The Price of Paradise

by Susana López Rubio

Hunger for life, for a future, for color—a hunger grown not in a matter of months but years. They say faith moves mountains, but hunger is never far behind.

As soon as they crossed the threshold into El Encanto, they all shared one thing in common: the sparkle in their eyes like kids on Christmas morning.

Every customer who walked through the door was carrying his or her personal torments: from a chipped nail or an incurable disease to a love betrayed or any other kind of heartbreak. But as long as they were at El Encanto—whether they were buying a suit priced at thousands of pesos or a little trinket or simply strolling through the store—they’d forget their cares, if even just for a while. That was the magic of El Encanto.

Those eyes seemed like quicksand: easy to fall into and impossible to climb out of.

“When you’re afraid, put my hat on and remember that the best way

to beat monsters is to read science books.”

With Nely, I lived the present intensely, but Gloria invited me to discover who I could be in the future, something that produced a dazzling vertigo. And all of us, especially survivors, know that life doesn’t make sense.

Marita, I learned women who don’t raise their voices when men behave badly are as bad as they are.

But, of course, the crown jewels, the Holy Trinity of cocktails, were the three Cuban classics: the daiquiri, the Cuba libre, and the mojito.

“Life has brought us this final gift as a reward for surviving everything without surrender.”