The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1908-03-21
Vacation Days in Porto Rico.

Vacation Days in Porto Rico.
The feeding of large community is
always an interesting process. and the
one place in San Juan that l visited
repeatedly was the city market at the
top of the hill and overlooking the
ocean. Here are gathered every morn
ing the fruits and vegetables from all
parts of the island, food stuffs from the
United States and other countries and
here come the women every morning
to buy supplies for the households,
The principal market day of the
week is on Sunday mornings but il is
interesting any day The market
building covers about one acre of
ground, or rather covers the outer ed
ges of it, the center being open to the
sky Under this roof around the out
side are numerous stalls where meats,
canned goods, cigars and articles that
rain would spoil are kept, but the
fruits and vegetables are on tables out
in the open, sometimes with an awning
over them but often not.
The principal articles of foo6 in Por-
to Rico are rice, yams, beans and cot
fee with bananas, cocoanuts and
stalks of sugar cane for dessert. Com
paratively little meat is sold except to
the more prosperous people in the cit
les. The poverty of the people is ac-
centuated here when one sees them
buying for the family. Vans, rice,
string beans, radshes, lettuce, ETC. are
carefully arranged in little piles, the
price of each pile being uno centavo
or one cent. | repeatedly saw women
with not over five or six cents in their
hands pick around among the piles
trying to get as much as possible for
her family, sure to be large. with this
meager sum Of money.
II she had six cents her purchases
would likely be something like this;
three cents worth Of rice-the chief ar
ticle of diet in the island-one cents
worth Of yams, one cent for coffee and
one cent for charcoal with which to
cook the other articles. II she had
plenty of money, say quarter, she
might likely buy five cent piece OF
meat for a stew, perhaps a dozen ban
anas or plantains, Qarge bananas for
cooking) for five cents, two or three
cents for some of the strange tropical
fruits of vegetables that l am not fam
iliar with, but she would surely in
clude the rice, yams and coffee. II she
were thirsty she could go to little
hand power cane mill in one corner OF
the market and get glass OF cane
juice for one penny.
In the meantime the market Is
thronged with noisy, chattering and
laughing throng of all shades of color,
Underfoot are naked and semi-naked
children, live chickens and turkeys
tied by strings to the legs OF the Ia
bles. dogs and goats wandering hither
and thither and here and there bright
colored game-cock perched on the arm
of its doting owner. If there Is one
thing that a native Porto Rican prizes
It is his game-cock and nearly all OF
them have as many as they can afford
to keep. One of the lot is the owners
favorite and he takes it with him
wherever he goes. | have often seen
women and children with them.
Fish seems to be scarce around san
Juan as / saw very little of it, except
dried Goldfish, in the market, but at
Ponce there was plenty of good tsh
to be had, including such fine varieties
as grouper, red snapper, Spanish
mackerel and ,pompano. Any OF these
varieties are better than the fresh fish
we get in northern markets, provided
they are cooked within few hours ar
ter being caught.
Fowls are always sold alive In Porto
Rican markets to insure their being
fresh. The price of a lean bantam hen
is ten cents. The larger varieties (all
smalD run up to 40 to so cents. Eggs
which are an important article OF diet
were selling in San Juan from Is to ~