I think the umbrella guy was a genius ... part of the problem with repairing "your favorite umbrella" is a lack of parts. Umbrellas tend to be fragile and his

I think the umbrella guy was a genius ... part of the problem with repairing "your favorite umbrella" is a lack of parts. Umbrellas tend to be fragile and his operation really only worked because of volume. He seemed to be repairing an umbrella every 5-10 minutes and was selling them for $3-$4 CUC each (about $1.13 US per CUC) so he was exceeding even the US minimum wage while offering a cheaper product - both these are amazing in a country where the official average income is around $80 US. Yet his business would have been impossible without the stockpile of donor umbrellas - which is precisely why we can't (economically) repair one umbrella at our house.