Monday, March 16, 2009

Corabastos

(part 1)

 
We walked through the empty alleys towards the bays. The warehouses were quiet; inside the stalls looked like dormant animals wrapped in plastic canvas... the whole place was lit by a striking green light which made me feel strangely as I was all dragged out of time. As we started filming the corridors, a sound that would become familiar , began to come from outside: the workers have already commenced carrying wheelbarrows...


 
Corabastos is considered the biggest food supplier in the whole continent; everyday, tons of food, including black beans, carrots, creole and savannah potatoes, onions, mangoes, guanabanas, corncobs, manioc, tomatoes, melons... are poured into the 30 bays of Corabastos by the campesinos from as far as the regions of Boyaca, Cundinamarca, Meta, etc.

 
Gradually, the coteros started approaching the lorries parked in front of the bays; suddenly, a cacophonous mixture of noise coming from the lorries, shouts and salsa music being thrown from the speakers filled the air of the until then quiet bay. By midnight, The choreographic races of the coteros coming in and out of the bays left us confused trying to make sense of the (apparently) chaotic movement.

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