Like every Latin American city, Havana also has markets. However, there are a few major differences. One thing is that the Mercado San Rafael is not nearly as large as other Latin American markets tend to be, but rather small and more like a daily or weekly market in Europe. At the same time, I actually hardly saw any markets, but rather isolated stalls where something was being sold.

My theory: Cuba is quite cut off from the world and imports many of its foodstuffs, as well as other items such as hygiene products and electrical appliances, from abroad. This means that everything has to be shipped over. Cuba’s history naturally makes supply difficult. As a result, when you go to a Cuban restaurant for example, you don’t order what you feel like, but first ask what is available. Therefore, I suspect that the size of the market, as well as the amount of markets, is strongly related to that.

Go or not? I would leave that up to each person, but if you want to get something cheaper than at the supermarket, experience a bit of local life and have an incredibly delicious guava or mango or something similar, then the market is probably the better address.