364 UNIT 3 MODERN MESOAMERICA
Figure 9.3 Market scene
in Tecpán, Guatemala. A
man from Sololá sells
onions and green beans,
while the woman next to
him, who is from a hamlet of
Tecpán, sells lime, a mineral
used to make tortillas.
Photograph provided by the
authors.As a result of requests and impositions from Spanish authorities, enclosed mar-
ket buildings began to be built in the nineteenth century. Spaniards considered en-
closed markets to be more sanitary and “organized.” Indians never agreed with
Spaniards on this issue, thinking that their traditional open plazas with an abundance
of fresh air and sunlight were not only more pleasant but also cleaner and better or-
ganized. Certainly, the preferred organizational patterns varied for both groups, and
the debate over the best model for a marketplace continues today. It is common to
find enclosed markets in most large towns of Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, and
Honduras, in combination with some kind of open market that seems to spill outside
the enclosed buildings. Small villages often organize the market in the main plaza in
front of the church, or they create a special area (often an area covered with cement
and sometimes a roof but no walls) for their market. Here, vendors from the region
come to sell their products. Larger markets attract both vendors and buyers from a
larger radius, whereas smaller ones attract local buyers and vendors.
It is interesting to note that while rural markets, unlike urban ones, tend to meet
once a week (and historically have done so since pre-Columbian times), many mar-