Street Cleaning

Since I arrived, I have noticed a phenomenon on the streets of Santiago. Finally, I have inconspicuously caught said phenomenon on camera.

Look there. There in the background. There is a man sweeping the sidewalk. With a house broom. He is making sure that every last little leaf is cleared away. Evidence of the thoroughness of his task is the clean sidewalk in the foreground. I can assure you that before he swept the sidewalk was not covered with big orange maple leaves like Upstate New York in the fall. No, it just looked like a normal sidewalk on a tree-lined street, with some fallen baby summer leaves and grass clippings.

 

People like their sidewalks CLEAN here. I remarked about this to my Spanish profe and she said, "What do you do in the U.S?" and then she quickly answered herself with a knowing smiling, "Ah, you must use a machine." No, we just let the sidewalk be the sidewalk, right?

 

I snapped the photo while walking from my apartment to a language exchange at a bar. I hadn´t walked for a minute more before I came upon another man sweeping. I think he was the building´s concierge. He stepped back inside for a momento and I got a shot of his tools resting against one of the trees whose leaves he sweeps.