Juan Diego Rodriguez
“People here are not used to these blackouts,” said a woman outside the market on 19th and B this Wednesday. Known in the capital as the food boutique, this store stands out for being always well stocked, especially when compared to others found throughout the island, but the client left the store with two plantains in hand.
The arrival of the blackouts, however, has had a full impact on him. The offers are poor and nobody wants to be inside the establishment, in the middle of the power outage scheduled for Vedado from early in the morning.
“Buy me even half a melon, my life, I want to go now,” implored, fan in hand, a saleswoman to a customer who was passing by her platform. “I am enduring this heat, and the bursitis that I have, to make matters worse,” she lamented.
Yesterday, in the crowded square, one could hardly find half a kilo of tomatoes for 200 pesos, Chinese plums for 60 pesos and carrots or beets for 80 pesos a pound.
[[QUOTE:En la concurrida plaza apenas se podía encontrar ayer medio kilo de tomates por 200 pesos, ciruelas chinas a 60 y zanahorias o remolachas por 80 pesos la libra]]By noon, many stalls were already closed. Vendors preferred not to endure the heat amid the lack of electricity and left, but people kept coming trying to get something, despite the high prices. The fear that when power was restored there would be nothing left overcame the reluctance to be there.
The sellers of the informal market did not swarm the place yesterday either. “I have milk, puppies, mincemeat, even lobster.” The whispers that do not stop normally had stopped being heard this Wednesday.
A merchant proclaimed sarcastically as he picked up his yucas and malangas: “Take your solidarity here, I’m leaving.”
“But mate, don’t you think solidarity is necessary?” another asked ironically. “Of course, of course, solidarity. But I’m like this revolution, which has said enough is enough and has started walking,” he answered, leaving like a fireball, while he armed himself behind his back with tremendous laughter.
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