Sir! Just What IS inside that Bag?

I see the voting booths have closed on the "What is inside that gigantic bag Ed is holding, and why is he smiling like never before?".

And the results are in:

Baby clothes received the most votes, how intuitive you all are, but the voter did have the opportunity to select more than one item, after all it is a big bag!

The next runner up choice there was a tie between Daniel Mendoza (famed 15 year old piano prodigy and my brother-in-law) and Peruvian crafts. Once again, hats off to your keen powers of association (with crafts, not with Daniel).

Surprisingly, no one chose rice (it does look like a big bag of 'lumpy' rice, but then again I would have to be quite strong and I would not be smiling.) Most unsurprisingly, no one selected Paco Gutierrez nor bottles of Pisco (Peruvian Grappa) - both of whom are quite good friends of mine. Paco is Kathy's 78 year old grandfather and he is as strong as a bottle of Pisco. His favorite past-times include long walks around the neighborhood in search of fruit from the neighbors trees!, and crossword/word search puzzles (the $1.99 Walgreens brand is his favorite).

Side Note: Peruvian Pisco, is the main ingredient of the famed Pisco Sour, served with a healthy froth of raw egg whites, thus explaining its scarcity at your local Chili's or Outback Steakhouse Bar. When in Peru, one must have a Pisco Sour, especially on February 2nd, which is National Pisco Sour Day. Read more about the famed Pisco Sour and its fascinating history.


Enough about Pisco! Let's get to the correct answers! The final and most correct answer of the puzzle is the following triplet (I should be careful using that word on a baby blog!):

1. Baby Clothes
2. Peruvian Crafts
3. Jewelry

Specifically: 45 jewelry sets, 33 handbags, 34 hats, 6 sweaters, and 4 ponchos!

Why is this so important and what does this have to do with the Baby Blog? Well, what you see in the photo represents the very beginning of "Lindo Peru" - which is our business of importing beautiful items from Peru and selling them online and also, later down the road, at famer's markets and shopping center booths.

Kathy and I will be in Peru for 4 weeks over Christmas (12/23 - 1/18), and we will be having so much fun going to the markets and selecting more beautiful items to bring back with us. Of course I will be the invisible gringo, and Orlando and Christian and Ghil I hope can help us make the rounds. Kathy and I will be able to carrying on her mother's tradition of benevolence by helping out the poor kids in Lima, Peru. We plan on redirecting 10% of our proceeds to Peruvian Charities such as Better Peru, Org. Sonia's dream is to establish a children's music school in Lima, and who knows, this could be the seeds which sow that reality.

We have defined our mission statement as:

The mission of ‘Lindo Peru’ is to raise awareness of Peruvian products and inspire the world to purchase high quality, safe, and environmentally conscious products from Peru which will help families in Peru to achieve a higher quality of life.

Lindo Peru will also be the home-based business Kathy and I focus on after the birth. Kathy and I will be able to dedicate efforts on the business, in between the cries and diaper changes. Also, since I am planning on taking the maximum amount of family leave for the birth (12 weeks!), hopefully I will be running to the post office every other day to ship Lindo Peru products!

Our website is live and fully functional! If you could help us spread the word about Lindo Peru to our extended friends and family members we'd appreciate it! Now is the perfect time to pick up a little stocking stuffer, the prices range from $5 to $20 dollars. Have a look, and if you have any suggestions or improvements please let Kathy and I know! I can't wait what shipment #2 is going to look like, hopefully it will be too big to carry! Don't worry, there won't be another gallop poll! I am already having delusions of shipping containers and trans-pacific vessels hauling Peruvian Jewelry, Purses, Chullo Hats, etc. Perhaps we will put Paco in there this time! We miss Paco very much as he is in Peru now after his long stay. I am so glad to have a grandfather once again, well... grandfather-in-law.

Special thanks to Natali and Daniel for helping out with the photo shoot for the website products! Here is a quick picture of the happy faces right before taking the photos for the website: