- Direct.All the news of the coronavirus
- Crisis: Rastro merchants accuse Villacís of being untrue
He was 16 when he placed his rag on the ground and started selling miniatures on the Rastro . The experience was not encouraging. That day he earned 50 pesetas, but the Police fined him 25.
However, Isabel Oliver was bitten by the bug and since then she has not missed her appointment with the Madrid flea market , one of the hallmarks of the city.
Until the blow of the coronavirus arrived. While the rest of the markets in the towns and cities have returned to normal, with limited positions and capacity, the Rastro has not returned to the Plaza del Cascorro since last March 8.
“We have been without income for six months, while we have to pay the rent for the premises where we store the merchandise. There are people who are having a very bad time and are on the verge of eviction, "laments Mayka Torralbo, vice president and spokesperson for the El Rastro Punto Es Association.
For sellers, the Rastro is not only their job but a way of life. The market has always been a meeting point , where people of all social classes, ideologies and nationalities mix.
«El Rastro is a place of cultural exchange . You don't just come to buy, but you interact with others. Many customers have ended up being my friends, ”says Isabel Oliver, who now sells decorated fans.
Recovered objects
And not only that. El Rastro is also one of the recycling points in the city, where thousands of objects are given a second chance, which, if not, would go directly to the trash.
This is witnessed by Andrés Trapiello, author of the book El Rastro, which reviews the 40-year history of the street market: «Thanks to the Rastro, thousands of objects, paintings and books have been saved that, otherwise, would have ended up in the landfill. I would not have discovered hundreds of writers, like Chaves Nogales, if it were not for the Rastro, "he asserts.
Negotiations between the Madrid City Council and the vendors are stalled. The merchants consider that the City Council "wants to kill the Rastro" and from the City Council they criticize the unshakable position of the shopkeepers .
The latest proposal from the José Luis Martínez-Almeida Council includes dividing the market into several autonomous areas in order to guarantee the safety distance.
Thus, in Ribera de Curtidores 147 stalls would be installed ; on the same street, but in the Arganzuela area, 28, in Vara del Rey, 74; in Campillo del Mundo Nuevo, 52 and in Gran Vía de San Francisco, 196.
Vendors are directly opposed to this idea because it would mean dismembering the Rastro and eliminating the stalls in Plaza del Cascorro, the epicenter of the street market.
There are people who are having a very bad time and are on the verge of eviction
Mayka torralboFor this reason, they defend maintaining their current location with 50% of the capacity and making the necessary adjustments, but not having to travel to other areas. Many of them have their merchandise and the iron from the stalls stored in the many storage rooms in the neighborhood and they walk to their place of work.
«The City Council is in a situation of blockade . There is enough space in the areas where they want to eliminate the posts, as in the Ronda de Toledo ”, argues Torralbo.
The shopkeepers believe that if they give in, the market will end up transformed into five mini-markets, turned into "ghettos isolated from each other" and their essence will be lost.
However, from the Consistory they maintain that it is a provisional solution that is sought in an emergency situation, and that, when the problem ends, each one will return to their traditional location. «We cannot allow ourselves to have a contagion in the Rastro because it would damage the image of the city. That would be the end! ", Say municipal sources.
There are many voices who believe that there are hidden interests and that the pandemic has been the perfect excuse to change the location of the market and revalue the neighborhood. The writer Andrés Trapiello is of the same opinion: «Loading the Rastro and changing its location is the illusion of all the mayors of the city. It is the last area of old Madrid that remains unexploited and the apartments in the neighborhood would be greatly appreciated if the market were not present, which causes inconvenience to the neighbors on Sundays.
Already in 2004, the former mayor of the city Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón tried to reorder the positions to reduce their size. Its objective was to open another "higher level and more touristy" market, away from the center, in an area close to Mercamadrid. However, Gallardón's proposal led to the mobilization of thousands of Madrilenians and a collection of signatures, so that, in the end, it was not carried out.
No matter how many attempts have been made, the Rastro has remained true to its roots and has been shaped in a special way over the years. For example, in this market there is a natural symbiosis between stalls and shops, which now languish due to the lack of public.
Thematic areas have also been created spontaneously, ranging from antiques and auctioneers to books and stickers through clothing.
In short, in El Rastro you can find any type of object . Precisely, in these times of coronavirus, that is one of its handicaps. How to control infections if there are products that are handled by dozens of people? The spokeswoman for the El Rastro Punto Es Association maintains that there will be fewer exhibits, that it will be necessary to use gel in each stall and that the pieces will be disinfected when they touch.
«The first interested in looking after our health and that of our clients are us. Scientific studies clearly say that in open spaces the possibility of contagion is 20 times lower than in any closed place. In fact, the outbreaks are not taking place in open spaces but in closed places, “he argues. However, Andrés Trapiello is skeptical on this issue: «It has a difficult solution. It is impossible to avoid contact on the Trail where there are objects that everyone touches ».
Meanwhile, traders protest every Sunday in defense of their jobs. Antonio Olguin is one of them. This Chilean, who has been selling in the market for 32 years , still remembers when all the clothes were made in Spain.
«When I arrived, the vendors had our workshops. Everything was done by hand. I had to go to Talavera to bring and take the clothes, "he describes. Little by little, all those workshops ended up closing and now, he designs the clothes, but they are manufactured in Nepal.
Olguin has been pulling his savings for months, but everything has a limit. "I have to pay the rental of the van, the mortgage ... I live exclusively in El Rastro and I am in a critical phase," he complains.
What are you waiting for to find a solution? Someone jump out the window?
Mayka torralboEveryone is looking forward to getting back to their jobs, even though they recognize that working on the streets is very hard. “We live under inclement weather and you subsist on what you earn four days a month. The street is free, but it is hard, ”says Esther Díez, who sells perfumes and whose debts are accumulating.
The situation of the 1,000 families that live on the Rastro is increasingly complicated. “We make playful protests, to show the cultural character of the Rastro, but that does not mean that there are no dramas behind it. What are you waiting for to find a worthy solution? Did someone jump out of the window? ”Asks Torralbo.
Despite opposition from her family, the association's spokeswoman left her steady job to dedicate herself to street vending. She was even more precocious than Isabel Oliver, since she began selling the remains of her mother's clothing store in Carabanchel when she was 10 years old. After a hiatus, he decided to go back to the market to sell designer clothes.
Like Torralbo, many Madrid residents eagerly await the return of this unique market. Because, as Trapiello says, the Rastro is not going to hang out , the world is going to be saved.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more- Madrid
- Coronavirus
CoronavirusMadrid registers another three new outbreaks of Covid-19 with 15 infected, raising the foci identified in the region to 22
Covid-19Madrid extends to 1,500 appointments to perform random PCR after only half of the summoned neighbors attend Carabanchel
Coronavirus Madrid will ban eating in the subway and buses to avoid contagion
See links of interest
- News
- TV programming
- Translator
- Madrid calendar
- Madrid capital calendar
- Calendar
- Horoscope
- Classification
- League calendar
- Topics