Live from Quito - It is Valentine's 2008: February 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
...And know they love you.
Valentine's Day has finally arrived, and lovers everywhere are surprised with wonderful flowers. I would like to thank everyone who made my task easier, as well as everyone in Mayesh and all the clients for distributing these flowers, which in turn spread love, joy and goodwill to many people throughout the nation... Love is one of the most important components of our lives, and for everyone in our great industry, I urge you to remember, love and cherish the people close to you, throughout these busy and often stressful times. While success and financial gain are of course necessary pursuits, when one steps back and surveys the big picture, one realizes that love and the well-being of those dear to us is so much more important. For me, and I hope for you, CSNY's "Teach Your Children" poignantly illustrates the paramount importance of unconditional love:
You who are on the road Must have a code that you can live by And so become yourself Because the past is just a good bye.
Teach your children well, Their father's hell did slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you'll know by. Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
And you, of tender years, Can't know the fears that your elders grew by, And so please help them with your youth, They seek the truth before they can die.
Teach your parents well, Their children's hell will slowly go by, And feed them on your dreams The one they picked, the one you'll know by. Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you would cry, So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.
Dedicated to Conrad Dahlson, my father and Desiree Dahlson, my niece.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 6:54 PM 1 Comments
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Out of Ecuador
Saturday was my last day in Quito and it was a very quiet day. There was very little product available at the farm level, and anyway, there is really no way to get it to Locations in the USA in time for the holiday. I was standing by in case any problems arose, but there were none.
Last night I went to a convivial gathering of Salome Penaherrera's (nee Flores) sister Esmeralda on the occasion of her birthday. Salome recently married Ramiro Penaherrera, who is running the excellent "Flowers for Kids" promotion, and whic I earnestly hope that Mayesh will be hosting sometime in 2008. Ramiro and Salome are quite the emancipated cosmopolitan couple, and they will be shortly combining their last names to create their own nom-de-mariage; Penaflores.
Today at lunchtime I landed Stateside, in time to see the last of the roses being loaded into a tractor-trailer ready for dispatch to all points West. This is the penultimate leg of these roses' journey from Ecuador for a Valentine's Day sweetheart somewhere West of the Mississipi. The crew informed me that it had been extremely busy the last week or so, and I for must agree. I am exhausted and it is oh-so-good to be home!
Happy Valentine's Day everyone,
and good luck with your sales.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 12:14 PM 0 Comments
Friday, February 8, 2008
Tungurahua
Well, there it is....Valentine's Day has reached its conclusion here in Ecuador. The rose plantations have harvested all their red varieties although there is an abundance of colors that would be ideal for fall still available. Our last flight containing any significant amount of Valentine's day flowers left from Quito International Airport this afternoon.
During this entire Valemtine's shipping period, we have had absolutley no problems, so it is only fittting that today we would have our cargo diverted to Panama, of all places. The reason for this is the Volcano Tungurahua that exploded on Wednesday morning. It turns out that this eruption is much more serious than originally thought, with several thousand people being evacuated from the town of Banos and other small villages near by. Massive amounts of ash, rock and small pieces of magma were spewed into the atmosphere, some of which was deposited in the immediate area, and the rest being blown by the jet stream westwards towards the Pacific ocean. Unfortunately this detritus in the air was detected over Guayaquil airport, where most cargo planes from Quito land to refuel. Because of the hazard of the airborne particulate to the jet turbines, UPS diverted our flight to Panama. In Panama the pilots ran out of hours permissible to fly, and with no back-up crew, had to reschedule the leg to Miami for early Saturday morning. In the scheme of things, a slight hiccup.
In Ecuador, visits to see the night-time fireworks of Tungurahua have become rather popular, with sparks, sprays of moltem lava, as well as ash and rocks lighting up the night sky. While the display must surely be enthralling, the risk-reward percentages look rather unappetising, and I, for one, will not be making the trip.
I made my last trip to Flowercargo, the company that coordinates our freight during Valentine's Day and throughout the year, where I bade farewell to the great team that efficiently puts together all our boxes and delivers them to UPS. I am very grateful for their enthusiastic approach and positive attitude, and for making sure that despite transit delays of some farms delivering roses, all the cargo was tendered to UPS in a timely fashion. Special thanks go to Ney Guachamin (in orange sweatshirt) for his tireless efforts to ensure Mayesh receives all their Valentine's roses on time.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 8:06 PM 1 Comments
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Mr. Blue Sky
Well nature can be pretty perverse. Just as we finish shipping roses from Ecuador the sun comes out across the entire altiplano. Blue skies abound, it is blazing hot, and sunscreen is required as the sun is so intense.
In the south, which had enjoyed several consecutive sunny days, the views were spectacular looking south from Cotopaxi. In the distance you can see the volcano of Chimborazo, which is the closest point on the planet to the sun, as well as being the furthest point from the center of the earth.
Calls to growers in search of bits and pieces to complete orders was often futile as the farms simply had run out of flowers. Peter managed to get some roses but all in all the harvest is coming to an end.
In the north the growing areas of Cayambe and Tabacundo basked in some intense sunshine as well, and if this weather continues the farms in this area will have quite a few flowers being harvested after Valentine's Day. In this picture we see Tabacundo and environs, where farms such as Jumbo and Denmar are located.
It is a shame, because if this sun had come out a week earlier the Valentine's day crop would have been much more plentiful and more vigorous. But that's life, and sometimes nature does not comply with man's best laid plans.
Lily Allen is quite popular here and her version of ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" lends its name to the title of today's blog. "Alfie" is being played on the radio all the time. Another popular band here is the great Mexican band Mana; who perform "El Muelle de San Blas". During my stay here I heard their amazing version of Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain", which is sung in Spanish and has mariachi breaks at the begiining and the end. The song is called "Tonto bajo la lluvia" and could well describe my trip to Ecuador this year!
# posted by Mayesh International @ 8:50 PM 0 Comments
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Ash Wednesday
Today I visited the south again for one last look at the farms there, and gave out final reminders to please be on time. I spent some time at Agrirose, where I had the opportunity to film the process of flowers being graded and bunched, ready for export, which you can see in this short video. I hope you enjoy it.
I spent quite a bit of time with the owner Renato Teran, reviewing the new varieties that he is testing. Most of these are codes, including quite a few very striking and beautifuk varieties that we should see this summer, as well as roses that have names such as "Orangina" and "Candlelight". He also has quite some beautiful and sweetly fragrant garden roses, including new David Austin varieties. So there is alot to look forward to from Agrirose, and I will keep you all updated this summer.
A curious thing occurred while I was at Agrirose, shortly after filming the rose packing and production. A priest from the local parish came in and painted a black cross on the forehead of every employee. The medium he used, I was informed is made from ash mixed with water. Wow! I had no idea that "Ash Wednesday" was based on a Catholic tradition. Actually, I had no clue at all why it is called Ash Wednesday, but apparently it heralds the start of "Quaresma" or Lent. Also a rather strange coimcidence occurred on this Ash Wednesday: the volcano Tungurahua, that was featured earlier in the blog, exploded in the early hours of the morning spewing ash for hundreds of miles to the west. There is a lot of praying going on in this part of Ecuador.
This evening our last big shipment left for the airport, and there seem to be very few roses left at the farms available for sale.. Peter did a really masterful job of gleaning whatever roses were out there, and came up with a great package. Tonight all the farms arrived on time, and the entire operation went very smoothly.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 8:48 PM 1 Comments
Breaking News
Early this morning at Schiphol, Amsterdam's International Airport, as well as other major European airports such as Madrid and Lisbon were raided by customs agents with warrants to confiscate any and all roses grown without royalty payments. These royalty payments are due to the rose breeders for their intellectual property (the development and rights to a variety of rose that they developed) which are assessed on every plant grown. Rose plants are easily propagated and there is a considerable black market for 'hot" new varieties.
This abuse has been going on for far too long, and for a company such as Mayesh which does business with reputable rose growers, the implication is that hopefully we will have to compete less with brokers and importers who trade with illegal operators, as they will either have to pay some quite large sums pending an audit going back several years, or simply cease to be growers.
I support these actions and earnestly hope similar actions will take place in the United States.
Please be sure that we do everything in our power to deal with upstanding and fully paid-up members of the rose growing community, but if we do find we have been trading erroneously with a grower who is in violation of the law, we will shall correct the situation immediately.
Just to give you an idea of the impact; today I had lunch with another importer from Holland who received a call from a grower to inform him that unfortunately the shipment of Sexy Red would have to cancelled as the grower had not paid the royalties for this new variety!
# posted by Mayesh International @ 3:39 PM 0 Comments
Super Tuesday
It just occurred to me that I had become almost oblivious to events in the USA, and early this morning before going to bed I watched a little Larry King hosting the primary returns. That put me to sleep right away. I also realized I had not seen a Super Bowl in six years.
Last night went much smoother than I had anticipated, with most farms showing up on time, and almost dropping off one after the other. Denmar continues to amaze with punctuality and correct numbers. Beautiful mixed colors arrived from Florecal and Agrirose continues to fulfill their Classy commitment, and with the sunny weather in the south they look really velvety, and at the correct cutting point. Nevado roses delivered the Classy's that Peter ordered, as well as their huge 130-140cm Forever Youngs, which are packed in an impressive unique box.
Even though all the roses have been fresh, I still had to reject roses last night, much to my chagrin, but some farms, in a rush to fulfill their commitments are not hydrating the roses in an appropriate manner. These arrive soft and simply will not ship in a satisfactory condition. Roses have to hydrate for a minimum of four hours, and really need 12 hours to be properly stabilized.
As production is tight I could almost hear Peter saying "No, no, no" all the way from Miami, but I had no choice.
Red roses are in tight supply in Ecuador and Colombia, and so I think we are set for a good Valentine's as Peter has acquired a fair-sized amount of these, especially considering the trying conditions. It is worth noting that the only way to get the quantity of flowers that we need for this holiday, we have to start buying and shipping over a period of several days. There are no farms, trucks or aircraft in Ecuador big enough to produce and move everything in one or two days.
Some colors are loosening up, but time is running out to get them to the USA. However, Peter and I are monitoring the situation, and if you sell out we shall react accordingly.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 4:59 AM 1 Comments
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Shyris y El Portugal, Quito
At the intersection of Shyris, one of the main thoroughfares in Quito, and El Portugal street is a very popular cafe and patisserie, as well as two busy little flower stands. Normally they are loaded with buckets and buckets of roses, which they buy very cheaply on the so-called "national" market.
Today, as I passed by I noticed just two buckets of roses from fincas, in place of the 15 to 20 they normally have on hand, and often more. At first I thought nothing of it, but on reflection I realised that this is a barometer of how tight the market is for export roses.
However, this also indicates that some growers are grading "National" quality roses into bunches for export. I have stayed on top of this during my visits to the farms; repeatedly opening bunches of roses in the post-harvest areas to make sure this is not happening, and to the best of my ability, as well as having confidence in the integrity of our suppliers, I have ascertained that our flowers are all export quality.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 6:43 PM 0 Comments
Rose Supply Tightens Up
Yesterday was a chicken consomme day, all day, and I am now very much recovered.
After our massive shipment from the night before, which went incredibly smoothly, and we were able to dispatch 870 fulls by air, leaving only some 50 boxes behind; last night was the complete opposite.
Every single farm, bar none, was later than scheduled and some farms did not arrive until midnight. Space on the airlines is incredibly tight, with some of them making trucks wait 36 hours to drop off. Our relationship with UPS certainly pays divdiends in times like this, as we are able to ship more cargo than we had allocated and the flights leave on time! We were also able to deliver to our airline later than their deadline, and we really needed that accomodation last night.
The rose situation in Ecuador is tight for the following reasons. Firstly, as I touched upon yesterday, many farms made a light pinch, or "cleaning" as it is called, and in some cases no pinch at all. Secondly the weather in most parts of Ecuador where the roses are grown has been atrocious, with the exception of the south. This affects supply substantially, depending on the farm. The top tier of farms such as Producnorte aka Greenrose have the technical expertise and financial wherewithal to make sure that they are able to grow and harvest roses in these trying conditions. Even so they cannot fulfill all our colors that we requested, but do come close. Farms of lesser quality, and who maybe cash-strapped cannot fight the diseases adequately and do not have the knowledge to manipulate the plants to produce more roses. In this case yields fall, and the product is often debilitated by disease.
Now, as the shipping days for the USA come to an end, Russia is starting up, and Europe starts on Thursday, so there is almost no let up in demand. I expect a lot of roses to come available on Sunday and Monday but for all practical purposes this is too late to get them to our warehouses in time for Valentine's day. Also because the Old World starts shipping there is no easing of cargo space either.
In many ways this is a similar scenario to last year, but as we all found out there ended up being plenty of roses available in the market. My understanding is that Colombia has shipped plenty of product to Miami, and due to inclement weather in the Northeast and Mid-West, which if it continues could cause Miami to dump into the West. Of course, this is speculation and if we focus on what we do best, we expect to have a good Valentine's, regardless of what else is going on.
Also of interest is that in the local newspapers, there have been many articles on roses that are exported, particularly the phenomenon of the huge demand for long roses in Russia. Also much discussed is the fact that exports to the USA have dropped substantially over the past few years.
In 2002 the USA received some 80% of all roses exported, and today that number is down to 50%. Naturally this change in distribution also makes the supply in general much tighter, and at Valentine's particularly so.
Tonight I expect to be another long night, with many farms even more tardy due to the traffic as Carnival comes to a close. Howver, I have done everything in my power to persuade growers to be here in as timely a fashion as possible.
Oh, and I am going to eat some solid food today.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 5:37 AM 1 Comments
Monday, February 4, 2008
Maybe I shouldn't have eaten the pork sandwich.
Last night was our first big night, and we received over 900 full boxes. Of course, every one else is receiving big volumes, so it was very busy inside the coolers at the freight forwarder.
Unfortunately, I got food poisoning and at around 10pm I started vomiting, and decided to retire. It was a rough night, but all part of the Ecuadorian experience!
As you can see, the fast food here is a bit different from the States. However, due to careful planning by Peter, and my constant reminders to the growers, in some cases haranguing them, almost all cargo arrived on time, and all the flowers had been sent to UPS' coolers at the airport, ready to load into the plane in the morning.
Overall I feel we have a very good quality product coming to Mayesh, especially given the fact that a lot of our regular growers do not pinch* too many roses for Valentine's Day anymore.
Peter, our Rose Buyer, was able to find alternative growers to supply us with plenty of red roses.
Around six in the evening the trucks start arriving from the farms, loaded with boxes for different clients. The freight forwarders receive the cargo and prepare them for each customer. Since the tightening of regulations by Homeland Security, all labels, invoices and paperwork have to be meticulously prepared, and this complicates matters somewhat. However, our freight forwarder "Flowercargo" does an excellent job of this, so that by 9:00 pm the first tractor trailer is on the way to UPS, followed shortly by a second.
Incidentally, this custom's paperwork is serious business, and Peter just entertained Homeland Security for an hour and a half in our Miami office for a discrepancy in a shipment ofrom over a year ago! He cleared up the matter, but evidently all the T's must be crossed and I's dotted.
As the cargo comes in I randomly select boxes and check them for quality, freshness and so forth, as well as other details such noting growers who do not fill boxes correctly, or are cutting roses too tight or too open.
It is cold inside the coolers, and cold outside. I was feeling really bad, and went to bed.
* A quick note for some of you who may not know: A "pinch" in rose vernacular means to cut back the rose plants in order to have a crop about three months in the future. The plants are cut down in size and will produce on about three or four stems. Thus for Valentine's Day, the roses are pinched at the beginning of November, in order to have a large "flush" to fulfill demand. That is why at Christmas there is often a shortage of red, because the reds are pinched, and therefore are not flowering. As you can see open prodcution is sacrificed for a large crop later, when prices are higher.
The drawback to this is that after Valentine's Day there are no roses, and the next time the plants flower they have a second flush, often at a time when the roses are of lower value.
Many growers have stopped pinching in order to have even production year round, as the stress to the rose plants caused by the pinch is also considerable, and the peaks and valleys of prodcution are undesirable.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 5:26 AM 0 Comments
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Full of optimism from the day before, although quite tired from lack of a full night's sleep, I drive north again to see how the farms are doing in Cayemve and Tabacundo. Today the farms are preparing the first Valentines' shipments that will fly from Ecuador on Sunday, and thence go by truck to Los Angeles, in time for sale for the weekend.
As I drop down into the deep gorge that separates Quito from the altiplano where the rose cultivation is done, the sun bursts through the clouds, and looking across the valley I can see the landscape defined in a chiaroscuro that is distinct to this part of the world. Certainly, the sun puts as mile omn my face becuase it really is needed to complete the harvest for Valentine's Day.
The first farm that I visit is Denmar, who have reliably supplied Mayesh for nigh on twelve years, week in and week out. At Valetine's Day they have debveloped a reputation in our company of always being tardy and disorganized, which understandably puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the holiday.
So I was quite delighted to walk into a new and improved Denmar, with a revamped color scheme, logo and an altogether much more relaxed and functional attitude. The management has divided the three main functions, that of hybrid tea roses, spray roses and bouquets into three separate buildings, thus bringing calm and order to each unit. In years past all operations were done in one building, and the ensuing dodging and darting of bodies trying to execute their tasks made a rugby scrum look like a completed Rubrik's cube!
Lina Restrepo, the manager of Denmar gave me the dime tour, and the calm and professional attitude was striking. Even with the trying weather conditions, Lina had the roses ready for timely delivery to the airport. She was quite glad to see the sun, and even though it was partly cloudy, the resulting dry warm day is great for production.
Another interestuing feature that she has introduced is a grading system that accounts for head size relative to stem length and proportionality of the stem thickness, so that roses which are long, say 70 or 80cm do not get graded as such if the heads are small and/or the stems are weak.
In the last two pictures you can see the scale that is used, again in the resplendent, alomost Miami Dolphin color scheme.
It is this continual pursuit to improve sustems and quality that really distinguishes the good farms from the rest, and the strides being made at Denmar are truly encouraging.
So far, so good! Time to move on to the other farms.
Today was another long day visiting plantations, reviewing cutting points, re-confirming for the fifth or sixth time if the flowers would be on time, and receiving assurances in the affirmative.
Growers indicated a few shortages, mostly of special order colors, but all in all it was a really positive day.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 4:40 PM 0 Comments
Friday, February 1, 2008
Whar a Difference a Day Makes...
Driving away from my hotel the rain was still drizzling and I encountered some very heavy fog in South Quito. Suddenly a ray of sunshine flooded the valley to my left illuminating the sprawl of the outskirts of the city. It was a welcome portent of what truned out to be a glorious hot and sunny day in the principal southern rose-growing regions of Ecuador in the province of Cotopaxi.
Indeed as the Pan-American highway descended the foothills of the Cotopaxi volcano the entire valley opened up in full sun with nary a cloud in the sky. The view was spectacular and I could see the Chimborazo volcano resplendent in its snow covered peak, and further to the south the Tunguragua volcano that was spewing hot smoke from it's crater. It was only 8:00 am and yet the sun was already scorching.
What a difference a day makes, I thought. Well, that and being a 100 miles further south from Cayembe.
A little further south I stopped for gas and saw that the Cotopaxi volcano was clearly visible, with no cloud cover. Driving further south, to the southernmost farm that we buy roses from, that of Nevado-Naranjo, I had my first close-up glimpse of a visibly active volcano: Tunguragua with hot gases rising and then being dispersed by the upper winds. I say glimpse, because by the time I had finished checking the roses at Nevado, the volcano was obscured by clouds.
The roses at this farm are excellent and I was able to move fairly rapidly to the next plantation.
I visited five farms today and all are on time and of very good quality, including Agrirose and Ecuanrose.
At Ecuanrose, a plantation of some 40 hectares divede between two locations, was in fulll Valentines production. Conveyor belts were going non-stop, as bunches of hand-packed roses stream towards the coolers, ready to be packed into boxes the following day. The process is as follows: The roses are cut at the optimum cutting-stage, depending on the client, and then carried to the packing shed. They are carried in nets, each containing 30 to 50 stems. In the post-harvest warehouse they are put in a hydrating solution until they are ready to be graded. At this time roses with defects are set aside, and only the premium blooms are packed. That is the theory, but at a busy time like Valentine's errors are made, and subpar roses occasionally manage to find their way into the bunches. One of my tasks is to attempt to eliminate these mistakes, and I randomly inspect bunches to see how they have been packed. Obviously, with thousands of bunches being shipped, the excercise ends up being a reinforcement of our desires and wants and an opportunity to instruct how we need the product to be packed.
Once the bunches are packed they stream down the conveyor belt, where they go through a quality review and are then placed in hydrating solutions and held overnight in the coolers to stabilize the roses so they will be ready for the stress of shipping. Any time that you hear of roses being shipped the same day that they are harvested, you now know is a complete mis-representation of the facts.
The following day the orders are picked and filled according to the customers' needs and then packed into boxes ready for transport to Quito.
I left the south very upbeat and positive, and combined with the assurances of our farms in the north, now feel that our pre-booked orders will be delivered as programmed. I drive back to Quito, in preparation for the next task, which is to check the roses as they arrive in the evening at the freight forwarder's coolers.
# posted by Mayesh International @ 2:56 PM 0 Comments
very quiet day. There was very little product available at the farm level, and anyway, there is really no way to get it to Locations in the USA in time for the holiday. I was standing by in case any problems arose, but there were none.
