A Russian citizen residing in Cuba known as Poli, a content creator on Instagram under the name "My name is Poli", posted a video in which she recounts her first visit to La Cuevita, the largest informal market in Cuba, and the experience left her astonished.
The description she chose to accompany the clip sums it all up: "I came out with a psychological trauma... but with some things."
The video starts with Poli speaking directly to the camera: "I just got back from La Cuevita. This is a whole different level. That's not Cuba, it's India, Haiti."
The adventure began before reaching the market, during the journey. Poli recounts that she was ready to shout on the corner to stop the vehicle when her husband explained that they needed to "press a button." "Wow! I definitely didn't expect that, just like in the yuma buses," she says with a laugh.
Once at the site, the first impact was olfactory. "I smelled barbecue. Oh no! That was the burnt garbage," Poli recounts, describing one of the city's chronic issues.
Once inside, the organized chaos of the market surprised her. "Everything is mixed here: merchandise, people, wheelbarrows, tricycles, pharmacy," she describes.
What caught his attention the most was the abundance of medications at an informal stall: "So many medications. I've decided that with the pain, I won't go to the hospital, I'll go to La Cuevita."
La Cuevita is located in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón, Havana, between 106th and 110th streets, and started in the 1990s as "La Candonga." It operates from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm and attracts shoppers from all over the island, from Pinar del Río to Camagüey.
In 2019, it was renovated as "Feria de Monterrey" with 241 booths, although issues such as disorganization, garbage accumulation, and lack of hygiene still persist.
The market has also been the scene of police operations resulting in the arrest of resellers and scams involving adulterated products.
Poli cerró el video con una confesión: "Aquí hay de todo. Y mira que pudiera comprar el protector solar, pero no lo hice".
Esta no es la primera vez que Poli se convierte en protagonista de las redes.
In April, the Russian woman living in Cuba named her newborn "Apagonia" in reference to the chronic blackouts on the Island, a video that garnered 241,000 views and catapulted her to fame throughout the online Cuban community.
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