Tell me that’s not cute. The clown in the photograph was handing out flyers to something or other on the street in Sucre, Bolivia near the market. I was out wandering around with my camera trying to find some shots to put up online.
I saw him and went, ahhhh, here is one! Standing a ways back (as I’d already acted like a stalker) I followed him up the street a bit to see if anything visually exciting would present itself whereas I could play professional photographer and try to get an amazing shot.
I am not a trained photographer, I am an amateur but I think a very good amateur 🙂
Nothing exciting was happening, even though the clown was very cute and very good at his role-playing as well. Nothing until a little girl walked up holding her Grandma’s (what I later learned) hand. Shy and adorable she went up to the clown and let me take a few pics after I had permission from her accompanying adult.
I gave them the URL of my old website biz – South America Living – and to this day hope they looked it up a bit later and got to see the photograph (one above) I published online and liked the shot.
Another day I spent wandering around Mercado Campesino – a huge multi-block, street market affair on the outskirts of Sucre. Walking and walking, I stopped for a drink and noticed the oranges in piles all over the place (you only see in the photo ones by the truck). A few minutes later the man walked up pushing the trolley cart and I asked nicely if I could take a shot.
He shied away – what you will get often in Bolivia – but I persisted and offered a few soles in exchange. Begged actually, in the oh-so-cute tourist way I learned through years of travel and he relented, but kept his face out of the photo. Score. Love the shot.
Walking up to Recoleta Viewpoint – where you can visit the Museo de Recoleta & Monastery or have a coffe at the Mirador Cafe – I walked by a row of artisans. One was willing to pose for a photo as long as I was willing to hand over a few Bolivianos… but of course.
I would find all kinds of things during my daily trips to the market but with only a month stay it was impossible to try everything. The few things I did try to cook up at the hostal we stayed at, in all honesty, weren’t that great. I wish I’d had more time to play with what you see in the photo above; I love lentils, black beans, red beans, etc.