i am finding that i actually look forward to my daily commutes. half of santiago is stuck on buses during rush hour, so vendors take advantage of the situation by hawking goods to captive audiences. my ride home from work is thus populated by a string of animated bus vendors, all promoting products in the same singsong cadence that most everyone here adopts when trying to sell something.

it's pretty entertaining, the variety of things you can buy on buses: popsicles, bandaids, recipe books, bra straps, writing utensils, medicine, sewing kits, flashlights, socks, breath mints, cell phone accessories, chocolates, CDs, jewelry, and, of course, live entertainment. take your pick of talented and not-so-talented guitarists, clowns, poets, singers, pipers, and comedians.

once, a man boarded and performed a series of uncannily realistic birdcalls using only his mouth and hands. he pretty much covered every native bird in chile. the passengers were impressed. strumming ballads seems to be the most popular musical act, but sometimes kids start beatboxing, rapping, or holding impromptu drum circles in the aisles. surprisingly, this is taken in good humor by the older commuters, who may not necessarily appreciate the entertainment but always seem to be disposed to hand over a coin or two. as an obvious foreigner, i was once the butt of one clown's entire standup routine, which was thankfully good-natured. i even witnessed a mock exorcism at one point. that was the best.