After four plane rides with a combined air time of twenty-three hours, an overnight in the New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (mercifully renovated for the 2010 Commonwealth Games) and an early morning three hour taxi ride, we found ourselves transported to the holy town of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India.  ’Transported’ being the operative word, both literally and in the more metaphoric sense, as the mid-morning environs of Pushkar are about as other-worldly as one could imagine from the serene, cool float plane dock on Salt Spring Island, our home and the starting point for our journey.

As we alighted in Vancouver from our float plane, Saint, Salt Spring Air President and co-passenger on our flight,  wished us well on the rest of our journey with the words: “Stay Safe.  Share the Wealth.”  These words struck a chord with me.  Sharing the wealth is a concept I try to embrace in both my personal and professional life, in my own community and in the global community I so dearly love exploring.  While traveling we try to patronize small family owned businesses where ever possible and when purchasing for our stores  we try to seek out other companies or individuals  with a similar conscience to buy from.  In this way we’ve been building lasting friendships as well as business relationships over the last seven years of our travels. In India and Thailand we’ve been purchasing from some of the same talented folks since our first trip.

From flying with our friends at Salt Spring Air to purchasing beautiful handcrafted jewelry and shawls from our Indian friends our first week here, I like to think a ripple effect is being created.  When you shop at Twang & Pearl you can rest assured that your purchases are not only putting food on our table, they are also putting food on the table of many of our friends in our own community and around the world.   

Stay tuned here for “Share the Wealth” posts profiling the talented members of our Twang & Pearl community.