Spain Dad, a baby blog

Taking Alleke to the market is like imagining a world without money, where the only real currency is friendship.

The market is a two-story brick building with probably fifty stalls inside where individual vendors sell fresh fruits and vegetables and meats, or in the case of our friend Antonio, cheeses.

Antonio is an old bachelor with glasses and a giant smile, and although we talked recently of the crisis and how these winter months are always the most difficult for business, he still insists that Alleke take her pick from any of his cheeses behind the glass case. He takes pleasure in cutting her a slice of cheese, which gets bigger each time and now takes her days to finish. This morning Alleke picked out a delicious goat cheese. We’re still nibbling away at it.

At the fruit stand, Justo peeled Alleke a banana. At the olive stand, of course Alleke got an olive, and a gentle reminder to watch out for the pit inside.

We stopped by the bakery on our way home, and by the time I had parked the stroller inside, Pablo had Alleke in his arms and was asking her if he could make her a ham sandwich. I appreciated his healthy suggestion, but had already anticipated Alleke pointing at the chocolate Kinder eggs behind the counter. I watched as Pablo sat Alleke down at one of the bar stools, disappeared behind the counter, and grabbed a Kinder egg for her. He even served the egg with a glass of water, which if you’ve lived in Spain, you will know is not something waiters are easily convinced to do.

Call me ignorant, but I thought the point of business was to make money, but at our local market, friendship appears to be the priority.

Actually, I suppose this kind of generous economy works in the end. Not only have I become friends with Antonio, Justo, Pablo and the olive guy because of their generosity, I’ve become their loyal customer too. And you know what, friendships outlast difficult times, even during an economic crisis.