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Mountain Farmers

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
The mountainsides of Guatemala, look like a patchwork quilt - from top to bottom - often on the steepest of slopes. Traveling by car near the mountain tops in the morning when everyone is working, I stopped from time to time and grabbed some photos of the experience:



IG-20170207-_RSW7139(1).jpg



IG-20170207-_RSW7165(1).jpg



IG-20170207-_RSW7149.jpg



IG-20170207-_RSW7886.jpg







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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Now there's some honest fresh, and organic food Robert! Each photo is a gem.

Thank you Tom.

For my wife and I who always had a garden and looked forward to fresh green onions and radishes each spring ----- it is so cool to almost constantly have access to those veggies and others, being their fields produces 3 to 4 crops each year. While it is extremely cold here in Guatemala except during the middle of the day - there are many endearing qualities such as the fresh produce - that make up for the discomfort.


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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Robert,

I admire their stoic nature. What is the economic fabric in which they work? Do they rent the land or is it just a public mountainside or they own a family patch?

IG-20170207-_RSW7886.jpg

Do you see men carrying produce like this?

Each society you introduce us to seem so related and yet distinct. These folk appear to be brothers and sisters to the very particles of dirt in the ground and it's hard won harvest of crops!

Thanks for making a showcase of a glimpse of their valuable lives and efforts here.

What is the name of these people? I hope you can find out more about them. I would like to look up about their ancestors and any poems or sayings.

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I look at the pictures and I wonder if erosion is a big problem in Nicaragua?


This is Guatemala. There does not appear to be a huge problem with erosion. Whether it is the way they lay out their fields - I can't say for sure. They irrigate the mountainside fields and spray by hand. They appear to be very progressive farmers. I suppose they have to be as they ship their produce all over the world.


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Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Robert,

I admire their stoic nature. What is the economic fabric in which they work? Do they rent the land or is it just a public mountainside or they own a family patch?

Do you see men carrying produce like this?

Each society you introduce us to seem so related and yet distinct. These folk appear to be brothers and sisters to the very particles of dirt in the ground and it's hard won harvest of crops!

Thanks for making a showcase of a glimpse of their valuable lives and efforts here.

What is the name of these people? I hope you can find out more about them. I would like to look up about their ancestors and any poems or sayings.

Asher


All this type of land is privately owned by Mayan families. The monetary value of farmland in some of these areas like Almolonga - is some of highest in the world. Some of these more affluent areas even own cooperatives and huge trucking firms that ship their produce all over the country and to Guatemala City for export to the world.

Men are just as involved in the farming and heavy lifting as the women. Very hard working and business savvy - and their culture does not escape their children. They wear it proudly.

Around where we live is this large Mayan culture. The city of Quetzaltenango with its 600,000 population, is made up of around 60% Mayan families. That is who these people are, but there are many different Mayan nationalities you could say ---- I believe around 30 or more different Mayan languages. Kiche is the common language in our city and is spoken by around a million Guatemalans --- but not too far away to the north are the Mam speaking Mayans and nit far to the east of us are the Kaqchikel speaking people. The languages are distinct from each other.


There have been efforts by the government in the not too distant past, to exterminate the Mayans. Around 200,000 were killed in the genecide. They don't tend to trust foreigners as wealthy investors have come and taken over land and they have a huge fear based on the foreigners taking their children from them. A rediculous history really:


"The Silent Holocaust"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemalan_genocide


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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The mountainsides of Guatemala, look like a patchwork quilt - from top to bottom - often on the steepest of slopes. Traveling by car near the mountain tops in the morning when everyone is working, I stopped from time to time and grabbed some photos of the experience:



IG-20170207-_RSW7139(1).jpg



IG-20170207-_RSW7165(1).jpg



IG-20170207-_RSW7149.jpg



IG-20170207-_RSW7886.jpg







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Look at the variety of loads that must be tailored to the level of commerce or family need. Those on trucks must be commercial but perhaps the fellow on the bike is making a delivery to a small restaurant or his own family.

But altogether, Robert, you've helped to bring to us a sense of the whirring beehive of transporting activity associated with this mountainside growth of crops.

I wonder what is the source of the rich soil. Perhaps it was flooded eons ago!

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Look at the variety of loads that must be tailored to the level of commerce or family need. Those on trucks must be commercial but perhaps the fellow on the bike is making a delivery to a small restaurant or his own family.

But altogether, Robert, you've helped to bring to us a sense of the whirring beehive of transporting activity associated with this mountainside growth of crops.

I wonder what is the source of the rich soil. Perhaps it was flooded eons ago!

Asher


These areas are rich in volcanic soil. Volcanic deposits can develop into some of the richest agricultural lands on earth. http://volcanology.geol.ucsb.edu/soil.htm



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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The one word the sums up your pictures of these Mayan communities beyond the obviously hard life is "abbondanza"!

Asher
 
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