2 out of every 5 Peruvians are entrepeneurs. Perú at 40,3% has the highest rate of entrepeneurship in the world, with the world's average being 9,3%.
For our Semana Santa celebrations, my fellow Ancash Volunteers and I headed for the coast—Mancora which is a few hours from the Ecuador border. Mancora has great waves, great food, great sand, and great sun.
In between sunburning myself, surf lessons, boat cruises, (remember, it's all part of protecting and defending the constitution), I realized that this beach was unlike any I'd ever been on, and that in fact it really wasn't a beach at all--it was the freest market I'd ever seen. Up and down the beach there were local entrepeneurs selling everything from the typical rip off sunglasses to a wicker mat you could use to lay on (I almost bought one).
Over my three days, I saw the following things being sold or rented from hunreds of vendors: soda sandwiches, necklaces, earrings, ice-cream, popsicles, sunglasses, beer, umbrellas, hats, etc. There were artists offering to make 2 week tattoos, and hair stylists offering different styles of braids. No one owned a store, no one needed to, a box or a backpack are the only necessities to compete.
By the second day I had already changed my behavior to meet the beach's supply. I started bringing a few soles to the beach. I bought coconut juice from a man that chopped the coconut right in front of me. We rented umbrellas and bought soda from the Avon Barksdale of the West side of Mancora (seen in picture, wearing light blue and white—she really did control the beach).
But most of all, we bought sandwiches. Our favorite vendor by far was the “Sandwich lady.” Where else in Perú can you get a stomach-satisfying piping hot, fresh off the moto-taxi fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich? Whenever a volunteer would arrive, inevitably, the first question they'd ask was “has the sandwich lady been by yet?.” We learned that she buys them for 3 soles, and sells them for 3.50, selling 80 on a good day. She offered to make extra for our bus trip back.
Even the “boat cruise” we went on was the work of a fellow Volunteer contracting a fisherman to take us out on the water for about an hour to see the sunset. Needless to say, my vision of the Spirit of Ethan Allen were quickly erased.
My favorite example of the intense creativity of the local entrepeneur came on the second day. A huge bird (I think it was a crane), landed near us and wasn't flying away. A huge crowd formed around it.
As the bird didn't interest us that much, we decided to go for a swim, and on the way back I joked that there'd be someone standing with the bird offering to take your picture with it for a couple soles. When we got back, my friend told me that recently a guy had offered her the opportunity to take a picture with the bird for a comfortable 8 soles.
It all made me think back to a conversation Matthew and I had a few years back in Italy as we watched street vendors enter discotecas selling roses, glow in the dark sunglasses and glow sticks—Matthew wondered aloud if the US lessened its laws against strict street vendors if just a few people might leave the US's giant informal market in drug trafficking to start their own small business.
As I got on the bus back to Huaraz, to climb those 10,000 feet again, they started loading people's luggage. Our backpacks landed next to a basket full of about 20 chickens—undeniably another small profit in a neighbor's small business.
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