People of the Walk of Santiago
((Updated, Revised Version)(9/2004—3/010))
(May, 2002) If you have ever been in Santiago, Chile and spent a week there you would have recognize the “People of the Walk.” They are the ones that have a certain street by the Palace area, and I guess one would call it the merchant area and they start gathering there about 4:00 p.m. Sometimes even earlier, let’s say 2:30 p.m. I’m not sure one-way or another, if they have some kind of a deal with the police, but they really stick together on this one street. No cars, just a walkway for the most part.
I found it most interesting, also a little discomforting, if not sad, a little frustrating if not impressed with these people of the walk, so many emotions for this group of slum merchants I’ve carried carry with me. Or call them down and out merchants, perhaps a better way of expressing their misfortune in life of not being the pick of the crop. They are in essence, sole proprietors with little to no money. But whatever you call them, they are not afraid of work, and some Americans should take a good look, if not a long and enduring look, at them; those lazy Americans is whom I talking about, the ones who want a free ride all the time from New York to Minnesota to California, to Miami and think society owes them something for nothing, just because they are breathing American air.
Each day my wife and I would walk down this cobblestone walkway, that at one time was perhaps a street, we would walk down it a few times a day, the later time being around 10:00 p.m., at least a hundred or more of these People of the Walk, were on the walk doing their thing, selling their merchandise. They had a system, let me explain:
Each of them had a bag, suitcase or some kind of carry case to haul their Merchandise in, something that could be folded up in a hurry, the reason being, if the police came walking by, they would fold their four-by-four mat, rug, pad, blanket, whatever it was, up—that they had their merchandise on—and walk away, as if they were not, and had not done business at all, as if innocent from all or any unlawful selling. Then when the police would go, they would put their goods back in place as it was before and before the police had arrive, placed it back on the ground, on the mat or rug, or pad or blanket, whatever it was placed on prior to the police arriving, and went back into motion selling those items, perhaps sunglasses, or shampoos, hats, scarf’s musical CD’s and toothpaste—just about everything everyone else was selling inside those now closed up stores in back of them to the passersby’s.
I didn’t see many tourists on the walk, they evidently were scared to walk that walk after 4:00 p.m.; I purchased a few items, things from these merchants, they were good folk, and like anyone else, simply trying to make a buck, —but in this case the hard way.
Sometimes I’d look over my shoulder, behind me, and the whole street, four to five blocks long (something like, 2500-feet) were clean of merchants, all resting against the nearest wall—leaning against poles and whatever was available to lean against, as if they had disappeared, that is when the police were nearby—looking as if they were about to raid them. And within a minute after they left or even just too a few feet further from where they were, turned about, it was busy again as usual, it was dizzying watching them operate in this manner.
The people of the walk were a sample of the whole city I do believe; —as young as eleven or twelve years old, and as old as sixty or more years old: male and female.
Another interesting fact to me was that they all appeared to know one another, although they had their own little clicks among themselves—amazing was this whole lifestyle created out of necessity. It come into view—to be understood, if not well known, that if a person was caught by the police, s/he could lose their possessions, and be put into jail, or simply have their items for sale taken away from them—not sure which was the worse, jail or having their items taken from them. And that was their greatest worry, their agonizing fear (I had seen at one point a young police officer trying to take a blanket full of merchandise from a merchant, it almost started a riot). They had formed a kind of pack among themselves as I have previously mentioned, a union of sorts, and when a few of the policemen took, or tried to take the merchandise of one of these poor merchants away, or was about to take it from a certain individual, they’d confront him, several of them would scuttle to the individual’s rescue, and in some cases I was told, even beat the policemen up, or tried to if indeed the policeman didn’t show a little mercy—in the case I observed, another policeman came to the young officers side and said something, and they both spoke to the merchant as several others were steadily surrounding the police officer. At one point, in one afternoon, I was watching all this take shape from a second floor window of a McDonald’s restaurant.
And so to the “People of the Walk,” God bless you all, and instead of stealing or robbing or selling drugs, Chile should be proud of you for trying to sell something to stay alive—lest they show mercy and give you some kind of subsistence to live on, and I get the feeling this will never happen; I do realize there are no taxes being paid by these folks, and perhaps some of the items being sold are stolen from the local stores—those very same stores that those folks are standing and selling in front of, who’s to say? But whatever the case may be, nothing is perfect—and I mean nobody on either side of this cheerless story.
Gente del Paseo
[Santiago, Chile: 5/2002]
In Spanish Translated by Nancy Peñaloza
Si usted ha estado alguna vez en Santiago, (Chile) y pas una semana all, usted podra haber reconocido a la "gente del paseo". Ellos son los que tienen cierta calle por el rea del palacio, y supongo, que uno podra llamarlo el rea mercantil, ellos comienzan a reunirse all cerca de 4:00 PM. Algunas veces an mas temprano, digamos 2:30 PM. No estoy seguro si tienen alguna clase de trato o no con la polica, pero realmente ellos se juntan en esta nica calle. Ningn carro, solo un paseo principalmente.
Encontr esto lo ms interesante, tambin un poco triste, un poco frustrante, y un poco impresionado con la gente, As muchas emociones para este grupo de comerciantes de los tugurios. O llmelos comerciantes extremadamente pobres. O propietarios nicos con poco dinero. Pero cualquier cosa que usted los llame, a ellos no les asusta el trabajo, y algunos de los americanos podran echarles una buena ojeada a ellos, algunos de los perezosos es decir, quines desean pasear libremente en todo momento, y piensan que la sociedad les debe algo.
Cada da mi esposa y yo caminbamos bajo de esta calle un rato, alrededor 10:00 PM. All estaban por lo menos cien o ms de esta gente en el paseo. Tenan un sistema, djeme explicar:
Cada uno de ellos, tena un bolso, la maleta o una cierta clase de maletn para arrastrar con la mercadera, algo que se podra doblar en un apuro; siendo la razn, que si la polica venia caminando cerca, ellos-rpidamente-doblaban su rea de aproximadamente cuatro-por-cuatro pies, en donde tenan su mercanca (generalmente cierta clase de manta o material plstico), y escapaban, como si no estuvieran haciendo ningn tipo de negocio. Luego cuando la polica se iba, ponan su mercanca nuevamente sobre el suelo, y as para venderlos a los transentes, observadores casuales y miembros del pblico. Compr algunas cosas de estos comerciantes, eran buena gente, y como cualquier persona, intentando hacer un dlar - pero en este caso de manera dura.
A veces usted mirara detrs de usted mismo y toda la calle, cuatro a cinco bloques (en los cules ellos estuvieron vendiendo) estaban limpios de comerciantes; sin embargo si usted miraba ms minuciosamente, ellos estaban descansando contra la pared ms cercana, como si hubieran desaparecido, eso era cuando la polica estaba cercana, desaparecidos, pero en pocos minutos, era nuevamente negocios como de costumbre: s, despus que la polica sala, esto era vertiginoso.
La gente era un ejemplo de la toda la ciudad yo creo-tan jvenes como once o doce y tan viejos como sesenta o ms, masculino o femenino. Otro hecho interesante es que todos parecan conocerse el uno al otro y tenan all sus propias seales pequeas, -- sorprendente era esto. Pareca ser entendido, si no bien conocido, eso si el polica cogia a una persona, l o ella podra perder sus posesiones, y ser puesto en la crcel, o simplemente quitarles sus cosas. Y se era su miedo. Pero por otra parte, haban formado una clase de pacto entre s mismos, una clase de unin, y cuando algunos de los policas tomaban la mercanca, o estaban para tomarlo de cierto individuo, ellos daran una paliza a los policas, o intentaran. Conjeturo que esto sido hecho. Y aqu yo estaba mirando esto desde el segundo piso de McDonalds (y en otras localidades dependiendo de la hora y da).
Y as mi viaje a Santiago, (Chile), tuvo un elemento interesante de esto.
Y a la "gente del paseo " que Dios los bendiga, y en vez de asaltar o de robar o de vender las drogas, Chile debe de estar orgulloso que usted est intentando vender algo para sobrevivir. Me doy cuenta que hay impuestos que no son pagados por ustedes amigos, y algunos de los artculos que son vendidos, son robados de los locales de almacenes que venden ubicados al frente , pero nada es perfecto, verdad?.
(May, 2002) If you have ever been in Santiago, Chile and spent a week there you would have recognize the “People of the Walk.” They are the ones that have a certain street by the Palace area, and I guess one would call it the merchant area and they start gathering there about 4:00 p.m. Sometimes even earlier, let’s say 2:30 p.m. I’m not sure one-way or another, if they have some kind of a deal with the police, but they really stick together on this one street. No cars, just a walkway for the most part.
I found it most interesting, also a little discomforting, if not sad, a little frustrating if not impressed with these people of the walk, so many emotions for this group of slum merchants I’ve carried carry with me. Or call them down and out merchants, perhaps a better way of expressing their misfortune in life of not being the pick of the crop. They are in essence, sole proprietors with little to no money. But whatever you call them, they are not afraid of work, and some Americans should take a good look, if not a long and enduring look, at them; those lazy Americans is whom I talking about, the ones who want a free ride all the time from New York to Minnesota to California, to Miami and think society owes them something for nothing, just because they are breathing American air.
Each day my wife and I would walk down this cobblestone walkway, that at one time was perhaps a street, we would walk down it a few times a day, the later time being around 10:00 p.m., at least a hundred or more of these People of the Walk, were on the walk doing their thing, selling their merchandise. They had a system, let me explain:
Each of them had a bag, suitcase or some kind of carry case to haul their Merchandise in, something that could be folded up in a hurry, the reason being, if the police came walking by, they would fold their four-by-four mat, rug, pad, blanket, whatever it was, up—that they had their merchandise on—and walk away, as if they were not, and had not done business at all, as if innocent from all or any unlawful selling. Then when the police would go, they would put their goods back in place as it was before and before the police had arrive, placed it back on the ground, on the mat or rug, or pad or blanket, whatever it was placed on prior to the police arriving, and went back into motion selling those items, perhaps sunglasses, or shampoos, hats, scarf’s musical CD’s and toothpaste—just about everything everyone else was selling inside those now closed up stores in back of them to the passersby’s.
I didn’t see many tourists on the walk, they evidently were scared to walk that walk after 4:00 p.m.; I purchased a few items, things from these merchants, they were good folk, and like anyone else, simply trying to make a buck, —but in this case the hard way.
Sometimes I’d look over my shoulder, behind me, and the whole street, four to five blocks long (something like, 2500-feet) were clean of merchants, all resting against the nearest wall—leaning against poles and whatever was available to lean against, as if they had disappeared, that is when the police were nearby—looking as if they were about to raid them. And within a minute after they left or even just too a few feet further from where they were, turned about, it was busy again as usual, it was dizzying watching them operate in this manner.
The people of the walk were a sample of the whole city I do believe; —as young as eleven or twelve years old, and as old as sixty or more years old: male and female.
Another interesting fact to me was that they all appeared to know one another, although they had their own little clicks among themselves—amazing was this whole lifestyle created out of necessity. It come into view—to be understood, if not well known, that if a person was caught by the police, s/he could lose their possessions, and be put into jail, or simply have their items for sale taken away from them—not sure which was the worse, jail or having their items taken from them. And that was their greatest worry, their agonizing fear (I had seen at one point a young police officer trying to take a blanket full of merchandise from a merchant, it almost started a riot). They had formed a kind of pack among themselves as I have previously mentioned, a union of sorts, and when a few of the policemen took, or tried to take the merchandise of one of these poor merchants away, or was about to take it from a certain individual, they’d confront him, several of them would scuttle to the individual’s rescue, and in some cases I was told, even beat the policemen up, or tried to if indeed the policeman didn’t show a little mercy—in the case I observed, another policeman came to the young officers side and said something, and they both spoke to the merchant as several others were steadily surrounding the police officer. At one point, in one afternoon, I was watching all this take shape from a second floor window of a McDonald’s restaurant.
And so to the “People of the Walk,” God bless you all, and instead of stealing or robbing or selling drugs, Chile should be proud of you for trying to sell something to stay alive—lest they show mercy and give you some kind of subsistence to live on, and I get the feeling this will never happen; I do realize there are no taxes being paid by these folks, and perhaps some of the items being sold are stolen from the local stores—those very same stores that those folks are standing and selling in front of, who’s to say? But whatever the case may be, nothing is perfect—and I mean nobody on either side of this cheerless story.
Gente del Paseo
[Santiago, Chile: 5/2002]
In Spanish Translated by Nancy Peñaloza
Si usted ha estado alguna vez en Santiago, (Chile) y pas una semana all, usted podra haber reconocido a la "gente del paseo". Ellos son los que tienen cierta calle por el rea del palacio, y supongo, que uno podra llamarlo el rea mercantil, ellos comienzan a reunirse all cerca de 4:00 PM. Algunas veces an mas temprano, digamos 2:30 PM. No estoy seguro si tienen alguna clase de trato o no con la polica, pero realmente ellos se juntan en esta nica calle. Ningn carro, solo un paseo principalmente.
Encontr esto lo ms interesante, tambin un poco triste, un poco frustrante, y un poco impresionado con la gente, As muchas emociones para este grupo de comerciantes de los tugurios. O llmelos comerciantes extremadamente pobres. O propietarios nicos con poco dinero. Pero cualquier cosa que usted los llame, a ellos no les asusta el trabajo, y algunos de los americanos podran echarles una buena ojeada a ellos, algunos de los perezosos es decir, quines desean pasear libremente en todo momento, y piensan que la sociedad les debe algo.
Cada da mi esposa y yo caminbamos bajo de esta calle un rato, alrededor 10:00 PM. All estaban por lo menos cien o ms de esta gente en el paseo. Tenan un sistema, djeme explicar:
Cada uno de ellos, tena un bolso, la maleta o una cierta clase de maletn para arrastrar con la mercadera, algo que se podra doblar en un apuro; siendo la razn, que si la polica venia caminando cerca, ellos-rpidamente-doblaban su rea de aproximadamente cuatro-por-cuatro pies, en donde tenan su mercanca (generalmente cierta clase de manta o material plstico), y escapaban, como si no estuvieran haciendo ningn tipo de negocio. Luego cuando la polica se iba, ponan su mercanca nuevamente sobre el suelo, y as para venderlos a los transentes, observadores casuales y miembros del pblico. Compr algunas cosas de estos comerciantes, eran buena gente, y como cualquier persona, intentando hacer un dlar - pero en este caso de manera dura.
A veces usted mirara detrs de usted mismo y toda la calle, cuatro a cinco bloques (en los cules ellos estuvieron vendiendo) estaban limpios de comerciantes; sin embargo si usted miraba ms minuciosamente, ellos estaban descansando contra la pared ms cercana, como si hubieran desaparecido, eso era cuando la polica estaba cercana, desaparecidos, pero en pocos minutos, era nuevamente negocios como de costumbre: s, despus que la polica sala, esto era vertiginoso.
La gente era un ejemplo de la toda la ciudad yo creo-tan jvenes como once o doce y tan viejos como sesenta o ms, masculino o femenino. Otro hecho interesante es que todos parecan conocerse el uno al otro y tenan all sus propias seales pequeas, -- sorprendente era esto. Pareca ser entendido, si no bien conocido, eso si el polica cogia a una persona, l o ella podra perder sus posesiones, y ser puesto en la crcel, o simplemente quitarles sus cosas. Y se era su miedo. Pero por otra parte, haban formado una clase de pacto entre s mismos, una clase de unin, y cuando algunos de los policas tomaban la mercanca, o estaban para tomarlo de cierto individuo, ellos daran una paliza a los policas, o intentaran. Conjeturo que esto sido hecho. Y aqu yo estaba mirando esto desde el segundo piso de McDonalds (y en otras localidades dependiendo de la hora y da).
Y as mi viaje a Santiago, (Chile), tuvo un elemento interesante de esto.
Y a la "gente del paseo " que Dios los bendiga, y en vez de asaltar o de robar o de vender las drogas, Chile debe de estar orgulloso que usted est intentando vender algo para sobrevivir. Me doy cuenta que hay impuestos que no son pagados por ustedes amigos, y algunos de los artculos que son vendidos, son robados de los locales de almacenes que venden ubicados al frente , pero nada es perfecto, verdad?.
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