This saturday we made a trip to the local public market, called BAZURTO. I basically joined another group led by a boyfriend of a Slovenian girl, who himself is Colombian and a navy officer by profession, which promised reasonable levels of security.
Why security? Well, Bazurto is one of the places we have been warned about numerous times. We have been told not to go alone in any case. So, for many months the disorganised, dense structure of Bazurto invoked in me associations with the infamous Sherwood full of bandits.
Now, this impression proved to be wrong. I shall now warn everyone, that there is a risk that if a foreigner goes there alone, someone may take advantage of the situation. But, seeing the whole structure as an outlaws hangout is wrong as well. What we have seen there were poor, but completely ordinary and honest people, who were after their daily bussiness. Obviously, the market is important part of local low-end economic structure - so people were actually busy trading!
When we were passing the straight aisles, the expression we could see on peoples faces was that of a surprise, sometimes slight amusement by the unusual sight. As many people are not used to see foreigners there, they probably did not know what to think of us, or how to approach us. For sure they were not waiting to prey on us. .
Its quite logic, isnt it? If one makes his or her living by begging or stealing or otherwise taking advantage of tourists, such a person surely has much better working conditions in the areas frequented by tourists. Only a fool would waste his time in a place where almost no foreigners go. I am quite sure that Bazurto is not a very favourable place for a thief - first, most people who go there are not very rich. Second - I am sure there is a good deal of solidarity amongst the vendors, so it would not be a very smart idea to try to steal from them. People who do not have much guard well what they have.
Maybe a petty thief could pick some pocket here and there in the crowd - a few could make their living like that in such an environment. On the other hand the place offers opportunities to make a little money in a honest way. For instance we have seen shoeless people carrying boxes of goods to the shops. But big time robberies? I doubt it. Few prospective victims, countless witnesses and both the buyers and the vendors need to keep the environment safe so that the economic traffic can continue... I mean he who went there trying to threaten and rob the locals would sooner or later fall a victim of some sort of social cleaning himself.
Thats for the general situation - that does not guarantee that as a foreigner you cant have a bad luck and attract attention of a serious criminal who came here to make his weekly shopping:)
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