I have a friend in La Ceiba, whose name is Marcos and he is a 46 year old Honduran who works for a living selling small goods on the street. Marcos is one of the more fortunate street vendors. He is pretty much fully bilingual, a practising Christian that in five years I have never seen (nor heard of) take a drink of alcohol, smoke a cigarette, use illegal drugs, swear or express a violent thought or threat. He has been raised with courtly “old fashioned” manners, is fastidious about his clothing and person hygiene and has always treated me as a proper “lady” regardless of my choices to enjoy a beer or smoke a cigarette in public. Sadly, he is also becoming increasingly deaf with no me
dical assistance.There are many other street vendors who sell CD’s and DVD’s; women who sell hand towels and sandals; children selling packets of gum; young and old men who dangle their handfuls of shell, coral or coconut shell jewellery; elders who sell hair clips, school supplies and small household items arranged on a board to be hand carried with extra items in their backpacks or plastic shoulder bags.
There are the Garifuna women who walk about with large plastic tubs carried on their heads, of coconut breads and candy, casaba or fresh coconuts whereby they machete them open, plunk in a straw and you can drink the watery milk. There are also the vendors, of all ages, that sell food, drinks and snacks at the bus depots throughout the city.
There are the Garifuna women who walk about with large plastic tubs carried on their heads, of coconut breads and candy, casaba or fresh coconuts whereby they machete them open, plunk in a straw and you can drink the watery milk. There are also the vendors, of all ages, that sell food, drinks and snacks at the bus depots throughout the city.
Marcos’ self employment as a street vendor means that he walks miles, daily, in order to meet up with more prosperous folks and attempts to sell them watches, belts, wallets, perfumes, and the occasional oddity like a photo frame clock or new tennis shoes.
This system works whereby the vendor will buy an item like a watch for 150 lp and then attempt to sell it for as much as 250 lp; a leather wallet will cost 80 lp with a resale value of 150 lp; perfumes or aftershaves 50 lp for resale at 80 lp. Got the idea, folks?
Well, add in the reality that these street vendors walk miles every day in either the heat, humidity or rain of La Ceiba, to cover their circuits of bars, eateries, markets, tourist gathering places and any other potential buyer sites, putting on their public persona of being genial, reasonably low key marketers who constantly face varying degrees of mild to incredibly rude refusals.
Now add in the fact that there are usually a very small number of potential buyers and the additional fact the majority of these few potential buyers always try and barter down the price.
This is how these people attempt to earn enough money every day to buy a meal, a soda, a bed to sleep in that night, support others in their families, as well as enough money to make up for the days when there are no sales, no buyers and horrendous weather that keeps even them hunkered down indoors, some place, any place.
Marcos had his house broke into (the fourth time that I know of in the last three years) last month and literally had every piece of clothing, foot wear, small personal goods and all of his vending materials stolen. He explained to me that it was the people who steal to buy drugs who did it and that there are many of them in his neighbourhood. His only solution was to hope to be home another time when they broke in again, remember who they were and
report them to the police.
He was also as close to totally defeated as I have ever seen him. Left with absolutely no potential of retrieving his personal goods, no goods to sell to buy a meal for the day, no decent clothes or shoes to work in, absolutely nothing but what he was wearing on his back. He is also a proud man who has never asked me for a single lempira in the whole time I’ve known him, even refusing my offers to buy him a soda while we are visiting if he has just eaten and is full or so he says. Needless to say, I did slip 100 lp out of my wallet while we were talking, fold it up small and slip it into his hand simply saying “a little something to help, Marcos.”
The reason why I am writing this is that there are some gringos here who are grossly misinformed enough to make comments stating that “these people have no interest in working for a living”; “they’re all lazy”; “you can’t do anything to help because they just don’t care” and other equally racist statements. I no longer try to educate those stupider than myself; I refuse to discuss their opinions and frequently resort to saying simply “just watch, could you do that and for how long?”
There’s a lot more behind the scenes of the waving palm trees and beach sand in La Ceiba.
PS It’s been a month now and Marcos has managed to acquire enough goods to start selling and supporting himself again. No thanks to anyone but his own indomitable spirit!
This system works whereby the vendor will buy an item like a watch for 150 lp and then attempt to sell it for as much as 250 lp; a leather wallet will cost 80 lp with a resale value of 150 lp; perfumes or aftershaves 50 lp for resale at 80 lp. Got the idea, folks?
Well, add in the reality that these street vendors walk miles every day in either the heat, humidity or rain of La Ceiba, to cover their circuits of bars, eateries, markets, tourist gathering places and any other potential buyer sites, putting on their public persona of being genial, reasonably low key marketers who constantly face varying degrees of mild to incredibly rude refusals.
Now add in the fact that there are usually a very small number of potential buyers and the additional fact the majority of these few potential buyers always try and barter down the price.
This is how these people attempt to earn enough money every day to buy a meal, a soda, a bed to sleep in that night, support others in their families, as well as enough money to make up for the days when there are no sales, no buyers and horrendous weather that keeps even them hunkered down indoors, some place, any place.
Marcos had his house broke into (the fourth time that I know of in the last three years) last month and literally had every piece of clothing, foot wear, small personal goods and all of his vending materials stolen. He explained to me that it was the people who steal to buy drugs who did it and that there are many of them in his neighbourhood. His only solution was to hope to be home another time when they broke in again, remember who they were and
report them to the police.He was also as close to totally defeated as I have ever seen him. Left with absolutely no potential of retrieving his personal goods, no goods to sell to buy a meal for the day, no decent clothes or shoes to work in, absolutely nothing but what he was wearing on his back. He is also a proud man who has never asked me for a single lempira in the whole time I’ve known him, even refusing my offers to buy him a soda while we are visiting if he has just eaten and is full or so he says. Needless to say, I did slip 100 lp out of my wallet while we were talking, fold it up small and slip it into his hand simply saying “a little something to help, Marcos.”
The reason why I am writing this is that there are some gringos here who are grossly misinformed enough to make comments stating that “these people have no interest in working for a living”; “they’re all lazy”; “you can’t do anything to help because they just don’t care” and other equally racist statements. I no longer try to educate those stupider than myself; I refuse to discuss their opinions and frequently resort to saying simply “just watch, could you do that and for how long?”
There’s a lot more behind the scenes of the waving palm trees and beach sand in La Ceiba.
PS It’s been a month now and Marcos has managed to acquire enough goods to start selling and supporting himself again. No thanks to anyone but his own indomitable spirit!
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