This last Saturday, Fetzer (the missionary-kid school here in Lima) hosted its annual yard sale. My shutter finger has been itching lately, so I took my camera for the day. Yard sales are not common in Peru, and due to the culture here, it can be very different. Doors open very early for the missionaries who are selling stuff, and at nine o'clock the check-out table opens for missionaries who are buying from others. At ten o'clock, they open the front doors to the Peruvians, who are admitted by invitation only. Even though most are invited by missionaries from their churches, precautions still have to be taken to prevent theft. When the Peruvians enter, there is a station set up for them to drop off their bags, so they don't hide items inside to walk off with. Also, we normally station a person or two at the bathroom entrance to make sure people don't take clothes in to "try on," to prevent them from putting the clothes on under their own.
Tim talking as he was guarding the bathrooms
Many people will come in, looking for anything that looks interesting, then will take large piles to the grassy area to sort through.
With so many people and tables around, I was able to just station myself here and there and get quite a few shots. Often camping on one person until the background was clear and they were positioned properly.
Items have tags on them, color coded to each family that was selling.
Once they have found what they like and don't like, they'll what they don't buy on the grass. This creates more jobs, as we have to have people take items back to the appropriate tables for more people to browse through.
After the line had gotten quite long (as shown above) the cashiers opened one lane as a speed lane.
At the checkout, the cashiers total the prices on the tags, and charge the customer once. They then take the tags off and send them to a back room where they are separated by seller and totaled. Afterwards, the sellers are paid based on the totals of the tags.
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