Dear Nancee,
You must have read my mind! Just yesterday I was wondering how I could get organic cotton and naturally dyed fabric here in Guatemala. Do you have any fabric? Or is it just yarn? How are you pricing it?
We have just started
PanajachelOrganics.com (I'm updating the blog right now) and I will post what you want there - the site doesn't have much traffic since it's new but it's a start and it's free! Add a comment there, or send to me by email.
I can use what you wrote to me but you may want to add a bit more info, such as price etc. There's no point in posting info and forcing everyone to ask "how much?"
Are you selling "the business" or just the inventory? What is the price for both or either?
Other places to advertise:
The other places I can think of is put a notice on Cynthia Davis' "Cruz News" (I've cc:d her above) and the group she works with, CECAP in Santa Cruz, does weaving so they might be able to use these organic yarns.
Chati Cajas from Hotel Toliman in San Lucas Toliman might also have some ideas for interested buyers. I've cc'd her here too.
You can do a search on my database
LakeAtitlanDirectory.com under keywords "Weaving," Charities / NGO's, or Arts & Crafts, and find a number of places and people who do weaving. I'm updating the information right now so some of it may be out of date, but it's a start. And of course, Facebook (re-posting it weekly). There are a lot of for sale groups around the lake listed on Facebook(Pana, San Marcos and more) and things do get sold that way.
There's is a new
NewsLakeAtitlan.com that is just getting started you could advertise in. Plus Atitlan Sol and the Revue magazine. I think there's also a Guatemalan Craig's List. There is another group that does weaving across the lake. I can't remember their name or their pueblo, but I think it's San Juan. You probably know most of the weaving groups around Lake Atitlan, but if not, hopefully one of us can help.
would also be good places to contact (they are all on the Lake Atitlan Directory).
I wonder if you could post the business for sale in any of the google groups and "Save the Lake" google groups that exist around the lake?
If you send me a pdf of a sale notice we will put it on a few bulletin boards around Panajachel that list things for sale, since we'll be going around with our own flyer (there's probably about ten places I can think of). Make yours half size so it won't cost much to print. I will do those ten for free.
We can also put your ad onto our price list and include it with deliveries of organic vegetables, since we are including a price list along with the orders and there's a bit of extra room on the page.
For now, we can list yours for free as we will include it on the price list, as our list has room and your organic threads fit in with the organic vegetables we are selling. We don't have a lot of customers yet, but any advertising is good advertising!
I wonder if you could list your business with the many realtors around Lake Atitlan? I have not had good experiences with a number of them - many are unlicensed and some are flat-out crooks and there's little to no oversight of how they do business, but they do come in contact with newcomers who are looking for a house and might also want to get involved in a business.
I'd try them if it didn't cost me anything in advance of an actual buyer! I got burned by giving an advance with a written receipt saying "refundable" once, and then they refused to return the money and they never had their actual physical address listed so I couldn't have them served by the court when I filed a complaint. When I finally found out their address, they refused to come to court and there was supposedly "nothing I could do." I'm still not sure if my lawyer I hired was working for me or for them, but that's how it turned out.
I still don't understand how they got away with it (and it was a substantial amount of money) but they did: they knew Guatemalan law better than me! I've also had realtors try to get me to sell my property here in Pana for U.S.Dollars in cash, and even I could tell the money was counterfeit! They and the "buyer" were in cahoots together, and trying to get my land and leave me with nothing. And this was the realtor that originally sold me my property!
But a realtor could find you a buyer and as long as you got the money in hand, and had it certified as legal here, then that might also be a good way to go.
It's difficult to advertise anything without a real newspaper here, but between the places I've mentioned plus Facebook you should be able to find someone to buy your organic threads and yarns. There's a lot of NGO's working with weavers who are based in the states, and they too might have the capital to buy the thread and yarns from you. I've listed as many as I can on the
LakeAtitlanDirectory.com, and let me know if you find any others and I will add them, too.
Good luck and thanks for writing... here's hoping that someone here will be able to help!
Yours, Catherine Todd
Sketch by Andrew Friend
