Conversations with my wife...

My wife returned the other day from Cuba...today we began the conversations that we cannot have over the phone for concern that all conversations are listened to.

Being pregnant, she arranged to buy milk...not in the store...but from the source, a farmer with a cow, at the risk of losing the cow. He's required to sell the milk to the "state" who in turn sells it to the people...in the past children seven and under were entitled to milk but even in the store there is no milk...at least in the Holguin Province of Cuba.

In the city of Holguin, the farmer's market that was near the stadium has closed...it's said that due to the higher taxes the State tried to impose on the farmer...they have gone with "el mercado negro" selling produce on the black market. The more the State tries to impose in the business and tax the farmers...the bigger the black market becomes.

This image was taken in La Habana at the mercado "Cuatro Caminos" I chose this image because in conversation...onions that were selling for a small bag of maybe 5-6 for 3 pesos are now selling for 3 pesos for one.

How does this system maintain food for 11 million people? Imaginate...

"El manisero" The Peanut Vendor

Maní, maní, maní…
Si te quieres por el pico divertir,
Cómprame un cucuruchito de maní.
El manisero se va, el manisero se va.
Me voy, te digo que me voy…

The arrangement of El Manisero by a Jewish emigrant to Cuba, Moisés Simmons [1] was recorded by a popular Cuban singer Rita Montaner in Havana in 1928. In 1930 the adaptation of Montaner’s version was recorded in New York by Don Azpiazu and his Havana Casino orchestra, sung by Antonio Machín[2]. It was featured in the Hollywood film The Cuban Love Song (1931) and quickly picked by a dozen other orchestras in the United States and Europe. The song was a top hit on the record in 1931. (Compilments of Wikipedia)

This image was taken in Holguin, a city located in Eastern Cuba. The metal box in front of him keeps the peanuts, wrapped in paper shaped like a cone, warm. There's a smaller circular container below the main box. This is the source of the heat. He just sat there and allowed me to photograph him...I bought several of these and they are quite good...especially the last one that always seems to get stuck on the very bottom of the cone.