Cachai?: Artistas Callejeros

cre: Cachai?: Artistas Callejeros

Hi friends! Here’s your boy Anthony Perez with another quick review of how Santiago, Chile treats me. Well, today I wanted to inform any prospective Drexel University study abroad students interested in going to Chile or just anyone who has spare time to read this article, of something very common that you you will see throughout Chile: street artists (or callejeros artists). It’s no joke when I say street performers are everywhere! You would normally think these street performers would head to busier areas such as the Plaza de Armas (where the featured image was taken); however, no matter the time, I always spot street performers in the neighborhood where I live. Granted, the student residence I’m staying in is located right next to Parque Bustamante (which is quite crowded at all times), but I also see artists far from the area. The effort to attract attention in order to receive Chilean pesos or monedas (coins) is quite amazing.

The most common places to spot these performers are… right in front of traffic! Honestly! Every day, no lie, I saw performers standing in front of traffic (at a red light of course) showing off cool tricks and skills in order to wow drivers and passers-by. Primarily, tricks performed in front of traffic consist of a kind of juggling. I saw a man juggle bowling (quite common), a man juggle colored balls, a man dribble a soccer ball (the guy was amazing) and a clown on a unicycle juggle bowling (it was quite rare). Once the light turns green, performers bow to their charming mechanical audience, stand in the middle of traffic (allowing cars from both lanes to pass), and reveal a hat or box the donations are meant to be in. placed. So far, from what I’ve seen in the short, quick times I wandered around, they don’t collect a lot of pesos (almost nothing honestly), but they keep running red light after red light, day after day.

Besides the artists in my neighborhood, some of the best artists I’ve come across are around the Plaza de Armas. The main contrast between the artists of the neighborhood and those of the Plaza de Armas is certainly the amount of effort put into the routine as well as the dressing of the piece.

Ignore my very uncomfortable face, no one told me when the photo was going to be taken.

Just look at that golden fairy above (and my very clumsy appearance). The detailed costume, the fact that she never broke character, and her sleek moves drew so much attention that I had to walk through a crowd just to get to her. The way her act worked was that she, and also this man dressed as a Roman statue, would stand on a certain platform, hers was this pole with a seat that gave her the illusion of floating. In front of the fairy and the statue were bowls in which to place money. If the fairy noticed you dropping money into her bowl she would do this mystical hand motion (usually around someone’s head as you can see in the picture) and then she would withdraw a fortune of the golden bowl in his hand and, again majestically, hand over the fortune to you.

You remember my friend Maria from one of my previous posts.

There is, however, a wide variety of performers. For example, Maria the llama and her photographer friend. I don’t remember the actual price, but for around 4.ooo pesos you could take a picture with Maria which would then be printed on the spot. There are also break dancers, dancing robots (a guy dressed as Bumblebee from Transformers), violinists, guitarists, drummers, traditional Chilean folk dancing and, my favorite so far, clowns. In fact, the Plaza de Armas Clowns are one of the most successful street performers I’ve seen and I think it’s down to their outrageous and hilarious act. These clowns usually joke around with any innocent citizen who passes their way: they impersonate their way, prank them, confuse them, and most of all, they literally stop running traffic for humor. The clowns lifted their chins and exaggerated a soldier’s gait, then went to the middle of the street, blew a whistle, and raised their hands to stop the driver. Then, jokingly, they pretended to stop the driver to give him a ticket, and the best part was that the drivers accepted the joke. It’s a fun time for everyone. Clowns also pretend to clean or sweep whenever an officer (or carabinero) does, but, in reality, the officers don’t care about entertainers and sometimes even joke around with them.

I feel like these street performers and the willing audience are just another proof of what I’ve been talking about about PUC students. Although everyone has something to do or somewhere to go, they don’t give up on having fun and making room for fun. Come to think of it, I haven’t met a single person here in Chile who is too serious to just focus on work. Sure, when the job needs to get done, the gloves are on, but they understand that the occasional distraction and entertainment is essential.

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