CHILDREN OF THE HARVESTERS
Oaxacan Indian families are hauled about 1,800 miles from Oaxaca to Ensenada, non-stop, standing up in a flatbed truck to work in the fields for a few months. They labor from dawn to dusk for $10 per day in blazing heat or freezing cold to grow and harvest mostly beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and flowers for seeds and for dry floral arrangements for export.
Some of these down-to-earth pilgrims stay in Ensenada after the harvest in hopes of finding other employment till another growing season begins. Virtually all of the children miss school because Oaxacan moms use their kids to help in the fields or to sell handmade crafts or beg money from tourists in downtown Ensenada.