“It is not that we Venezuelans leave things to the last minute; is that at the end of the year the peddlers auction off everything and one is not in a position to let the offers go by». It is the conclusion that Patricia reaches while she finishes paying for the three pants that she has just bought. Her words mix with the hubbub on Catia Boulevard, west of Caracas. A traveling merchant looks at her with a raised eyebrow.
There are less than two days left for the year to end. It is nine o'clock in the morning on December 30 and in the passage there are passers-by who walk avoiding each other. Although small crowds form and the noise of the voices stuns, the influx is low, to be one of the most popular markets on the penultimate day of the year, just in the period of relaxation of the quarantine decreed by the government. There are no police officers nearby.
Groups of children run between clothing stalls. It is what is sold the most at the end of the year, because prices drop and garments that used to cost five dollars now cost three. Parents from Caracas try to buy their children's premieres for the night of Friday the 31st.
«I preferred to buy everything after the 24th. It is cheaper and it is better that I start the year with new clothes. Christmas didn't matter so much," says Luisa Barbera. She claims to have spent twenty dollars on a pair of leggings, a skirt, a shirt and half a dozen socks for her nine-year-old girl.
On the other hand, despite the fact that food stalls multiply, few approach them. But there are groups around the carts full of tangerines, the fruit that is always present at every New Year's dinner. They sell them for five or seven bolivars per kilo. Apples are also offered everywhere, red and green, at prices calculated in foreign currency. Six for two dollars, an amount that is equivalent to the Venezuelan minimum wage, which has stood at ten bolívares since May.
Nobody buys grapes. A kilo is ten dollars and buyers hardly look at them, even though it is a tradition in Venezuela to eat them before midnight on January 1st.
The price of the dollar for the morning of December 30 is 4.76 bs, but in Catia they charge it at 5.5 bolívares if the client decides to pay with the devalued national currency, under the excuse of the hyperinflation that exists in the country. According to the Venezuelan Finance Observatory, in accumulated and annualized terms, the inflation rates stood at 616.9% and 769.0%, respectively, for November 2021. Likewise, FocusEconomics estimates an inflation of 730% for Venezuela in 2022.
Due to the low number of clients, this time cash is accepted in bolivars or foreign currency, including pesos. Nothing similar to the beginning of the month, when the reluctance to Venezuelan money was evident.
“Whatever comes is accepted. But if it is a bolivar, the price is more expensive. One does not know how that dollar is going to be on January 1st. So we cover our backs, in case of flies,” says Andrea González, a food vendor. In front of her is Zaida Bolívar, who watches with boredom the walk of the others. Her liquor and alcohol stand is intact. No one has taken the rum, anise or brandy that she arranged in rows on a small plastic table.
"Wow, this is terrible! Nothing like previous Decembers. From two years to now, sales have dropped a lot; there are people, yes, but not people who buy from you. I hope that, with the favor of God, tomorrow will be better”, says Bolívar. The crowd at Catia is more focused on the deals on blouses, jeans, and dresses. Throughout Caracas, the scene repeats itself.
end of the year crowd
In La Hoyada, the busy center of the city, the main markets are pushed and pushed. Around the Metro station a crowd tries to move under the clear December sky. The weather is cool but there is only sweat, complaints and hot air inside the crowd on the sidewalks, who curiously check the offers of pants for ten dollars or blouses for five.
Only a year ago, the use of the mask prevented seeing the faces of those who went to the street and who tried not to get infected. At the end of 2021, in the Cruz Verde de la Hoyada market it will be possible to distinguish in detail every feature of the face of hundreds of men, women and children who walk centimeters away. In the midst of the uproar, they clear their throats or shout at each other with their mouths and noses uncovered, as if COVID-19 were a distant memory.
As of December 29, 444,186 cases of coronavirus were recorded in Venezuela since the start of the pandemic. The omicron variant has already been detected in Venezuela. At least nine cases have been identified since December 22 in Caracas, Miranda and Lara. Grecia Sanabria, who sells underwear, narrows her eyes when they mention COVID-19.
“Whoever has to die is going to die here. Enough with the Covid tiqui-tiqui. What people have to do is get their vaccine and that's it. We are going for two years of this and one is tired. Is it going to be the same quarantine guachafita next year? Another week yes and another week no? Who puts up with that? We have to work, look around you », she said to Cocuyo Effect.
Sanabria indicates that, although the streets are full, sales are actually down. She assures that the week of the 24th was more productive. Now especially there are parents looking for last minute clothes for children and teenagers. It is important to them that they start 2022 with new shoes and shirts.
Mandarin oranges are also sold here, but to a lesser extent. However, there are almost no sales of grapes. A lone cart full of them stands empty of customers. The bag of a kilo costs ten dollars.
“They are imported and I am not going to sell them cheaper. Nothing to take away a dollar or two because I lose out, "says Wilmer Sulbarán, the owner of the stall.
In La Hoyada there is a presence of police officers. They monitor the people of Caracas who fill the street, but they do not ask them to wear a mask, as in 2020. They limit themselves to observing how sweaters and children's shoes are sold at discounted prices.
“Yes, it is true that you see people. It's kind of hard to walk, but nothing like the 24. Here you couldn't get over how crowded it was. Now things are loose”, explains a toy seller. She is "finishing" them, because Christmas is over and the season is almost over.
More street vendors in Sabana Grande
The wave of new buyers reaches Sabana Grande, the most famous boulevard in the center-east of Caracas. It is 11 in the morning and dozens of people walk by, but the peddlers assure that the place fills up in the afternoon.
«The truth, this December has been disgusting. Comparing with Decembers before the quarantine, of course. People go out and I don't know why. I think to look, because today I have only sold four flannels. In the week of the 24th I sold a dozen in the morning, at least”, says Daniel, a seller on the site.
Shoe stores remain open with few sales, as do clothing stores. The owners look with distrust at the informal vendors, with whom they compete on price issues. They claim not to have seen so many on the boulevard for decades.
While on Wednesday, December 29, the police tried to evict the street stalls, on the 30th there are no traces of officials other than at the entrances to the Sabana Grande metro.
There are also apples, tangerines and grapes in Sabana Grande, but people don't pay attention to them because they prefer to buy the first two in popular markets and the last one is expensive.
«With ten dollars I can buy a pair of pants or a ham loaf, if I'm fancy. Who is going to pay ten dollars to make wishes with the blessed grapes? On the 31st we will eat tangerines”, says Neida Brito, one of the passers-by on the boulevard.
Last-minute shopping continues in Caracas, but without the frenzy of years prior to the arrival of COVID-19 in Venezuela. Merchants (formal and informal) anticipate that a good percentage of their merchandise will end up in storage or storage by 2022, a year in which they hope there will be more “luck”, although the easing of the quarantine ends when January of the new year arrives.
