Ice Cream Flavors are Convoyed* in a ‘Militarized’ Coppelia

When it’s your turn to buy, the customer must approach a table, each with a bottle of hand sanitizer, and then they tell you where you can make your purchase.” (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 11 August 2020 — Although Havana has just resumed the most drastic measures to stop the pandemic after the increase in cases of Covid-19 on the island, the Coppelia ice cream parlor has not completely closed its doors. In the middle of August, one of the hottest months of the year, some takeaway ice cream outlets have been kept open.

This Tuesday the largest at the kiosk on the side where ice cream has always been sold to-go, but now there were also several points of sale within the same ice cream parlor.

“It is all militarized, full of officers dressed in green everywhere. When it comes to buying, the customer approaches a table, each one has its own hand sanitizer bottle with a clerk, and there they tell you where you can make your purchase.”

Each person could purchase 40 scoops per person for the price of one peso and fifty cents a scoop. A woman, who went with two relatives, was able to take home almost a full tub.

“The flavors are not well distributed, but the worst of all is that I lined up where supposedly there were choco-coconut, almond, mint, and curly guava and at 11:15 the choco-coconut and almond were gone. But not only that, when I asked for curly guava what was left was just the bottom of the tub and he told me that I had to convoy* it with mint,” a young man who was standing in line this morning told14ymedio.

“Like always, everything ’convoyed’ … The things of socialism,” he said.

*Translator’s note: Convoy -> ‘Escort’: Go with one person or one thing from one place to another for their protection (The Free Dictionary) [Translator’s comment: Hopefully the ice creams feel very safe traveling together in this way.] 

______________________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.