Mall Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Friday is market day in the city of Solola.
It's market draws a crowd since Solola is the capital of the department of Solola an area that includes 19 municipalities around Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. The majority (approximately 90%) of the city's inhabitants are Cakchiquel Indians who proudly retain their heritage. It is one of the few municipalities where both men and women routinely wear their traditional Mayan dress. Women often carry their wears in the traditional Mayan market basket, balancing a few vegetables from their garden, tortillas, textiles or even a couple chickens that they hope to sell at market. The common blue plastic pans are scales used to compare the weight of different products.
Most of the surrounding land is in subsistence agriculture with corn providing the primary stable of the diet. The majority of the farms are less than 1.7 acres and are located on marginal land that use the slopes in a system of terraces and irrigation. Besides corn, black beans, broad beans, squash, pumpkins and onions are cultivated. The market provides valuable income and a chance to talk with friends.
Weaving is of major importance. Most women weave to provide clothes for their families and/or to obtain income. Women weave on the backstrap loom and make fabric for shirts, trousers, huipils, tzutes, caps for babies and sashes. The fabric for skirts is made by men on a treadle loom.
Time for weaving is squeezed between other domestic chores. Some women are merchants and sell the weavings of their friends and family in the market.
In general the weaving of Solola made on a backstrap loom is warp-faces plain weave and has a design of vertical stripes. Red is a predominate color in the women's huipil. A design is often woven into the fabric using two-faces or double-faced brocading giving the appearance of "embroidery". Hand embroidery may be added.
Women often wear ribbons in their hair or may use a small tzute to shade their face from the market sun.
The blue or black skirts are made on a treadle loom, usually using plain weaving. The design of the fabric includes weft stripes. The traditional white stripes are now being replaced by ikat stripes or by brocading.

Copyright © 2002-2005 Lynn Persson, Terra Experience

Map of Guatemala

Other information about Sololà (Only in Spanish)

*Scanned image*

riclopes, PixelTerror, grzegorz, ChrisJ, devimeuxbe, fabio_ts, oochappan, efigesta, jrj, Emile, Marlis, erdna, alejandroguzman, huynt, pitai, sebinho342, gpeler has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bantonbuju (48844) 2005-11-15 3:52

ciao paolo, it looks like a nice picture from a movie about latin america adventures of indiana jones (even if there were none i believe this scene deserves it);
cute image, nice memory pic for you, i guess;
best wishes, jerzy

faubry (32499) 2005-11-15 3:59

hello Paolo, beautiful color market, i like this daily life, thanks
francine

emanuela (1257) 2005-11-15 3:59

ciao Paolo, nice shot the colors and the composition are really outstanding
have a nice day
see you!
emanuela

riclopes (33137) 2005-11-15 4:02

Hi Paolo,
Nice shots of market daily life in Guatemala. The colours in these contries are allways a plus as well as the colourful traditional costums. The atmosphere of this image is very interesting, like a scene from many years ago.
Thanks for the links,

Best regards,
Ricardo

jinju (14265) 2005-11-15 4:14

Very exotic! It really does look like something from a few decades back...I like the colorful daily life in thi country. TFS

PixelTerror (87159) 2005-11-15 4:32

Ciao Paolo,
This one looks a lot less busy than the previous one but I like here the comprehensive coverage of the action around this fruits stand, the yellow color flashes well and the traditional clothes retain the exotic (for us) feel.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

greg64g (11193) 2005-11-15 4:35

hello Paolo,

nice daily life picture, i am not used to see many picture from Guatemala. i like the grain from your camera.
great work
cheers
greg

gaby (19793) 2005-11-15 4:36

Paolo bonjour - qu'est ce que c'est beau - fabuleux POV et couleurs très intenses - j'adore cette photo car on se croirait vraiment au début du siècle dans un western -
Merci et bonne journée
Gaby

grzegorz (955) 2005-11-15 4:36

nice colors and composition, very good atmosphere... Well done Paolo!!

barrufeto_77 (25957) 2005-11-15 4:37

Ciao Paolo.

As your photo yesterday, a great daily picture.

Regards, Oscar

devimeuxbe (56532) 2005-11-15 5:32

Hi Paolo
i like this daily life scene. Nice colors, typicals from south america.
Beautifull composition
Bertrand

fabio_ts (13674) 2005-11-15 6:05

Anche questa foto ha dei colori stupendi con un mix di saturazione e contrasto eccellente... l'atmosfera è tipicamente sudamericana e l'inquadratura è perfetta..

hai usato una pellicola particolare per questo contrasto, o l'hai ottenuto in pp dopo la scansione? ..ti chiedo questo perchè l'effetto è stupendo.. mi ricorda il colore potente e contrastato sui bianchi e neri delle vecchie Polaroid...

buona giornata,
Fabio.

oochappan (22032) 2005-11-15 6:29

I like this scene of the yellow fruitstall a lot, contrasting the background colors, pleasant to see the people with their typical clothings, busy ...
A good colored scan Paolo.

rbcy1974 (20746) 2005-11-15 6:29

Hi Paolo,
Relaly like your Guaemalan market series,
colours are very good. Nicely captured scene. I like the title because you are showing here one way of doing commerce which contrasts a lot with the mall centered culture of Guatemala's middle class.
Regards
Daniel

efigesta (12181) 2005-11-15 7:26

Chao my friend

Great pic here, with a great color and a daily life in the market,
Tks to share Manuel

jrj (34779) 2005-11-15 7:52

Another well made and very interesting 'daily life' shot from this trip. Good capture, fine details - well done P.

AmiBe (6042) 2005-11-15 7:58

Ciao Paolo,
definitively, Guatemala is a country to put on my list of countries to see.
I like this typical scene and the sud american colors.
Well done

arindam_thokder (3946) 2005-11-15 9:16

I like this one the best in your Market pictures, the colors are nice and the man and woman are placed nicely.

starbug (6924) 2005-11-15 9:59

hi Paolo, another exotic view- everyday life, but how exotic for us...great street scene, simple but educating with an even more educating note:-)
greetings
Aleksamdra

Emile (20177) 2005-11-15 11:17

Hola Paolo.
Very good daily life shot. Nice colours and sharpness. The composition is great. Looks like they reached an agreement about the price.
Very well captured.
Well done.

Marlis (2274) 2005-11-15 11:35

hello Paolo,
very nice daily life shot. Good composition. I like all the cheerful colors.
Thank you for sharing, and refreshing fond memories.

Graal (59090) 2005-11-15 13:00

Hi Paolo,
interesting scene from the truely of life in Guatemala. Good colours.I like it.
Rgs, Aleksander

erdna (5360) 2005-11-15 15:21

A nice shot f daily life and local people. I noticed too that even it is just a shed type structure, the are using concrete masonry. Very definitive picture. TFS.

Also, thank you for your comments on my photo, "The Desert". The tree is blurred as it is too close to me already and i focuse on the far mountains. The colors I cannot explain. It should be more greenish as the desert is full of weeds. It looks more like a mirage to me.

Andre'

alejandroguzman (4672) 2005-11-15 15:37

Hi Paolo:

I heard about Guatemala many beautiful things, and I know that was true with this picture.

TFS
alejandro

fiedziu (1762) 2005-11-15 17:09

it looks like very very old :o))
great effect
nice composed, great note
thanks

Soler (219) 2005-11-15 23:02

Excelente fotografia, tomada a muy buena hora lo que hace que realce el colorido,

Felicitaciones y Saludos

huynt (5077) 2005-11-16 4:27

Ciao
It is an interesting shot frutas-naturales for diet. Nice color and composition. Thanks.

ALSOM (6616) 2005-11-16 5:03

Hi Paolo,

Nicely composed colorful scenery. I like such photo that gives us so much with simplicity.
Thanks for you great note. Al.

fayeulle (26547) 2005-11-16 10:20 [Comment]

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ChrisJ (70485) 2005-11-18 3:45

Hi Paolo

A superb daily life shot fromn Central America. I like the diagonal stalls, colorful costumes, & the pineapples.

sebinho342 (18804) 2006-04-22 15:30

Excellent typical pic from guatemala, with traditional clothes, of a country that i would love also to visit (perhaps more than lybia to say the truth, lago atitlan .... :)) ).
Lovely colors and i love the "aspect" of the pic, perhaps because it has been scanned
SUPERBE ! :)

clarita (654) 2006-06-08 23:27

great photo!
i love the bright colours and the use of natural lighting.
it's a perfect postcard pic.
great sharp image!
thx for sharing.
sorry i can't give you any props for this...i ran out.