Malabaristas

Street performers...that´s how I started my week vacation with my old friend Katie visiting - watching street performers. Strolling along almost any part of Santiago will bring you across a variety of street performers: mimes, bands, a blind man singing karaoke to a religious song through a portable boom box, a man teaching/demonstrating soccer-juggling skills, etc. Old, insanely young, fat, thin, funny, sad....everything.

The two jugglers went to school to learn their trade. They swapped performance times with another group on the adjacent street - whoever had a red light had the stage. It´s not uncommon to see all 4 sides of an intersection crowded with jugglers or dancers at some locations around town. They were hoping to see Cirque de Sol when it comes to town.





Perfectly timed performances allow them to make it about 4 cars deep asking for tips before the light turns green, then it´s dodging traffic until the next time through. They perform the almost exact routine time after time, only allowing a drop here and there to spoil it.





Then they await their next opportunity.

-------------------

Several pedestrian roads near the Plaza de Armas always offer a wide variety of performers, including this energetic washboard player along with his band and dancer.



The low light made it all a little blurry, but that luckily didn´t impact how much the crowd enjoyed the antics. The hat then served as the perfect receptacle to pass around for tips



-------------------

And sometimes the dogs are just too cute to not call attention to themselves. This little guy devoured a sweet of some sort.