I had heard that the market in San Francisco el Alto offered two things I loved. One was that it is aimed almost entirely at locals, with few touristas like me around. I like that. Too many gringos spoils the soup, so to speak. The other thing was that the market was based in part in the courtyard of the Catholic church, and for a few coins, the caretaker of the church would let you up on the roof.
Unfortunately, it was rainy and miserable for much of the morning. As a result, all of the vendors in the square had their goods covered with blue or white tarps to shield away the rain. Good for them, not so good for me. Even if it wasn’t raining, climbing the church would have been useless. Not a big market for tarp photos.
Fortunately there was a great bandshell in the middle of the plaza, and I went up there. Using my longest lens (at 600mm) I was able to isolate a number of nice images from between the tarps, as well as stay dry. Later in the morning, the weather cleared up a bit, and I hiked through the market to an adjoining animal market set in a big open field. Walking around with a big camera is kind of obvious, but I like to use that to my advantage. I would set up the tripod at about 3 or 4 feet tall so that kids could look through. Not only kids, but old men and women stood in line to look through the camera. After the novelty wears off, everyone ignores me and I can shoot away. It was very nice, and I got some images I really like.
