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Voices and images: Mayan Ixil women of Chajul
Chapter Three: Women and their daily life
5. Walking to market
She has to travel by foot to sell her products, since the town where she lives doesn’t have any transportation. She has to walk two hours on foot to get to Chajul, with her baby boy hefted on her back and the products she brings loaded on her horse. Because she has to leave very early to get to town on time and because she has to walk so much, she suffers from fatigue and hunger. And during the dry season she suffers from thirst and during the rainy season she gets very wet because of all the mud. Her anxiety comes from not knowing whether she will be able to sell or earn anything. She is struggling to support herself. Economic necessity forces her to come here to sell tomatoes and pacayas so she can then buy corn.
She thinks about how to improve her family’s nutrition, how to help her husband, and how to care for her baby, because sometimes it is not possible for her to take care of him while she is in the market.
The woman wants a day care center for children so that she can work. Our wish is that the family have some land to cultivate corn and beans and be able to have a well-balanced diet. We want there to be services for transporting goods and that there be one place in the market just for selling and a separate place to keep the horses and other animals.
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