The next picture shows people still setting up. Most of the goods are lugged around by hand in huge bales using tump line (a band across the forehead, then lean foreward and lift. There are some hand carts as well. The bulk of the goods are caried by hand from trucks outside the area. The market extends up and down the side streets as well.
The third picture shows some women selling fresh corn and beans that have been shelled out. Right now they have enough for awhile. Later in the day they will resume shelling it out.
The last picture shows some of the hand woven goods. They use wooden looms and weave upside down, working in various colored threads from the back side. We have seen them work, and it is amazing. They get intricate patterns and use no plan or map to work from. We bought a blanket woven of alpaca that is about 8' by 6'-6" that was woven on a two person loom.. It would have taken from 3-5 days depending on how intricate the pattern for a blanket that size. The man asked $48 for it. If I had wanted to dicker I could probably have gotten it for 40 or 45. We gave him 50. I don't have the heart to beat a person down who is already getting too little for the work they do. From the look of the size of the market , and how few customers there were I expect that most of the merchants carried most of what they brought to sell home with them, and some must have carried all of it.
I happened to be in the market at the end of the day when they were taking it all down, and they would almost accost anybody that looked like a potential buyer. They would offer wares at terribly low prices and then start coming down as they saw us walking away. It is heartbreaking really. They work so hard, and do such beautiful work and get so little for it.
Pete
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