The place to really know a country isn't in the airport, at a restaurant or nightclub or in the natural history museum, it is on the public transport, especially the bus. Every country that I have ever visited has highlighted this to me - buy a cheap seat (or stand) and ride the bus for an hour in any direction and see what happens. I couldn't recount all of my experiences on buses, from nursing other people's children and teaching them nursery rhymes, having songs invented about me, seeing a rush hour bus crammed with people suddenly turn into a dance floor to meeting a woman going to the market who showed me her baby goat wrapped in a shawl and then introduced me to 10 of her family members in the terminal. Of course not every day is like this, but usually, if you have your eyes open, something is going on. Even if it just observing the people, heading home exhausted from work, or excited before a night out.
Of course the buses in Santiago are a kind of theatre, with everything from poetry readings to beat-box rapping constituting entertainment (I kid you not I got both on the same journey the other night). There is comedy and theatre, usually ad-lib which while very daunting to the new-comer (especially when it is rapid chilean spanish) can be hilarious. And there is always someone trying to sell you bandaids, mints or icecream (depending on the season). So go on, next time you have no idea about a country, try it out. Get on a bus and see where it takes you. I am sure it will be quite a journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment