Glimpse - Your Stories from Abroad

Runner-Up
[Barcelona, Spain] At the famous Barcelona market, La Boqueria, fresh food is key. Lobsters almost look ready to prance off the ice onto the floor, and fish flap under large carving knives. A stall vendor, who has covered her fancy pink sweater with a blood-spattered apron, reaches over to exchange pleasantries and money with a habitual customer. Every stand tries to offer a unique local product, as well as a unique personality. The culture of this Spanish market is one that thrives on good humor, which helps the vendors and regular customers alike to endure the throngs of tourists that file through each day.

Photo by Jessica Brogan

Runner-Up
[Tokyo, Japan] In one of the best sushi destinations in the world, workers haul a large maguro tuna fish at Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo.

Photo by Miko Walczuk

Runner-Up
[Kologo, Ghana] This photo captures the maturity of my ever tranquil and extraordinarily patient eight-year-old companion, Fafa Benedicta, in the surrounding chaos and struggle of the world's poorest region: West Africa. Fafa became my cherished friend, and we kept close tabs on each other during the months I spent volunteering with the Ewe people of Southern Togo and Ghana. I took this photo during our visit to the local market, where I hoped to buy several hundred exercise books to donate to the severely under-funded local secondary school in the village of Kologo.

Photo by Carrie Stiles

Runner-Up
[Ajijic, Mexico] The weekly open-air market in the small town of Ajijic, Mexico is a one-stop shopping center for fresh food, Huichol (indigenous Mexican) handicrafts, clothing and flowers. Here, a man and woman arrange brightly colored carnations, roses, daisies and lilies. In contrast to most U.S. supermarkets, in the Ajijic market the flowers are local and sold for a fraction of the U.S. price. Plus, you can make friends with the growers themselves.

Photo by Gabrielle Wallace

Runner-Up
[Madina Ndiatébé, Senegal] A Fula man strolls through the Saturday market in Madina Ndiatébé, a sleepy town of 15,000 people in northern Senegal. On most days, residents of Madina Ndiatébé are occupied by farming, fishing, goat herding and cloth-dying. But on Saturdays, the town comes alive as hundreds of people flock there on rickety buses and donkey carts to sell their wares. People come from as far away as metropolitan Saint Louis and bordering Mauritania to sell everything from pasty baobab fruit to jeans printed with images of the Senegalese rap star Akon. In Senegal’s largely informal economy, bargaining is a vital skill. Senegalese regard “discussion” of the price as an integral part of the consumer experience.

Photo by Laraine Weschler

Runner-Up
[Barcelona, Spain] Exotic fruit juices bottled before sunrise enliven La Bouqueria market in Barcelona, Spain. Consumption at this market is never a matter of if, but when. The essence of time escapes this place. Here there are no shopping lists, no checkout lines. Shoppers lose themselves in this life-size candy-land of nature's finest offerings. Not one item is destined for the freezer, but instead intended for preparation within a matter of hours to satisfy the stomachs of loved ones.

Photo by Karen Sikora

Runner-Up
[Dajabón, Dominican Republic] Dajabón, a city in the Dominican Republic, sits across the river from Haiti. The Dominican Republic opens its border on Mondays and Fridays to encourage trade with Haiti, which is the poorest, least developed nation in the Western hemisphere.

Photo by Ryan Bowen

Runner-Up
[Daegu, South Korea] This photo was taken during a student organization fair at the university I attended in South Korea. The streets were filled with vendors selling all different kinds of snacks and trinkets. The "umbrellas" pictured here were made from a mixture of corn flour and water that was forced through a pipe.

Photo by Michelle Bennett

Runner-Up
[Padua, Italy] These burlap bags sit at a market in Padua, Italy, a university town made famous by Giotto's arena chapel. Markets are not the only place for food shopping in Italy, but they are a rich, not to mention colorful, source of fresh produce, meat and grains.

Photo by Carly Roberts

Runner-Up
[Bac Ha, Viet Nam] Sunday is market day in Bac Ha, Viet Nam, which brings together various local ethnic minorities for a day of bargaining, eating and socializing. In this picture, the women of the Flower Hmong tribe peruse dyed yarns that they will later use to fashion their vibrant traditional clothing and textiles. Situated in the hills of northern Viet Nam, Bac Ha's cool climate means that warm, layered clothing is required for much of the year. Also on sale in the market are items as wide-ranging as livestock, sugarcane and traditional handcrafted jewelry pieces.

The festive Bac Ha Sunday market is usually the only source of inter-tribal interaction for the Hmong. Many come on foot, some up to 20 kilometers, so as not to miss out on the exchange of materials, gossip and fun. Contrasted against the sterility of Western "supermarkets," Bac Ha is a colorful escape to a people and place infused with fluorescent charm.

Photo by Blaine Pennington

Runner-Up
[Mawlamyine, Myanmar] This particular marketplace in Myanmar is famous for its cheap knock-off DVDs and fake Polo shirts. It is located on the very edge of Myanmar, next to the Thai border. Vendors are particularly skilled at convincing customers to buy much more than they intended, enticing them with items such as large lighters shaped as various sexual organs, Guccini sunglasses and various treats, including green pickled plums, jelly candies and prickly fruits. The market’s main attractions are the energetic males who run around convincing foreigners to buy Viagra.

Photo by Kayla Wexelberg