Meat costs, beverages, fuel and gas mean more 300 EUR / month. Residents of Pomarão and nearby towns await reopening.
The closing of the crossing of the International Bridge of the Lower Guadiana, on the Chança river and the Guadiana river, the connection between Pomarão (Mértola) e El Granado (Huelva) turned the other bank into a painful mirage for the Colaço couple, Fernando and Maria dos Anjos.
Owners of an iron and aluminum locksmith shop in Mina de São Domingos, half a dozen kilometers from the border, saw their wallet take a sharp leak, with the closing of the passage to Spain. The purchase of products for the daily consumption of households was no longer possible, fuel for the work vehicle and the impossibility of placing doors and windows on customers in Spanish locations.
“What we fail to save is a very significant value, because we can't go to Spain. no minimum 300 euros. A bottle of gas costs less 12 euros, diesel even 30/35 cents ”, justifies Fernando Colaço. At your side in the workshop, Maria dos Anjos recalls that “black pork, besides quality, it has a much lower price ”, justified.
An evil does not come alone and also receive less in sales. “We have gates, doors and windows to place in various villages, but go through Castro Marim or Ficalho, it's unthinkable. We count on the understanding of customers ”, shoots the locksmith.
“Adding to all this, there is no need to decompress a day's work. We grabbed the van and went to Paymogo or El Granado to drink “a canha". Now it's home / workshop and workshop / home ”, says the woman sad.
In the old mining port of Pomarão, that made the difference are Spanish customers. May Maria Noémia say that since the beginning of the pandemic and even the open frontier had to close the restaurant.
Different opinion has a German pensioner, There 20 years living in the village, who considers that “silence is magnificent”, so calling yourself to joke, the “Keizer do Pomarão”.
Maria Noémia (Catering Resident-Businesswoman): “I dedicated myself to the garden to produce products and consume at home. No customers from Spain, I will not reopen the restaurant ”.
Thomas Keizer (Retired German Resident-Citizen): “With the border closed it is much better. Everything is calmer. The Spaniards make a lot of noise when they come ”.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
Photo of Fernando e Maria Anjos Colaço (Leonardo Negrão / Global Images)
