A Land of Opportunities

Contrary to popular belief, Guatemala is really a land of unlimited opportunities. Anyone who wants to make some quick cash has plenty of simple options. Anyone can sell chips, candies, or marshmallows. Products here do not say in fine print: "Not for resale". Those shampoo samples we get in the mail, those are sold more than bottles of shampoo here. Anyone who has a stove in their house (wood or gas) can make and sell tortillas. Anyone who has a fridge can sell jello, and anyone who has a freezer can make and sell popsicles or chocolate covered fruit. There is no minimum wage or age in this country. For example, one of my grade 7 students wanted some new clothes. So his aunt helped him make jello to sell walking around town so he could earn some money and buy himself some 'new' clothes.

Now, if your house opens onto the street, you're in luck. Then you can sell these items from your door instead of walking around or sitting in the market. For example, our neighbours put up a simple paper sign written with a maker: "se vende helados de piña" which means pineapple ice cream for sale (which is actually frozen pineapple juice in bags). So, if anyone walking home from school feels like a cold snack, they knock on the door and buy one. I have also seen similar signs for chococlate covered fruit, or tortillas (2 or 3 times a day), and even eggs, chickens, or puppies. Whatever you have to sell, a simple sign on the door is sufficient to begin your business.

The white paper sign taped above the door says they have piña helados. 

If you have a front room that opens onto the street, the opportunities increase. Open a convenient store. Start a used clothing store (just buy a bag of used clothes that come down from the States and maybe some hangers). If you're feeling adventurous, start a restaurant. No one is going to stop you or ask for your business license or check if you've taken the Food Safety course. The opportunities are endless.

If you have a landline phone, you can put a sign on your door saying phone for rent, Q1/min. If you have a computer you can start a shop selling movie DVDs or music CDs you've downloaded for free. If you have more than one computer and internet access, you might as well start your own internet cafe. Those are becoming really popular in Tactic.

If you have a car you can put a taxi sign on the roof. Or put megaphones or speakers on the roof and get paid to be a moving advertisement. If you have a van you can become public transit. If you can use a paintbrush you can cover buildings with advertisements or election slogans.

In the schools I am teaching in, the students have started selling food at recess, with the help of the teachers. This has developed because Mocohan and Purulha are now completely enclosed by cement walls and so the village women can no longer sell food through the barbed wire at recess. At Chamche and Chijacorral, the recess meal has been moved to breakfast so that only those who really need the food will show up before classes start in the morning. The rest will bring a snack or buy from classmates at recess. What a more practical way to learn mathematics than to buy and sell in a practical setting like this.

In Canada I can only think of lemonade stands in summer and paper delivery kids who work for petty cash. Here, adults will sit in their front entrance selling gummy candies and jello. Here it will be a man's career to sell newspapers in order to put food on the table. A mother will spend all day cooking, making and selling tortillas, 4 tortillas for Q1 (which is approximately 3 cents a tortilla). As school lets out at noon, the ice cream man is there with his cart of neapolitan ice cream and a package of cones. I doubt a man in Canada would feel he was providing for his family by selling ice cream cones for 12 cents a piece. But hey, it's an opportunity to earn money. This country is all about opportunity. It's fair game for everyone. Let your imagination soar! If you lived here, what kind of business opportunity would you take hold of?

A kid walking down the street selling food of some sort door to door or to passersby.