Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/11/20

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Subject: [Leica] IMG: Vegetable Market
From: images at InfoAve.Net (Tina Manley)
Date: Mon Nov 20 05:26:03 2006
References: <7.0.1.0.2.20061120070749.025070a0@infoave.net> <4561B9E4.8080102@dlridings.se>

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 



Replies: Reply from firkin at ncable.net.au (Alastair Firkin) ([Leica] IMG: Vegetable Market)
In reply to: Message from images at InfoAve.Net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] IMG: Vegetable Market)
Message from dlr at dlridings.se (Daniel Ridings) ([Leica] IMG: Vegetable Market)