Calle 26: Street of Theatre

You'll feel a little less bored these days while stuck in the usual traffic jam on Calle 26, thanks to these two pairs of street performers working consecutive stoplights. (The daredevils also entertain the occasional bike tourist.)

These two guys are from Brazil, as their jerseys suggest.

Street theatre is difficult and tiring work. The performers have to fit their whole act into the brief minutes of the stoplights' cycle and leave enough time to hustle for coins.

Now it's time to ask for tips before the cars move.

 One intersection east, this Colombo-Argentinian couple was juggling....

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Marcos' One-Man 30-Second Circus

Sure, I could do that myself.

Marcos, from Uruguay, was earning coins the other day with his solo circus at a stoplight near the Biblioteca Nacional.

His is not an easy profession. He has to pack in his juggling show while the light is red, then rush forward before the cars move to collect drivers' coins before they drive away.

"It's a very, very short cycle," Marcos observed of the lights.

Still, Marcos can make good money - up to 70,000 pesos per day.

An average show earns him 500 pesos. But occasionally several drivers contribute. And occasionally someone impressed by his effort gives him a bill.

"A bill's a bill!" he grins.

Marcos has been working intersections for six years, while traveling across the continent. He seems to have done well enough in Colombia. But some places he's tried to perform in Venezuela and Uruguay's Punto del Este resort stoplight performs are not allowed.

Marcos's visa is running out and he plans to move on as soon as he's got his traveling money together.


 

Time to collect. 

Some coins!

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

The Characters of Ave. Septima

A portrait painter and a band beside the El Tiempo building.

The pedestrian-only segment of Ave. Septima, from Plaza Bolivar to 25th St., is a colorful place, particularly on a sunny Sunday. Today, during a walk from just Jimenez to Plaza Bolivar, I passed performers, political activists, musicians and artists.

Not bad for a place which was known mostly for noise, pollution and traffic hazards.

Luis, who's running for president on his bicycle, beside the memorial to Jorge Eliecer Gaitan.

A comedian/female impersonator.

A dancing marionette.

A sidewalk human rights display. 

Crowd watching the marionette show.

Bicyclists pass by on their way to Plaza Bolivar.

A man performs tremendous feats with broken glass and fire. 

A knight mime.

A monster mime. 

This painter was raffling off his work. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

Fire, Knives and Broken Glass on Plaza Bolivar

I've seen this guy on Plaza Bolivar recently performing feats with flourescent tubes, broken glass, fire and knives. He walks on glass, inserts a knife up his nose, swallows flame, then swallows a flourescent bulb. Desperate? Pathetic? Self-exploiting? This can't be good for the health, especially those broken flourescent bulbs.

I can walk on broken glass.

Sticking a knife up his nose. Don't try this at home kids. 

Eating fire. 

How to wash your face with broken glass.

How exhilirating!

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours