[Leica] IMG: Vegetable Market

[firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin)]

Thanks for the information: this opens up the world to those of us  
who have not ventured. South America is such a place of contrasts.  
The image is great, though as I said I find her expression  
unsympathetic, BUT the hand touching the water is very poignant, and  
on reflection "makes" the image.

Cheers
On 21/11/2006, at 0:25, Tina Manley wrote:

> At 09:21 AM 11/20/2006, you wrote:
>
>> I am curious.
>>
>> Are we to regard these people as poor?
>
> They are campesinos - farmers who come in from the rural areas for  
> the market every week.  Most of the villages in Guatemala have a  
> market day one day a week and many farmers travel from one market  
> to the other to sell their produce.  If you visit the people in  
> their homes, they live in one room adobe houses with no running  
> water and no electricity.  From a report on Guatemala's GNP which  
> has increased to $1910:
>
> "From the social point of view, poverty is still a major problem  
> for more than half of the population, and almost 25% of the  
> population lives in extreme poverty. The per capita GDP is  
> increasing too slowly to improve significantly poor people?s  
> standards of living. Moreover, social indicators are among the  
> worst in Central America in terms of social public expenditure,  
> access to health and basic services, education, child and maternal  
> mortality rates, distribution of wealth and land. Indigenous  
> peoples, who constitute 50% of the population ? one of the highest  
> rates in Latin America - suffer from strong racial, social,  
> economic and cultural discrimination. Seven indigenous people out  
> of ten are poor and live on the margins of the society."
>
> The average of $1910 also includes all of the very, very wealthy  
> Ladino people in Guatemala City who own McDonalds and Wendy's and  
> Toyota franchises :-)
>
>> From the look of their food, it is absolutely high quality.
>
> It is - just like at farmers' markets here in the US - the produce  
> is fresher and nicer than anything you find packaged in the grocery  
> stores.  It is also a lot cheaper.
>
>> I'm touched by the bucket of water one of the ladies has with  
>> here. Water is such a valuable commodity.
>
> Chichi has running water in the market but in most of their homes,  
> the people have to carry water from the nearest river.
>
> Thanks, Daniel.
>
> Tina
>
> Tina Manley, ASMP, NPPA
> http://www.tinamanley.com
>
>
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