My name is Elsa. I am from Mexico and I started this business in 1996. I wanted to make tacos. We wanted to grab us a party and we wanted to make tacos, but everything related with tortillas, We didn't have any. I have to run to United States to buy them. And I said, Why not to open a little store? A little deli where I can use the small machine to mix corn tortillas and sell it. 28 years later, like I said to you, I ended up here, in three warehouses with a big machine.

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Q: Where does the store name, “El Comal”  come from?

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The name “Comal” means a grill. Originally this is made out of clay and the Aztecs that's where they cook their tortillas - in a clay round comal. It's a clay plate and you cook your tortillas, your corn, your tomatoes, and whatever. 

I am very lucky. I have customers who are customers from the beginning. There are lots of places that are opening. There are more tortillas coming from every single part of the world. But they still follow me; they still want El Comal;  they still want my tortillas and I am lucky. I'm very lucky.

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Migration story

Yeah, it's funny because that that is life. That is destiny. I don't know. I was a scuba diver. I was living in San Francisco and I liked the sports San Francisco I learn a lot of sports and one of my favorite sport was scuba diving. 

My roommate and I went to Mexico and Canada let's go to the US and some blasts and about La Paz Baja California. I know this tribal that area to the coast of Mexico. And let's talk for driving for you know, we can dive in different areas. We both were diverse, the Kenai and then we took our equipment and we went diamond and as we cruise the border that guy said to us, the border patrol says “where are you going diving?” I said I want to go to Bertola yard and here no go to some blasts in assemblers. Yeah. And I read is a beautiful is bad for Diamond. Really? And I say yeah, go over there. It's beautiful. Then my roommate and I drove there.

San Blas was a little teeny place and it was packed with everybody but Mexicans. People from Europe from Dinis Rana, China, every single person was there. People who live in inaudible acqualina in San Francisco, California, Albuquerque. Oh, they went there to some last. Why? Because he was a little place that it was, I think three pesos, five pesos per room. It was back. It was food delicious food so inexpensive. Everything was so inexpensive and it was people from France Italians, French, Americans, Canadians. 

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And I met a Canadian fellow that it was very funny. He makes us laugh. He was always fun. He was always following us. Don't bother as we want to go dive in. No, we follow you with it, we go with you. No, no, no, you don't have the equipment, we only have the equipment. We see you later. And one of those guys was follow me follow me and I ended up marrying the guy. And he was living in Vancouver. And I said to him, I marry you if you promise me a year later, we're going to move back to Vancouver to move to San Francisco. Here it rains every day and I don't like the rain. With the boys and I ended up here we marry, I had a beautiful daughter, and a beautiful granddaughter, and who stay here. And I divorced him because we have different beliefs. He's a very good guy, but we have a different lifestyles. Then he went his way I went my way. And I ended up staying in Vancouver. But I at that time, I said no, I want a business, I want something in my own, I have to support my daughter. 

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I thought having my own business will be very easy. Because I will have the freedom that I didn't have going to work what I have to be there for nine to five, no having my business is different. Oh my god, I was very ignorant, very ignorant, very naive. Again, having your business, you have no time of your own. You hear it seven days a week. And you have to be here all the time. Because if you don't, if you close the door, yeah, couldn't close the door, but there won't be any money, how I'm gonna pay the rent, how I'm gonna pay the employee, I have one employee, I'm gonna do how I'm gonna eat if there is no money coming into the store. If I don't sell tortillas. 

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Then my daughter and I went through our ladder up and down up and down with business because it wasn't easy at all. And she didn't like it. And she went her own way. And I I sacrificed a lot and I couldn't close because I said if I close the business, how can I protect her, I'm gonna protect myself? She already had a baby. My granddaughter needed support. I have to have the business who gave me that support. I didn’t want to end up in welfare. I didn't want to go back home and just said, I'm sorry, I failed. And I say no, I can't do this business has been always my support always supports me. Even if they say you support the business, no, the business supports me. Without the business, how I'm going to support myself and my family. You know, that's, I keep being very loyal to this business.

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E: We say that Vancouver is the Acapulco of Canada. Acapulco is a city on the coast of Mexico. It's very popular, very touristy, but it's by the ocean - it is very warm and nice. Who has the weather that we have right now? Yeah, it's raining, is a little bit cold, but nobody has this weather.

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