Fourth World Cottage Industries

When I walked in, she said, «twenty percent off everything!» So I bought a mala. I saw a rupa they have at Aryaloka Buddhist Center in New Hampshire, the proprietor said it was from Thailand. They had a rupa like the one I have too. The rupas seemed compatabile with the prices in New York’s Chinatown, where I recently shopped for rupas. It’s not easy to find good Buddha statues. If I move to Santa Fe, maybe in 13 years, I’ll certainly come here for my rupa needs. They had a very good varriety of sizes, styles, mudras and materials. I got a mala for 6 dollars. Yay.

I walked in here with my friend Dahye last March when she was visiting here. They had the most lovely scarves for very reasonable prices ($ 20-​$ 25). Dahye bought one for me and ever since then I’ve been trying to remember where I got it–
Then yesterday I wandered in to pick up some prayer flags for our new house, and recognized this as where we’d gotten the scarf! The store owner had just returned from Asia– she said in 6 weeks she will have a huge shipment coming in– I’m excited to see what she bought!
Yesterday while browsing I found singing bowls, Buddhist statues, these amazing mirrored pillow covers, wood carvings, shell covered purses, all kinds of neat gifts and unique finds. Prices did seem unusually low for being near the Plaza like this.

Packed to the brim with trinkets from all over the world, I felt like I was spinninng around in a desktop globe wehn I walked in this store – minus the nausea, of course. The owner has something which represents nearly every country around the globe, and if it isnt in this location, they do have another store no too far from this one. The finds are inexpensive and they all have a story. I bought prayer beads from Thailand, The owner made sure to tell me that they deal with the artists directly and while in that village they give back to the artisans by performing sommunity work. Fair Trade at its finest.