3 days. 3 kids. The anticipation of this trip had me like a kid in a toy store. I love the idea of bringing our children abroad simply because it's important for them to see the world...the real world.
We have traveled to Guadalajara with our two daughters before, but this time we wanted to be in an area with less hustle and bustle. Tlaquepaque seemed to be the spot.
It was gorgeous. I took too many pictures of doors, as I do. I drank enough micheladas for the rest of this year...and boy did I shop! Unfortunately Mexico has opened their import regulations to allow more cheap stuff from other countries. This means the bigger cities are now oozing with cheap China made products. Of course this made it VERY hard to find the handmade goods.
For this trip I was eager to hunt for some hand-tooled leather. In normal fashion one of our children ended up getting pretty sick. Our middle daughter had a 24 hour bug that had me concerned at first, but she quickly recovered. After spending a day getting my daughter back to 100% we decided to start our shopping spree in the nearby town of Tonala. Again...China made goods. It took two full days of exploring Guadalajara until I finally found THE store! It had precisely what I was looking for and then some! There was a downside, though. It was VERY expensive. I completely understand the price points because of all the work that goes into hand-tooled leather, but for business purposes I was worried I wouldn't be able to offer a decent resell price. Low and behold David, the designer, was there!! He was able to bless me with some serious deals, and I did my best to buy them out.
At David's shop I found some of the highest quality of fringe and fur bags I have ever laid my browns on! Stunning, strong and truly gorgeous. The hand-tooled products were beyond exquisite. I am so eager to get this line of leather up on our site and have you & others appreciate the beauty.
Overall, it was a successful inventory trip. We all had a great experience. The kids will have great memories of it, and I always love traveling to Mexico no matter the reason. Everyone should go...such a beautiful culture, country, people. I truly love, love, love it.
As always...
Health, hugs & happiness,
Yolanda