something else that will take a few years to develop.

Here’s a few pictures of some on a wall … they are not great (i can’t seem to rotate the pictures) .. but they will do for now.

     Rotated this is Sandina a Nicaraguan revolutionary     The fish one ( a little obscured in this picture) has already been pounced on by my mother!

So, great to be back in Nica .. even if it was a fleeting visit .. I have some ideas for sourcing and feel sure I will have to return soon in order to develop them further. Thank you to Jeff and his girlfriend Orian, for their hospitality. I look forward to catching up with Jeff again in Cambodia in a couple of months. �

One of my most favorite towns that i have ever visited is Antigua, Guatemala. So I definately knew that I wanted to revist here. I also knew that last time I was here in 2005 I bought a beautiful beaded braclet that I have wheeled out on many a special occasion since then. I wanted to see if I could get some more of this jewlerry for Happy-Hammock and I wanted to get an idea of what else was being sold in the handicrafts markets that would fit the brand.  

First a bit about Antigua … to say that you have visited the ‘real’ Guatemala is not to visit Antigua. Guatemala is a very poor and predominately rural, indigeounous country. Antigua is quite seperate from this, but I still love it. The architecture is amazing, beautiful cobble lined streets with pastel coloured colonial buildings, courtyards filled with fountains and flowers, great restaurants and cafes, boutiques selling lovely but expensive clothes and classy hotels. Antigua feels quite affluent whereas Guatemala as a country, clearly is not. I’m still not ashamed to say that I still love it ! It is one of the most beautiful relaxing towns I have been to, and I will visit it again and again whenever I can.

  central square .. blooming puple flowered trees (forget the name)   cobbled streets with famous arch .. shops and restaurants all the way down to the main square .. I wish I could rotate the photo .. last and only time I could do this was in an internet cafe in Accapulco of all places   Church on the main square at night .. like Oaxaca in Mexico there is alot of live music in the main square (especially classical) at night time (mostly on the weekends) … this night they were performing some pieces with a full orchestra all light up, and people were out either listening to the whole thing or just stopping buy for 20mins or so .. really nice.

Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes, which make a spectacular back drop. There is an active volcano close by called Volcan Pacaya which currently you can hike up (takes a few hours) and get up close and personal with lava .. great!

    on the way up   Volcan Pacaya

   me and  me in front of lava .. really close !! I sooo wish I could rotate these !   Here you can see the lava streams coming down (very slowly I might add). The looked amazing as it gor darker. I really enjoyed this hike and would highly recommend it to anyone passing through Guatemala … although getting this close to lava obviously carries some risk so make your own mind up.

Sourcing: Goods from Guatemala have been hitting the hippy stands and shops for many years now (much like Thailand), so going into the artisans markets didn’t really unearth much that i hadn’t already seen or that I felt, fitted the brand. The one thing that I have clocked here is that there are some lovely children’s clothes and I do feel keen to get into this as most of my friends and family will be (or already are) having children soon.

I found one potential supplier who has set up her own business making good quality clothes that I think have a very cute traditional vibe but are in funky colours. Here are some pictures of the types of things I would like to source into the Happy-Hammock brand for kids clothes …

          lovely traditional dresses for a party or dressing up on a Sunday .. good quality material and embroidery.

  Shorts for the boys        booties and a hat   dungarees and   hairbands with Guatemalan ‘Worry Dolls’for the girls.

I haven’t ordered any of these goods yet but will probably get a sample order for the summer to see how people react to it. I really liked the lady who ran the company. She is 1/2 Guatemalan and seems to have a genuine passion for developing a company that employs many Guatemaln people using traditional materials and ideas to make cool items.

I have also picked up a stack of funky kids dungarees from the market in San Crstobal, Mexico. I think that they are actually officially made in Guatemala but the peoples in the mountains are essentially from the same ethnic groups and tend to ‘bleed’ into each other.

            very cool … love these!

Back in Mexico now and about to do another loop of places visited to buy some Silver, pick up orders and see what else I may have missed.

Hobo Out x

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Part of the services offered by Happy-Hammock is ‘Gifts 4 Women’ .. preferrably .. ‘bought by men’! As part of this I have always wanted to include Silk (probably from SE Asia) and Silver. One of the main reasonas for coming to Mexico was that I had heard that it it was great for Silver, and I was curious.

I visted a small town c. 2hours from Mexico City called, Taxaco (pronounced Tasco).  This place is famous for Silver .. the streets are lined with shops selling silver, retail and wholesale. In fact, if you weren’t here to buy Silver there really is only enough to keep you busy for a few days .. this town survives off Silver.

I feel at this point I should mention the ‘ethical sourcing’ point. Buying Silver has probably been the most difficult area for me to guarentee that I have follwed this principal.

This has been difficult in 2 areas:

1) Silver mining. I have heard from someone that they saw a TV programme in America damning the mining of Silver in Mexico because in some instances Children may be used. I don’t know this for a fact and I dont support it if it is true, however I suspect that there may be similar issues wherever you buy Silver from .. for example Thailand or India. AGAIN I don’t know this for a fact .. and I certainly haven’t done enough research on it (I will start to now though) .. but this is a difficult subject because what i do know is that if wholesale buyers like myself (and tourists) stop buying from Taxcao altogether thousands of people will be out of a job, whole towns and communities would be severly affected.  

I did find one ethical charity supported organisation that made jewlerry out of Pewter. Unfortunatley I didn’t like what they were producing and therefore, wasn’t happy purchasing there.  

2) Supporting Artisans dirrectly. The shops in Taxaco tend to sell their own style of workmanship (sometimes you see one particular item in a few shops though) and I basically chose the items that i liked the most and thought that you would like. It was very difficult to get back to the craftsman themselves, the shop owners were not happy about showing these people or simply didn’t know them because they in turn bought from another intermediary.   

At the weekend there is a big Silver wholesale market where you can buy in volume. It was interesting to visit but i still didn’t feel any closer to the artisans. 

 wholesale market seller and stalls

  bangles

My aim for the next time I source Silver in Mexico is to try and visit some of the smaller silver towns in the north and to see if i can find a way of getting closer to the craftsmen themselves, to at least talk to them about their lives and see how they work.

The 2 points above are just my thoughts, you can agree or disagree, be inflamed or indifferent .. as long as I have told you what the situation is, it is up to you as a buyer to decide how it affects your descisions.

And now for the products … I have tried to chose some simple items and mainly stuck to braclets and earings … in particular I was liking the battered silver look.

      Battered Silver

�      glam earrings

I also invested in lots of basic hoops and bangles, and some very simple pendants (little hearts and stars) to tell people you love them or that they are simply special.

Silver isn’t cheap, even at wholesale prices, but the quality of workmanship in Taxaco is excellent and Mexican Silver comes with a  stamp to prove it’s authenticity .. which is handy for you and me.

Hobo out x

Time to collect the laquer goods I ordered from Augustine Rios c. 2 months ago. I was sooo pleased to see them all ready. They really are fab .. can’t wait for you all to see them.

Chilli bowls Pepper salad bowls (lush) Augustine packing the trays off to the post office, making sure they we wrapped up good and proper … weighed a ton!

Then i went off to a more local market and found the straw matts I was after … what a treat .. the colours are just fantastic … they would look amazing on your garden table in the summer.

2 shapes round and oval/round (dunno what you call that!) check out these colours.

They also come with coasters so I’m planning on selling them in mix and match sets .. you get 6x oval place matts 3x round ones (for the middle of the tabel) and 6 x coasters … you chose your colours and mix them the way you like (e.g. 6 bright blue place matts, 3 hot pink middle matts and 6 green coasters). The colours work really well together. They’d make excellent wedding gifts, or a pressie for your mum.

I also found some very casual summer straw bags:

Hot hot colours again … my sister has already nabbed a couple of these and has had a good response from her friends in London.

This is a picture of the lady that sold these to me and with her daughter who refused to smile! God darn it .. wish I could rotate these pictures!

I love these straw goods … i think there is potential here … I’m only sorry that I discovered them so late in the trip. When I return to Mexico I shall make a point of trying to find out more about where these are made and get some pictures of peole at work.

Off to the beach soon for a week off … Yucatan here we come .. yipeeeeeee.

Hobo out x�