Today we went to Casanto Miray Rose Farm. This rose farm is a family run
business ran by Jorge and his family. They operate in El Quinche Pichincha,
Ecuador in the valleys of the Cayambe volcano. Casanto Miray has one hectare of
land with about 100,000 rose plants all tended to by only 11 workers. For this
business to stay sustainable they need each plant to produce at least one
quality rose that can be sold. This means that things such as work shortages,
disease, bugs, and natural disasters can be devastating to this business. To
combat the elements of disease and bugs, Casanto Miray must fumigate their greenhouses
every few days, as well as search each individual plants for any signs of
disease and weakness. If disease hits a greenhouse, they are forced to kill all
the flowers in the greenhouse. After killing all the flowers, it takes around
15 days to get back on track and selling roses, which can devastate the business.
Jorge explained to us that his company produces around 100,000 quality roses to
sell each month, he can sell the roses for 24 cents to the United States and
around 50 cents to countries in Europe and Asia. Casanto Miray is also their
own distributor and packager in Ecuador, they package each bouquet of roses (25
stems each) in a packaging plant and then drive all their roses to the airport.
From the airport the roses are flown to Miami and other cities to be sold to
consumers. They make around a 6 to 10 cent profit on each rose after shipping
costs are subtracted. They grow white, pink, red, and yellow roses naturally
but can dye the roses any colors that a consumer might want. Their business can
maintain a rather steady flow of flowers throughout the year but see booms
around Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and Thanksgiving.

After our visit with Casanto Miray we were off to the town of Quinche for
lunch. We ate at La Carreta (the cart) and had the choice between shrimp and
turkey. After lunch we were given around 2 hours to explore the town because of
a mishap with our bus. During our adventures we met a lovely lady named Rosita.
She owned a small convenience store located under her house where she lived
with her whole family. From the beginning of our friendship with Rosita it was clear
things were going to be very interesting. Rosita knew no English and we knew
very little Spanish. However, after very careful conversation and much laughter
we began to effectively communicate. We learned that Rosita had never left her
small town, loved basketball, her beautiful church, and entertaining her
guests. She also seemed to be the unofficial mayor of the town. Throughout our
conversations with her she would say hello to everyone that passed her
storefront and even got us into a church that was closed to the public because
it was still getting built. We took many pictures with our lovely Rosita and
our conversations went a long way in improving our Spanish. This interaction
that occurred by chance is what everyone should try and have when abroad and
studying abroad.