Read This If You’re Looking for a Good Pair of Shoes

Erasmo Calzadilla

HAVANA TIMES, Jan 2 — If you’re on the lookout for a good pair of shoes that don’t cost an arm and a leg, I want to tell you about a special offer.

Normally we Cubans have to choose between “michi michi” [cheap] shoes, which after a month and a little have to be repaired; or brand-name tacos [a slang word for shoes], which are as dependable as they are expensive.

But at one store in the Carlos III mall there’s a different alternative.

They have some high-top tennis shoes there (as well as other models) made of rubber and canvas that are worth a look. These appear strong, attractive and the price is pretty affordable: 10 CUCs (about $11 USD).

Those people who don’t wear leather shoes so as not to aid and abet an immoral enterprise, those who try to avoid scuffs, those who prefer not to buy Chinese goods, those “hot feet” who need strength and stamina, those who yearn to lift their feet a few inches from the ground, those who don’t have very deep pockets… they should all go to the top floor of the mall and find this store, which — incidentally — often comes up with interesting things.

I recently bought a pair of those shoes, and they’re comfortable, but I haven’t had them long enough to vouch for their quality.

So, I just wanted to let you folks no about this option.

By the way, if you go to Carlos III, don’t miss out on the chance to laugh a little at the tight arrangements (on lit-up signs and fabric banners, etc.) of the boring revolutionary fetishes (phrases) alongside photos of the Cuban Five and the seductive advertisements of transnational corporations.

How much longer before this all merges?