The CIRCUS is here! (and has been for about 5 weeks) Apparently when the one-ring circus comes to Copan, they set up shop for an extended stay. Not knowing this, we made plans to go as soon as we could in fear that it would leave, and we would have missed a unique cultural experience. The first available time was a Monday night after school. I'm not sure about in the U.S., but Monday night is not the preferred circus night for most Hondurans. Abby, our friend Chris, and I bought our tickets with giddy anticipation not knowing what to expect, and as we entered the circus tent, that anticipation turned into hilarious disbelief of people in the audience, which consisted of...NO ONE! Laughing, we took some time deciding which seats to pick since we had the entire stands (or gradería) to ourselves. The circus was supposed to start at 8PM, and it was already 10 after, and it didn't look like anyone else was showing up. Having time to contemplate the circus and the fact that these people were going on with the show (well, we assumed they were) even with an audience of 7 people, we decided upgrade our seats to the next level (equivalent to $4 instead of $3 for the "grand" stands). These seats were nicer, had backs, and were about 8 feet closer to the ring that our previous ones. We were excited to be able to see everything because no one was going to sit in front of us, and we were only about 10 feet back from the ring.
At 8:30, the show started after 8 more people trickled in. The first act consisted of a scantily clad cowgirl dance sequence to capture the male attention from the get go. Applause. The second act was a unicycle riding juggler who had a nearly flawless set. The only mis-haps were dropping a ball, hitting himself in the nose with a spinning bowling pin, and then falling off the unicycle. Tremendous applause from the gringo section. Next was a 5 minute clown dancing routine. Applause. Then, the magician came out (who also dubs as the door man) and performed an almost perfect show. He only accidentally showed one false bottom, but performed the pull-the-cloth-out-of-the-red-
Skip ahead past more clown and cowgirl dancing, and we get to the monkey part. In short, the monkey was on a leash and was allowed to run back and forth while doing tricks like somersaults and holding a gun. Somewhat less noisy applause from the gringos. When the lights went out we could see the silhouette of a lion in a cage pacing back and forth in a crack in the curtains, but then a spotlight suddenly illuminated a man dressed in shiny, tight clothing in the middle of the ring. He raised the microphone to his mouth and proceeded to lip-sync and pantomime the entire song. The ridiculous part was that he actually started directing some of his actions...dirty, dirty gestures...to me (we know they were to me because we were the only ones in the section, and at 10 feet you know when someone is looking at you). Nothing like feeling extremely uncomfortable at the circus. It gives me chills to think about it. Confused and hesitant applause from the gringos. Next is the trampoline: the circus cast brings out a giant trampoline and starts taking turns jumping and doing flips on it. Remember, we are only about 15 feet from this rusty, rickety trampoline, and since having a very similar one at Merritt Mill, I've grown an apprecation for the dangers posed by trampolines, even for bystanders, like springs flying off at any moment. Chris gives me a funny look when he sees me crouched down and shielding my eyes, but after the grown-man-clown jumps, and a spring actually snaps loose and flies off, he is right with me, praying for the jumping to stop. Finally, after a little audience participation in which a young girl nearly breaks a leg jumping on the trampoline and after a baby of no more than 1.5 years old jumps too, we hear on the speakers, "Llegamos al final!" which means "That's the end!" The lights come on and people file out (to make sure they don't get stuck in the parking lot traffic :). Very confused and sparse gringo applause.
We stay seated asking ourselves: Are we missing something? What about the lion? I saw it! I know it's there! We call a worker over to ask him, and he tells us to come back tomorrow to see it. So we leave. Tired, entertained, confused, enlightened, saddened, disappointed, and satisfied. The Copan circus was the most bizarre and entertaining cultural experience to date and wouldn't have had nearly the same effect if it had been any other way. We've done some pretty sweet things with little money here (coke=$0.45, orange-$0.03, maid=$4), but this was one of the best. We were scared to take pictures (because of something we thought we heard in the opening announcements), so we only got a few, but we hope they help you understand what we're talking about a little better.
Here is a video we took waiting for the circus to start :) Enjoy!
and here is a video of the grand finale :) (yes, that is a baby)
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