San Victorino: the hive of rummage at Christmas

You have to have well tempered nerves, synchronized senses and sharp malice to enter this absorbing commercial complex that is San Victorino, which comprises seventeen blocks on the perimeter of the trunk Caracas to the tenth avenue , and from Jiménez to the street ninth. (Also read: These are the deadlines for the payment of taxes in 2022 in Bogotá) The welcome to San Victorino is carried out by jaladores, left-handers and trajeteros. They are the same as 'ask for what you don't see', 'come on, I'll tell you where it's cheaper', 'take care of your wallet and don't let go of the girl', among other hooks of an unusual phraseology to hunt down customers and convince them of the purchase in search of the promised commission, from dawn to dusk. From the outset, through Jiménez, the siege of peddlers of the unimaginable is observed, amid penetrating humors of frying and cooking of viscera and pelangas; hot dog and hamburger stands; grills of sausages that give off thick, ashy smoke like that of habemus papam, and the din of music that merges between the December chucuchuco, the weeping vallenato and the wounded cries of spite.

For example: while the blind artist strives to make himself heard with El huerfanito, by Guillermo Buitrago, in the roundabout a loudspeaker at full volume spits out the pitiful grumbles of Old toy, the most mentioned song of Caballero Gaucho. That "I don't have a father / I don't have a mother / I don't have money / much less anyone who loves me", run over by the "buy me, mamita, even a toy", produces the same fuel as the tear gas bombs that the Public Force fires in the riots. (Also: At Christmas there could be a shortage of toys, liquor and decorations in Bogotá)

In the same space, where thirty years ago the old organ grinder was located with the parakeet that extracted esoteric envelopes with his advice for the frustrated and lost from a pack of cigarettes, is now the 32-year-old Greicy Mendoza, from Caracas, with a counter at the Garete that exhibits women's underwear. "Look, just for the debut of your wife on the 24th, you look like a prince," suggests the robust brunette, who without asking shows a set of three pieces in sangria color: "Bra, thong and cachetero de lace, for 65,000..., I'll leave it at 60”, she replies. The rebajona is the law of drag in all the informal shacks, and in the same line you can find cheap replicas of prestigious jeans brands ($ 30,000 and $40,000), sneakers ($50,000 and $60,000), hoodies ($25,000), sheepskin jackets ($50,000), and the cheerful deals on three pairs of Calvin Klein boxer shorts ($20,000) and five pairs of socks ($20,000). 15,000).

Robert Perlaza, from Guapi, Cauca, a handsome black man with a baseball cap and a choker mask, manages under the hot sun a huge glass bucket that supports a cart, divided between 3,000-peso salpicon and 2,000-peso tangerine juice. He also sells mango biche with salt and lemon for 2,500 pesos, and fruit salad for 3,000 pesos. That is what he has lived in Bogotá since 1998, he says, when he arrived fleeing coca violence in his land, "with one hand in front and the other behind."

In this commercial sector, the 'early morning' is almost a tradition, to which people attend early to obtain offers.

Among the informal stalls you can also find street food. In the photo: Robert Perlaza, street vendor from San Victorino.

In this place where 'rebusque' predominates, imitation intimate garments are displayed for sale.

This year, the District arranged for San Victorino fifty-five tents for informal vendors , which fell short in the face of the excessive demand derived from the high unemployment figures and the profuse Venezuelan migration, but the remaining scavengers manage with umbrellas, or open field, to achieve daily sustenance. In the most recent monitoring of the District Personería, its head, Julián Enrique Pinilla Malagón, warned that the coexistence and biosecurity manual that was agreed with the merchants is not being complied with: distancing, face masks, hand washing. (We suggest: These will be the vaccination points in Bogotá with extended hours) The official insists on abiding by these regulations, especially when it is known that the omicron variant entered Colombia, which according to the World Health Organization is the one that most quickly reproduces the contagion of covid-19 , even in vaccinated and recovered people. Pinilla also pointed out the proper surveillance, organization and logistics to reduce the crowds and the fear of many buyers who refrain from going to San Victorino due to the scourge of insecurity, theft and robbery.

It is Wednesday, December 22, in the last early morning on Christmas Eve , this time there was a division of opinions: the street vendors agreed that the day was not bad, but it was not the best either, but those from the store, like Doña Berenice Salinas, 66, owner of the Marly diaper store, located on the second floor of the emblematic Juan B. Páez building, where the old Plaza Nariño shopping center operates, argued that "it was lazy because the street vendor drags the customer first and we leaves you seeing a spark." "Last year was better," emphasizes Doña Berenice, who came to Bogotá at the age of sixteen to San Victorino to sell socks, underwear and aprons on the street, and eight years ago she took over a store for the who pays 600,000 pesos a month. “Before the pandemic, by December, between Friday and Saturday, she had already sold 2,000,000 pesos. Today, I have barely made 150,000”, she summarizes. However, Angélica Leguizamón points out that to date it has been a good season, when the sales margin of the twenty-four early risers leaves a monthly usufruct of 120,000,000,000, an attractive profit for an average of 14,000 owners who generate 300,000 direct jobs and close to a million indirect ones. Tenth Street is the busiest, adds the administrator, because it is where the textile market is concentrated, clothing, which is the most in demand at this time of the traditional premiere , just like 11th Street, which is the one for china shops, piñaterías and toy stores, with an encouraging rebound, between 70 and 80 percent, of reactivation and recovery. (Also read: Car theft: the crime that took the Bogota streets)

The authorities insist that biosafety protocols should not be neglected, however, there are people who do not comply with the minimum measures.

The tenth street is the busiest, because it is where the textile and clothing market is concentrated, which is the one with the greatest demand during the holiday season.

San Victorino is a must stop for those looking for the premiere on December 24 and 31.

Don Jorge Pérez, at the head of Visto's marketing department, is Leguizamón's right-hand man, and is known as the 'Angel of San Victorino', a christening given to him by the chronicler Fabián Forero, from Red+Noticias , due to his deep-rooted kind mission with the most needy, which he has been carrying out for more than twenty years. Pérez is the mediator of the lost causes of unprotected elderly, needy, informal from the platform like Don Abraham López, seller of sweets and cigarettes in the sector, to whom Don Jorge made possible the recovery of his vision impaired by cataracts, after a campaign undertaken for his operation and treatment. They also recognize the achievement of markets for unprotected families, wheelchairs, and for the collection and delivery of more than 100 tons of food for the victims of the Mocoa tragedy, which occurred due to the devastating avalanche of 2017.

Stealthily we slip through the congested eleventh street, with its old buildings packed with stores and warehouses selling piñateria, costume jewelry and costume jewelry (aviary), makeup, perfumery and stationery, but the jam of buyers is impressive. If it is difficult to walk on the platforms, on the street you have to walk almost on tiptoe so as not to spoil the number of dolls, stuffed animals, balls, tricycles, skateboards, cars, bicycles, stacks of lottery boxes, monopoly, rich uncle, rummy, chess, parquet, among other amusements exposed on enormous plastics, all at a ridiculous price compared to that of chain stores. (Another: La Concordia, a square with 86 years of history) For the same eleventh, reaching the ninth, In the jurisdiction of Gran San , we noticed a devilish traffic jam of motorcycles, automobiles, car drivers, bullegers, people trying to get out, others trying to enter, and the insistent ringing of whistles and tantrums of children in arms, of speakers with music from all the raleas, the exasperating smell of rook and the smoke of chorizo, pork rinds and skewers confirm that San Victorino is not for everyone, but for those who know it, need it and know how to savor it.

As if it were a reality of survival , I swear we reached the tenth tenth, reason enough to claim victory for having freed the penitent quagmire of the searcher and the proletarian, the meta-market of 'ask for what you don't see', that Saint Victorino of chaos, noise, smells, loves and needs, so faithful to the popular tradition, which people love and prefer as the little pot of heating. RICARDO RONDÓN CHAMORRO - SPECIAL FOR THE TIME*