Residents of the Street

So yesterday I had an interesting exchange with one of the tour guides during our graffiti tour.  This is how the exchange went:

Enter some random guy with dirt all over his clothes, missing teeth, matted hair and a brand new, all white, very clean cell phone.  He and the tour guide have some sort of verbal exchange regarding the art and then he walks away.


Me:  Hey, so did you happen to figure out if that guy was homeless because it seemed like he had an awfully nice cell phone.
TG:  No, he wasn't homeless.
Me:  Oh, okay... so was he just visiting...err...
TG:  No, he lives in that van he was standing by.
Me:  <blank stare> Um...  I think you and I have different definitions of the word HOMEless.


So this led to a discussion about how she doesn't think of anyone that actually has some sort of place other than the actual street to sleep is homeless.  Maybe it's narrow-minded of me but I was legitimately confused when she said that he wasn't homeless and lived in a van.  I am actually glad this exchange occurred because I really feel like these cultural differences are important to uncover.


In the city it is difficult to go anywhere and not see a person sleeping on the street.  Like many other big cities with a mild climate I assume this is an issue.  I am not sure what programs here are available for homeless people, but I do know that public health care and the public university are both free of charge.  Where I am from there are laws preventing this type of "camping" but here the people have mattresses outside of buildings with pictures taped to the outside of the building and other personal affects surrounding their space.

I took the picture above of a guy that was taking a little siesta on a park bench during one of our tours... and if you look back at my blog about the zoo and other things there is a picture of a cute girl that was begging for money on the subway.

One of the interesting techniques that I have seen some of the homeless street vendors (I am sure not all of them are homeless) utilize is to leave things with you.  So if you are sitting on the subway they will just drop off books, facial tissues, flash lights, plugs or whatever else they are trying to sell.  They leave it on your lap for awhile and then come back to collect the item back or the money you need to pay.

Also, one girl whose housing situation I do not know was reading tarot cards on the subway.  She was probably around 9 years of age and would stick her hand out as if to shake your hand and if you responded by shaking her hand she would shuffle the cards and deal them to you.  She would leave the cards with you for you to read and then return after she finished her rounds to collect the cards and your tip.

I haven't purchased anything from a street vendor yet... but I hear the DVD's are pretty reliable and would be a good way to learn more Spanish.

On a complete other topic... people still use payphones here... I took the picture below of some woman using a pay phone to prove it.

Ciao,

Tim