Not always Caribbean beaches mean tourists time!

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

In Playa Blanca in Barú Island (Cartagena,Colombia),hundreds of tourists spend the day in the beach,meanwhile enjoy the coconut water,the massages or a typical lunch,a simple but tasty preparation of fish,plantains,rice and salad.No one knows what is behind this beautifull and "prepared" vacation scene in the Caribbean.Everyday,part of the habitants of the little village of the island,wake up before the sun comes up,to prepare everything: they clean the beach,they align the tents and they take with them the typical handycrafts that they have made for selling.Their only way to survive in a country where not everybody have what´s necessary to live,and,like in other parts of the world,the access to education and means to work,are rare and never enought.The stone necklesses,the coconut deserts and the little bites made of corn,are selled almost for free.The indifferent and uninformed tourists try to get the best piece for the less account of money.It is not their fault,their reality could be a different one from this "reality" in the island.Something ironic when in this world, the empathy and the giving and receiving philosophy are,from my point of view,the only ways to conserve the planet and its habitants.
These pictures are spontaneous and they are a way to tell to the world how this people lives.They can contribuit to create an awareness of social reality,the first step to change.
Since the moment I decided to go out from de bubble to see the world,I feel like an universal citizen,just hungry to know new places and cultures.I work in marketing and my camera is just an extension of my eyes.Being in the right moment to be able to catch an escene,a moment,is such a present.I think the words are not the only way to explain how the world is,happily we have the images.