Taking a rest after a days work in Mexico City where minimum wage is about $4.25 per day (U.S.$).
Start the day with fish
Preparing fish during the morning hours to be sold at lunch at a small restaurant in Mexico City. Notice, it is being prepared on the cafe table where customers will later be eating.
Lonely Streets in Mexico City
A lonely street on a Saturday morning in Mexico City. Employees of businesses stand and wait for the company they work for to open their doors for the day. Very few employees are key holders.
Mexico City Food Stands
Did you realize that over 75% of the population in Mexico City eats from food stands that are set up throughout the city at least once per week?
Everything from cow head, sheep, pork, steak to chicken and seafood are served on the street.
This is a photo of a man preparing a meal as he gets ready for the lunch crowd.
"I've seen zero evidence of any nation on Earth other than Mexico even remotely having the slightest clue what Mexican food is about or even come close to reproducing it. It is perhaps the most misunderstood country and cuisine on Earth." - Anthony Bourdain
The Catholic Church in Mexico
I shot this photo in a Mexico City Catholic Church on a Sunday afternoon.
Roman Catholicism was first introduced in Mexico during the period of the Spanish conquest that started in 1519. The Catholic Church had a powerful say in the governence of Mexico up until the end of the Mexican Revolution.
It was not until the end of the Mexican Revolution that the Catholic Church's role in Mexico was restricted constitutionally.
Over 101 million people in Mexico are said to be Catholic today. Mexico has the second largest Catholic population in the world, just under Brazil which is number one.
Stronger Than Yesterday
Mexico City is a very vibrant and youthful area filled with Latin rhythms and salsa dancing in the public parks along with a multitude of public workout areas.
“The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” —Ernest Hemingway
The Famed VW Beetle
He was attempting to start his small VW. After about the 4th crank, she started.
The first Volkswagen Beetle was introduced to Mexico in 1954. The car obviously caught on and by 1967, it was being produced in Puebla, Mexico. In 1968, the 100,000th Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Mexico.
In 2004, Mexico was still producing the VW Beetle and while the engine was different, the car itself looked nearly identical to the 1954 model.
By 2006, the VW Beetle was highly utilized by taxi companies. In Mexico City where this photo was taken, there were 50,000 Beetles on the streets that were painted green and used as taxis. In 2017, there are only about 3,500 Beetle taxis still taking passengers from point A to point B.
In all, 21 million Volkswagen Beetles were manufactured in Mexico, all looking much like the first one from 1954.
Dressed to impress
(Street Photography) Impeccably dressed man in Mexico City (left) - He reminded me of Frank Sinatra, in a way.
"I'm not one of those complicated, mixed-up cats. I'm not looking for the secret to life... I just go on from day to day, taking what comes." - Frank Sinatra
He was fast asleep
The song by Craig Morgan came to mind after the writer of the song woke the sleeping man:
“I was afraid that he was dead
I gave him a gentle shake
When he opened up his eyes
I said, "Old man are you ok?"
“He said, "I just climbed out of a cottonwood tree"
I was runin' from some honey bees
Drip dryin' in the summer breeze
After jumpin' into Calico creek
I was walkin' down an old dirt road
Past a field of hay that had just been mowed
Man I wish you'd just left me alone
Cause I was almost home”
-Craig Morgan, Almost Home
Photograph captured in the Tepito market on a side street in Mexico City. Tepito is an area known for crime and and area largely governed by gangs. It is an area filled with kidnappings, shootings and robberies. However, this man was sleeping peacefully.
Poverty in Mexico
She was selling candy in order to help feed her children. 1 Peso for one pack of Chiclets gum. I bought 20 packs (all she had), but they tasted as if they had been sitting around for about two years - so my son and I left them in the hotel room for the maid.
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." — Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist
Anything helps
He was sitting outside of a church in Mexico City with his hat extended seeking help.
Museo Memoria y Tolerancia
Mexico City has a massive museum called the “Tolerance Museum” or Museo Memoria y Tolerancia that displays the reality of genocide around the world. Multiple floors are dedicated to the Holocaust, Darfur and more.
Inside the museum is an Olive Tree that sits before the memorial for the children who were murdered in different genocides from around the world. Artist Jan Hendrix created this display using the Olive Tree as a visual motive behind her work called Lamento.
The sculpture is made up of 20,000 pieces of irregularly shaped glass (photographed).
When you exit the museum you have a new idea of what tolerance should be as opposed to racial or ethic divide.
“It's a universal law-- intolerance is the first sign of an inadequate education. An ill-educated person behaves with arrogant impatience, whereas truly profound education breeds humility.” ― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Historian and Russian Novelist (1918-2008)
Hipster Cafe in Mexico
In a Mexico City open air hipster café sits a hipster.
“Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter.” - Urban Dictionary
In the doorway
Tucked away on the doorsteps to a closed office building in Mexico City he is at a place that he considers to be home. The building is vacant, other than his watchful eye next to the large glass doors that have not been opened in years.
"Being homeless is like living in a post-apocalyptic world. You're on the outskirts of society.
- Frank Dillane, English actor
The face you see
Quietly sitting and looking upwards as pedestrians passed him by on a sunny Saturday afternoon in bustling Mexico City he had a yogurt, an apple, a piece of candy and a baked good in front of him. As people neared, he would extend his hat in an effort to seek a few pesos.
The poverty rate has been on a steep increase since 2006 in Mexico. Today, 42.9% of Mexicans live below the national poverty line. For a comparison, America has a poverty rate of 14.5% and that number has actually been on the decline.
“Underneath my outside face
There's a face that none can see.
A little less smiley,
A little less sure,
But a whole lot more like me.”
― Shel Silverstein, Every Thing on It
Child's Play in Mexico City
This young child wanders away from his friends who are celebrating a nearby party in Mexico City.
"A person's a person, no matter how small." — Dr. Seuss
Standing in the hot sun
He stands hour after hour in the hot sun on the grounds of an ancient pyramid near Mexico City selling souvenirs in an attempt to make enough pesos to feed his family.
20 Pesos are what the lion noisemakers cost for some while others pay the full price of 30 pesos. It all depends on who bargains with him to get the lower price.
Out of country tourist confused by the exchange rate, sometimes pay as much as 100 pesos for the same item made of plastic. Regardless, the money is not being used in a negative way – it is simply allowing for a family to eat.
Mexico City - Homeless
Homeless in Mexico City.
"Give yourself a chance
You have something special
That nobody else can claim
Deep inside your heart
Shines a revelation"
-Santana - "Hard Times"
Religions cross paths
Three friends, two religions... sitting on the edge of a 300-foot high pyramid made by residents from a different religion in 250 B.C.
The Aztecs called the ancient architectural marvel the 'Birthplace of the Gods.' The Aztecs were intrigued by the structures that they found just as they still sit today.
The pyramids are known as the Teotihuacán Pyramids. They sit about 30-miles outside of Mexico City.
Living in the shadows
Mexico City: He lives in the shadows of everyone, unable to clearly speak or think. In this photo, he is looking into the window of a store watching people shop as if he is imagining what it would be like to do the same.