The subte economy of Buenos Aires

One of the fascinating things that exists in Buenos Aires is the secondary economy of selling items on the subte (subway or metro).

On a typical ride of several stations, you'll see a wide variety of hawkers selling various items such as gum, tissues, music, floss, and other random items.

What is quite interesting is the way they sell it, is by walking through a crowded train car and laying their item on every seated person's lap. Then they work their way backwards and either transact the purchase or pick it back up off the person's leg or lap and into the bin.

When I first saw this, I was in disbelief. Are people OK with this? This is weird? Seriously?! I experienced this more than 20 times, where random items were dropped on my lap. Not only were people fine with this, they were actually excited to see different products each day, and the chance to look at them closely and touch them with their own hands.

In many cases, I learned that the super markets didn't carry certain products, such as tissue paper, and if you were interested in purchasing, the subway was your best bet, and you needed to get lucky and ride the train the tissue merchant was on!

There is some gum on my knee! Waiting for the merchant to come get it. I did not purchase this one :)