A Little Sweets' Seller

In the little tiny villages of the Valley of Souls near La Paz, life takes another rhythm. It seems to be calm as if time had stopped many centuries ago. Among the high walls of the mountains, in difficult conditions, live Aymara people. Although their brick made houses are not finished, there is no potable water and roads lack asphalt, the inhabitants seem to be enchanted by the nature that surrounds them and by the fresh air which can be no longer founded in the capital city.

There lives Maya with her mother and grandparents.

Every day at six o’clock in the morning her mother commutes in minibus to Zona Sur, one of the most exclusive districts of La Paz where she works as a domestic servant. Her two-and-a-half-years old daughter stays at home helping her grandmother in the shop they have next to the house, whereas her grandfather is in charge of bringing the goods.

Despite her age, Maya is not a baby any more. For more than a year she hasn’t used pampers, she can eat on her own and knows how to feed her cat. And what is more, she sells in the shop. She has her favorite regular customers, in majority neighbours, to whom she brings sugar, flour and some baked goods. While the shop is closed with all the family members at home, Maya is the first one to hear the ‘’Sell me’’ sung by the waiting clients to whom she run as quickly as she can. Nevertheless, selling to the smallest ones seems to give her real happiness. Miss Rosa smiles seeing her emotions: ‘’I will bring chewing gum, grandmother’’.

Maya, a little specialist in selling sweets, lollipops and biscuits, surely in the future will be the one who inherits the family business.