July 2012

Well, it might be time to blog again, considering how much has happened since my last entry. My life evolves around my store, Organico Deli-Market, which has steadily evolved in the two years that I have been involved with it. My attempt to make and sell raw foods there led to a partnership with Shlomo, who started the store a year earlier. We had a mediocre season and might have come close to breaking even. It wasn’t looking too good, though, so in February, after several months of nonstop hours at the store, I returned to the shack to refire my smoker, and Shlomo focused more on the store and less on building at his property in San Juanillo.

It became clear that the store would need a cash infusion to continue into the next season, and at this point I tried to find a buyer for the store. Several people expressed interest, but there was no follow-up when I sent them the financials, such as they were. I thought of closing the store, and taking my hit, rather than continuing to pour money into a business that had failed to break even after its second year. But I wanted to believe that the store had a future, and that I could make it happen. I was commiserating about my situation with a friend who was struggling with her own business, a coffeeshop/café. Among her complaints was that she had a bad location, and it occurred to me that we could merge our businesses into my location on the main road. It seemed like a good idea to both of us, and we successfully sqeezed her café into Organico. The first week of November was intense but we got everything put together, and with some new paint the place looked good. Fortunately I have a great employee who can run the store without me being around, which allowed me to keep the smokeshack running, and I also had a great employee at the shack. I still liked hanging out at the shack, and jawboning it with customers, in spite of the heat and bugs. Plus I was actually seeing a little cash come into my pocket. As we approached the end of the high season in April, my store mate was short of cash and got hit up for some back payments by the social security agency here, so she decided to close up shop. I picked up the pieces, and moved my smoker to the front of the store as a cornerstone for my planned deli. During May and June, when business is a lot slower, I visited friends in DC and had a separate trip to Peru, where I joined my sister Gretchen and her two daughters on an incredible tour she arranged of Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We rafted, biked, and hiked between Cusco and Machu Pichu through the Sacred Valley of the Incas. We also checked out local markets, and checked out an ancient salt pit where 2000 evaporation pools have been created over many hundreds of years, where I loaded up on gourmet pink salt to sell in the store.

Tourists have returned in July, and I feel like things are finally set up well. We’re selling a lot of food, not just my bbq but a whole menu of options for eating in or takeaway. Some talented people are making foods that I resell, I’ve lowered the prices on almost everything, and people are starting to notice and respond. I’m keeping a local girl occupied full time making bbq wraps, salads, soups and other tasty things. The store is obviously taking most of my energy, and at night I usually chill out with my guitar and cat Leo. My other cat, Isis, went missing when I was in the States. She may still show up one day. There’s a little nightlife going on and I was thrilled when the co-owner of Casa Tucan initiated a karaoke night. I’m going to rent out my house for another year, and am about to sign a lease on a two bedroom casita.

Running a business is challenging but it also has its rewards. This is not at all the lifestyle I envisioned five years ago, but I feel good about where I’m at now, and optimistic, as well as proud of how far I’ve come.