Monday, November 30, 2009

Secret Sale Item

Today is Cyber Monday. That means most people will shop on line today. So I am going to try to make it worth everyone's time to shop on line with South American Secrets. Today the fair trade Brazilian bottle top purse line will be our Secret Sale Item.. The entire line is 50% off from 10 am Monday until 10 am Tuesday. And to sweeten the sale we will add a box of Brazilian Cigarillos or some Ecuadoran Chocolates to each order. Your choice! Please go to our purse category on our website and see the various purses the fine ladies of Escama have made for us.
Thanks
Fred

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Secret Sale Item

The holiday season is here. We officially kicked off the season over the Thanksgiving weekend with some great sales on the web and in the store, but I just noticed we have not done much yet for men. Therefor this time I am putting all men's shirts as our Secret Sale Item. This great Peruvian cotton shirt is very comfortable and stylish. It is priced at $29.95 so with the 50% discount it will be $14.48. This sale will starts 10am Sunday morning when the peruvian chess sets goe off sale. The shirts will be on sale until Monday 6pm.
Thanks Fred

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Secret Sale Item




Happy Black Friday all. If we think back to why we eat turkey and give thanks on thanksgiving Day, we should recall that it was a cold winters day and the pilgrims were without food or firewood when the Indians came to the rescue. In honor of the Indians and their gifts to the Pilgrims South American Secrets has made today's Secret Sale Item the Peruvian Chess Sets. These chess sets come in four sizes mini, small, medium, and extra large. They are hand painted ceramics on folding wooden boards. It is the Incas verses the Spaniards. The idea is to keep playing until the Incas finally win. All chess sets will be 50% off. This sale will run until Sunday morning 10am. Find the chess sets on our website or come on in the store and we will take care of you.
Fred

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving, we will be closed Thursday Nov.26,2009.You can still shop our website.Starting Wednesday Nov.25,2009 6:00pm and ending Nov.27,2009 Black Friday at 10:00am, our Super Secret Sale Item will be all the past items that have been a Secret Sale Item from Nov. 14 thur Nov.25.So take a look to see what you have missed, and order now.We will be open again on Friday Nov.27, 2009.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Secret Sale Item



South American Secrets is ready for the Holidays and for the cold weather too!!! Are you????
Our Alpaca products are the best option to keep you warm and cozy.
Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile at an altitude of 3500m. to 5000m. above sea level. Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas and they have been legendary known for their fine fiber which is as soft as cashmere, and warmer, lighter and stronger than wool. Our Alpaca products come from Arequipa-Peru, considered the center of the alpaca textile industry. This unique fiber comes in various natural colors and is used for making knitted and woven items such as blankets, sweaters, scarves, gloves, hats, coats, ponchos etc. If you haven't enjoyed the softness of any of these alpaca products, here is a big opportunity to do it!!! Our secret sale item is the Unique Alpaca Poncho Wrap. It is 50% off until Wednesday 25th at 6:00pm.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Secret Sale Item


Greetings all. I'm Shelby. Today I want to share with all of you the celebration we had last night, here at South American Secrets. Maria and I, surprised Fred and Janneth with a baby shower. As you already know, they are expecting their second son, due Dec. 9, 2009. Family and friends gathered to help celebrate our new addition. Big Brother Sebastian 4 1/2, helped mom open all the wonderful gifts. To his surprise, there were gifts for him as well. Sebastian is going to be an awesome big brother. Fantastic time had by all.
So, after such a nice time and celebration, we are ready to let you know our Secret Sale Item: the Muneca Hat. Made in Ecuador, you can choose from 5 different nice colors. Only at $24.95, until tomorrow tuesday 24th at 6:00 pm.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Secret Sale Item



Today I am extending yesterday's Secret Sale Item. The Brazilian Gold Jewelry line is such a great buy I hope people get the opportunity to see how special it is. Her are two more photos and one more day to take advantage of the Sale. Come into the store or by on line. This line will be 50% off until Sunday at 6pm.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Secret Sale Item


I went to my a mixer tonight. What is a mixer you ask? My wife asked the same thing. I would describe a mixer as a typical American social or wine/cocktail party. We as northern Americans frequently say we are going to a party when indeed we are going to a cocktail party or a social. I have brought my wife to many so called american parties and when we get there, there are bunch people standing around drinking wine and talking politics or about what ever is pop-culture for that week. My wife always smiles and I know what she is thinking because she has told me here thoughts on American parties before. She smerks and says "americans don't have parties, they have sit-arounds." She says "a party has music and dancing not a bunch of drinking, eating and talking." She is right, we have mixers, mixers is the correct term for northern american parties. I like both mixers and the type of parties my wife's culture indulges in. If you dont already know my wife Janneth is from Ecuador which is of course in south America, so they too are Americans which is why I specified our parties as north American parties.

The mixer was fun, it was put on by the Sebastiani family. There children go to school with my son. It was very sweet of them, they put this on for all the parents to have a venue to get to know each other. If you don't know the Sebastiani name google it and you see they are quite significant historically to Sonoma and the wine world. So in honor of the Sebastiani family we introduce the Secret Sale Item. This item comes from a country that is well known for its crazy parties. It also just got picked for the 2016 Olympics. What country is it? Brazil! Today the Secret Sale Item is our Brazilian line of gold Jewelery. So from the minute this blog post until 6pm Saturday this entire line of earring, and necklaces are 50% off. This makes it a great day to think about going GOLD! Find what you want on our website or just come on in the store. We would love to hear your perspective on what you believe defines a party.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Secret Sale Item


I really do try to get this blog post done before 6pm but I am a few weeks from having my second son, so some times I find that nesting takes precedent over everything else. So today's Secret Sale Item is coffee as I will need much of it to make it through the next few weeks, no actually the next few months. There you have it! All you coffee fans check it out! Our coffee Jewelry line, bracelets, earrings, and necklaces. This is a product that took some years to perfect but we did it. It requires a specific amount of toasting, too much and you can't get a needle through it without it falling apart, too little and the seed will age and fall apart over time. It is a great product from Ecuador, when you pull it out of its bag you smell the strong aroma of roasted coffee. Of course over time the smell becomes much more subtle. I like to make the joke some times that this is the only jewelry that can save you if you can't find an open coffee shop on the way to work. Anyway, in honor of coffee the Secret Sale Item is our coffee jewelry line. From the moment this blog post until 6pm Friday this line will be 50% off. The coffee line runs from $14.95 to $36.95. So if you haven't figured it out yet 50% off of $14.95 is half that ($7.48). Go on line take advantage of this sale or just come on by at the store in Sonoma and join us in some coffee?

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Secret Sale Item


Happy Wednesday everyone! Just going to do a short blog post today. Today we got in our fair trade alpaca line. The alpaca comes in natural tones, brown black, gray, cream etc... This product is handmade in the Andes. It takes about 5 months for an order to be finished. The woman knit the clothing while watching there animals in the fields. Interesting enough the line is designed by a fashion designer and the women go according to the design they have been given. It is a fusion of new wold fashion with old world methods. I will have it on line soon for everyone to see.

As for today we need to talk about today's Secret Sale Item. From 6pm today (Monday) thru Thursday 6pm we will have All our Putumayo music 50% off. That means each cd will be $7.48. I hope everyone gets a chance to take advantage of this Secret Sale Item. You will never find Putumayo music at this price. The selection of music is vast covering music from almost every country in the world. So if you like Salsa music you will love the Putumayo line. If you like Reggae you will love this line of music. Maybe you like Blues or Rock, this line is great and what is most special is it is all fair trade music. Please place your order on line or in the store.
thanks!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Secret sale Item


It was over 10 years ago now that I met my friend Roberto out in Otavalo. My
Ecuadorian friend Oscar and I were just talking about starting up a socially conscious company that could help marginalized communities in Northern Ecuador, when we by chance met Roberto who would soon become a huge part of our success. Roberto was and is a traditional Otavalanian who happens to be from the generation were this community has been most effected by globalization. A very difficult time for a young man in a traditional community. This generation was forced to adapt to changing times and watch centeries of tradition be altered forever, or become irelavent and live the life as a monument of the past. For example the traditional language is Quechua but since the advent of computers in school their traditional language had to take a back seat to Spanish as keyboards were not set up to accommodate their alphabet. The issues Roberto and his family had to face was one of generational divide. Roberto's parents had worn the traditional garb all thier lives. Otavalanian men used White pants, a white shirt, blue pancho, black shoe/slippers and a stiff wool hat. Meanwhile the woman had embroderd white blouses, a blue skirt and gold painted beads that represented thier social states and wealth. Then comes Roberto's generation that is now wearing more comfortalbe shoes imported from the states, europe, or Asia. As well as cloths you and I would be caught wearing. As goods and information become more available for the first time, tradition was put by the wayside. You all know the story, globalization, it has its positive and negative effects. Anyway Roberto took the traditional Ecuadorian product and made it more available for exportation. As we started working with him, he went from a one room showroom with some looms in his fathers house to a three story house and manufacturing plant. We started with a 100 scarves and now sell about 12,000 a year. Later we started carrying his ruanas (poncho wraps) which leads us into the Secret Sale Item for the day. From 6pm Tuesday until 6pm Wednesday we will have all ruanas or ponchos 50% off. It is a great way of celebrating our long relationship with this bright Ecuadorian socially conscious business man. Roberto is one of South American Secrets many cool stories behind the product.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Second secret sale post




We had some technical difficulties yesterday so I am posting yesterdays secret sale item today and another one for today, so from 6pm today until 6pm Tuesday there are two secret sale items to take advantage of. The first item is our Chocho rojo line of jewelery. Chocho Rojo is a seed from from the Amazon Jungle. Its natural color is red. This seed, also known as Chocho Platillo, is believed to protect those who wear it from negativity. Tribes members in the Amazon have a tradition of always carrying a few seeds with them to attract positive energy. Some tribes put one seed on the wrist of newborns to keep them safe. As you can see on our website this jewelery comes in various necklaces bracelets and earrings. Of course like all the Secret Sale items, they are 50% off the original price. The prices on the pieces vary form $10.95 to $29.95, so today your price is half that and that will be our secret.

The second Secret sale item is a product from a fair trade co-op in Brazil. This community makes all kinds of goodies out of recycled beer and soda tabs. The official Secret sale item is the Chica cosmetic purse. This purse normaly runs $46.95. Today it will be half off that ($23.48) great idea for Christmas, but that is our secret right!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Steve and Gail Wolf's story



Story of the day. Today November 5th 2009 marks the 48th anniversary of Steve and Gail Wolf. If you have a moment to read a little further you will see perhaps why they have such a successful marriage.

About six weeks ago Steve and Gail came into our store and Gail saw some gold brazillian earrings and a necklace that she liked. Steve saw that she liked the jewelry but that she did'nt feel good about spending money on herself. Steve a few days later called us at the store and told Shelby the store manager that he would like to buy the jewelery his wife had seen that day and let us know it would be for their 48th wedding anniversary. The earrings had already sold by the time he called so we had to special order them from Brazil to see that he could give them to his wife for the anniversary. We were able to get the pieces to him faster then expected and he was thrilled. He was so excited he gave them to Gail a month before their wedding anniversary.

What I like most about this story is how excited he is to take care of his wife after all those years and that thier anniversay is still very special to him. There is no question those two still enjoy the romantic side of life. I myself have only been married 8 years but I feel like the luckiest man alive, I trust if I can maintain the passion for love as Steve can for Gail I will be just as happy as he is in forty some odd years. Congratulations Steve and Gail you are a great example for all of us to follow.

Now for the secret sale item I promised to give out in this blog post. All dresses will be 50 percent off from 6pm November 14th to 6pm November 15. They can be purchased on line or in our store by calling or walking in, but only for blog readers

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

South American Secrets/Sonoma life


I have wanted to promote the everyday life and stories that happen in our little south american secrets' world in Sonoma, so I will be changing the idea of the blog to better fit our readers interest. First we will be talking about what is interesting in Sonoma life and what may be pertinent to life of our friends and producers in South America. So basically the blog each day will talk about what is interesting in local news and what is happening in the store for example what is new in stock and what is on sale. To promote the blog we will be running a different sale every day starting November 15. Those who read the blog and know about it will be the only persons to be able to take advantage of the sale. Each day one item will be 50 percent off from 6pm to 6pm the following day. That item will be able to be purchased on line or in the physical store via visiting it or calling it. I encourage would be readers to let me know how I can better entertain and serve them. Please stay tuned as I will be giving out the sale item ahead of time in the next blog.
Fred
P.S. the photo is of the last fashion show we went to in Peru. Its focus was organic materials and Fair Trade producers.