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Prelude |
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The Plaza 19 Marketplace in Santurce was inaugurated in late march, 1910. Then nobody suspected that what somebody once called "the people's big table" (because it was where everybody, regardless of social status, bought their food) would become a famous gathering place for youths and adults after work, mainly Thursday and Friday nights, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons. After the marketplace closes its, the public changes as does the atmosphere. After 5PM they come to listen to music, dance in the different pubs or dine in the now abundant restaurants. Or just to talk on the sidewalk cafes or in the terrace at the northern entrance of the main building while sipping on their preferred beverage.
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It's 5AM |
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Long before the break of day, the "placeros" (marketplace vendors) open their fruit and vegetable stands within the main building. In this early hours they prepare for their clients by meticulously arranging their displays of fruits and vegetables making them look as models for a master painter's still-life.
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On the outside, some of the vendors buy fresh plaintains directly from the farmer that brought them in his truck from some town in the center of the island.
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As I walk along the sidewalk, the sky begins to turn grayish blue, painted by the inminent sunrise. A rooster crows it's morning salute to the morning sun from the interior of the poultry shop in front of which its owner and two employees of the neighboring vegetables distribution center are talking about something apparently interesting. A sudden smell of fresh coffee disperses the smell of the birds destined to become soup, fricase or the main ingredient of another dish. Inside the locale, all the hens, unaware of their destiny cackle as though they are having a very friendly conversation.
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The butcher's shops across the street from the main building open up after sunrise. Their fridges display a great variety of meatcuts and fish, while in the "cash and carry" on the corner, the first client asks for a bottle of wine justifying his early buy with a "we are going to the beach"... even though he is alone. The "off-track" agency opens up its doors announcing that there are horse races today. Doña Toñita, the owner of the cafeteria named after herself, receives a late delivery of today's newspapers while reprimanding the carrier. The clock says it's a 8AM.
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Back inside the main buiding, the "placeros" are ready for today's journey. The stands are so artistically arranged that they seem to be bas-reliefs carved into the walls. Clients start to arrive. The place is full of those that are buying for today's meals or the week's menu.
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A slight salty breeze comes up along Dos Hermanos Street blowing from Baldorioty de Castro Avenue headed towards Ponce de León Avenue. It's going in the wrong direction, according to the traffic sign, and slightly above the speed limit aloud in the surrounding streets.
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"El carbonerito" is no longer selling coal on the sidewalk by the cages with hens whose freshly laid eggs were sold to visitors by their owner. And the "chauffers" of the high society ladies are no longer seen picking up the orders placed by phone. Nor do the young girls take the lunch bags with the usual beefsteak with rice and beans to the stevedores at the Isla Grande docks. They have been long gone from the scenery, but when somebody nostalgically remembers them out loud, they materialize in the air and are seen marauding inside the marketplace and its periphery.
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The clock strikes 10AM. The eloquent signs hanging on the doors proclaim that the restaurants are now opened to the patrons. Exquisite aromas with a delicious taste to the sense of smell wander in the air... ¡Pure Puerto Rican cuisine!
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Meanwhile the marketplace is at full throttle.
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Over there, two ladies greet each other with a joyous 'good morning' and a friendly kiss on the cheek. Yonder, an older lady holds the hand of the little kid who, attracted by a juicy orange, got lost in the crowd a while ago and she has just found again.
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Somebody just arrived at the "botanist"* to have his "cards" read.
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At the off-track agencies, betters read the days program to place their bets on the best horse while others chose them by names or plain instinct.
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And noon arrives |
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At noon the restaurants and cafeterias are invaded by hungry and thirsty customers that usually have to wait in line until a table is emptied. Mainly they are employees or executives from private companies with offices around the area, other are government employees from the nearby government offices but a lot of them come from other areas of the city, even from neighboring and not-so-neighboring towns.
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Since it's Friday, many of them, a beer or drink in their hands, are already in a festive, "happy hourly", social Friday mood. Some juke boxes play background music to the conversation of a group of friends before they return to work. They are arranging to meet right at the very same spot they are at at PM. One of them decides to stay and walks around the corner to Ruben ríos Art Gallery and check what's going on there. It is said that on Fridays, the small bar downstairs is opened and the artist and friends spend the afternoon chatting and playing music.
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From 2PM on, all those who took the afternoon off start showing up after having finished a very slow lunch.
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From the unisex salon emerges a girl who's going to a wedding this evening, for sure, her hairdo gives her away. From the hardware store exits a gentlemen who seems satisfied with having found the old LP record he must have been looking for for years. It so happens that the hardware store is an antique record shop.
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From 5PM |
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At noon the restaurants and cafeterias are invaded by hungry and thirsty customers that usually have to wait in line until a table is emptied. Mainly they are employees or executives from private companies with offices around the area, other are government employees from the nearby government offices but a lot of them come from other areas of the city, even from neighboring and not-so-neighboring towns.
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Many of the restaurants have changed into dancing halls with live music. But musicians can start a "rumbón" in any corner. friends that haven't seen each other for years are reunited by accident. ANd there's people from all around the island or voisiting tourists from other countries.
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After all "the people's big table" transforms itself into a place to meet friends, have some drinks, enjoy the music and drown the week's stress in carelesness. This is the first stop at the entrance of a weekend of existential escapism, even if when monday arrives a feeling of repentance silently crawls within our body and our minds... feeling sorry for having drunk so much during the weekend and being terribly hungover this morning.
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¡Yep, perhaps that feeling is there!... As it was last monday and it will be next.... ¡Just wait until Friday arrives and one starts working on it... Preferably at Plaza 19! |
