Miguel Jove

So its been a week since my last blog and a lot has happened. I lost a dear friend in Miguel Jove, my adventure partner.

Over the last 10 years we have had a few different adventures one of my favourites being our crazy trip to the communities of Q'eros, where we walked about 8 hours a day to get from town to town, it was a truly amazing trip with Miguel, Roy senior, Roy junior and I. 

We received the sad news on Tuesday the 22nd of November and we had his wake in the South American Explorers club on Wednesday, there was a large turnout considering the last minuteness of the arrangements. 

It was a sad goodbye to a truly wonderful man, he will be truly missed. With love to Eli, Piero and Amaru. 

So we have our delicious salt soap made, it is beautifully pink as we used food dye and mixed up with the salt in a ziplock bag to give it a yummy pink colour.  The soap will be ready about the 9th of December just in time for our Christmas rush.

Salt soap

                                Chocolate soap

Salt soap

We also had some good news from the Choco Museo here in Cusco, they would like to order more of our scrumpcious chocolate chapstick as they have sold out already. Now getting this new order means a few different things, we have to get in touch with one of our vendors in Lima so that they will send us the different packaging that we require. This normally takes a couple of days, so maybe on Thurs we will be able to supply.
 
On a more personal note I have taken up a new sport. Fronton, played against a cement wall using a small very bouncy fast ball and a 327g wooden bat, you can either play on your own or with a partner. It is one way to keep fit and is very popular here in Peru, people play to an excellent level, I am however just learning and taking it a bit slower. It is a little like squash.

Today we will also be having a small party to celebrate the creation of our new company. We are now officially known as Inversiones Tika SRL and can operate nicely and legally and pay all our taxes like good citizens. So this afternoon its party time, also means we get an afternoon off.

For all your soap and trekking needs contact us via www.tikatrek.com or www.tikasoapperu.com

New tax number and Christmas soaps

As we approach Christmas time we have to get thinking about our special Christamas soaps, every year we go to the Christmas market and here is where we sell soaps we wouldn´t normally.
We normally sell quite a lot of rue soap "Ruda" in Peru, which is known here as being lucky. People have the plant in shops and use the water to clean the street to bring in sales.
At new year people like to bathe themselves with rue soap for business and prosperity for the new year, it is also the national herb of Lithuania.
So we will have rue soaps and we also do shaped soaps instead of our normal bars and we have a wonderful spray with lemon grass form Abancay.
We will of course be showcasing our fabulous choco, coffee and salt soaps so come on down and visit us ont he 24th of December ont he Inka Grill side of the Plaza de Armas.

We also have some very good news, we now have a tax file number which means very shortly we will be ready to start selling with our new name, we are just waiting for them to check our address. In the meanwhile we will be here doing what we do best, making soap.

Visit us at Pueblo Libertador B-5, 1st floor, Tel. 084 508745 or of course via www.tikasoapperu.com and www.tikatrek.com  

Today its soap time again, we are very busy at the moment so not much blogging going on, we are in the final throws of having our new company. We should have a RUC (tax file number today) and then in a few days we can print tax recipts and get a new bank account. Its all very exciting and a good time to get everything in order.
As soon as we get all that done I will be able to accept booking on the Tika Trek travel agency. On the agency front yesterday I got to learn about a new jungle lodge in Tambopata that I am hoping to visit in February. need to get that email sent off.
soap has been very busy at it is the time of year when the Inca Trail companies must pass the annual inspection to see if they are up to scratch. They check all their equipment, with part of this being biodegradeable soap and detergent. So with about 200 companies in Cusco getting inspected we have our work cut out.
In addition we are taking on a few more clients, Amistad Sagrada in Pisac, they help young kids and families and have a small store in the Pisac main square that helps fund their projects. We will also be getting new supplies out to one of our old clients the South American Explorers, you can get all our products here. See www.saexplorers.org

For all you soap and travel requirements have a look at www.tikatrek.com   www.tikasoapperu.com

Buses in Cusco

I thought today maybe I could talk about the crazy micro buses in Cusco. Its always a little stressful getting on and off the bus in Cusco, its not like the UK where the bus must come to a complete stop and then the doors open gently and you pay your ticket sit down and then the bus departs again. No here it is a whole different kettle of fish, bus sort of stops and you get on at great speed with man or woman saying sube sube (means get on) and they mean fast as soon as you have one foot on the step doors close and bus is off, you may or may not get a seat.
You also need to pay your ticket which is easy if you are at the front of the bus, if not you have to get through the people to pay and when its time to get off you better get off fast.
They also have time cards that the ticket man must run and get stamped. One other weird and I mean weird thing about the buses is that if its is 30 degrees outside people still do not open the windows, people here are extremely scared of wind and cold, no cold drinks as you will get a cold.
Today is also exciting as we will be delivering our first order of chocolate chapstick, yummy. Visit the Choco Museo in Cusco to buy them.

Paperwork and pink soap

So we are currently in the process of starting up a new company, we will be official in a few days. Everything takes a little longer here, however with the help of MYPES you can set up a company for a very small amount of cash.
instead of being needing the normal 1000 soles approx you can set up your company with the Micro y Pequeña empresa and it will cost you about 350 soles, and in reality doesnt take that long. So all going well we should be under a new company name very soon.
In addition we have been out getting our first clients for our chocolate products, we will be selling chocolate chapstick and soap in the very near future, go along to the Choco Museo in Cusco, Plaza Regocijo's and we have also been experimenting with our pink salt soap and we think it is going to be a big hit, soon to be available in Salineras.
For those of you that are going to be in Cusco over Christmas why dont you visit us at the Christmas fair, called Santurantikuy. The fair is on every year on the 24th of December in the Plaza de Armas (main square) of Cusco. you can try out our salt, chocolate and coffee soaps, first one to mention the blog gets a free sample.
Check us out on www.tikasoapperu.com and www.tikatrek.com

Chocolate soap

Since we are on a mission to make and commercialise chocolate soap here in Cusco we have been doing a bit of studying on the properties of different soaps.
For example chocolate soap has rejuvenating properties helping with the elasticity of the skin and stimulates the central nervous system and the antioxidants prevent premature aging. In addition it is also very hydrating.
Not only does it have all these wonderful benifits it smells fabulous and looks great.
In about 1 month from now you will be able to buy it from info@tikasoapperu.com

Cost 80g bar $2.50US.
160g bar $4.50US

Coffee soap helps energise you, can lift your mood and can help you get rid of cellulite, can I say anymore.  With coffee beans in the soap it also has wonderful exfoliating properties.
Cost 80g bar $2.50US
160g bar $4.50US

Salt Soap is both stimulating and smoothing and has great exfoliating properties, and of course we use the wonderful soap from Maras which has been handmined for at least the last 500years.
In addition salt soap can also help with psoriasis and eczema and will help relax muscles after a hard day.

Cost 80g bar $2.50US
160g bar $4.50US
info@tikasoapperu.com
www.tikasoapperu.com
www.tikatrek.com