Al Circo

Tonight we went to the circus.
We'd seen the little, run-down tent pitched on a rare bit of more or less level ground (fairly obviously more usually frequented by cows) and agreed that this could be a worthwhile excursion.
The hand written (in texta) advice on the tent flap: 8.30 pm. Adultos $2:00, Niños $1:00.
Having experienced 'Ecuador time' on previous occasions, we arrived with plenty of time to spare - ie at 8.30...
A tinny speaker on top of the tent blared loud, gravelly music and half a dozen people lurked about outside in an indecisive manner. Presently they departed, leaving just us. At about a quarter to nine, three teenagers turned up and we all lurked about indecisively, mildly entertaining each other with a kind of mime routine of "Go on. You go in first." "No, you..."
At about nine o'clock, a couple more people turned up and the teenagers went in, we went in and the new arrivals went in. The audience now numbered nine. Not enough to start the show.
We all perched on the plank seating (steeply raked and held together pretty much with string), enjoyed the distinctive aroma of cow paddock and waited. Bit by bit, the audience grew until by 9.30 there were around 40. Enough at last. The show began.
It was almost impossible to get any decent photographs because the lighting consisted of two 150 watt floods, badly aimed, but despite the poor quality of this shot, it had to be this man, because he was so good.
I never found out his name, but the whole thing was pretty much a one-man show.
It opened with a 'stand-up' routine between this and another chap (who subsequently disappeared backstage to operate the sound). It was all in Spanish of course and the audience enjoyed it hugely, but even I managed to get the gist of it - and find it funny.
Next, the ticket collector came on and did an impressive fire-eating routine, which was quite surprisingly witty. Then this chap returned and did 'clown' fire-eating, which developed into the real thing - with comic refinements.
After nipping backstage to rinse the kerosene out of his mouth, he was back again, this time to extract some little boys from the audience to participate in what might be described as a 'making fun of little boys' spot. This was very funny (once again, no Spanish required to 'get it') and the niños played up wonderfully.
Then he recited a poem. I have absolutely no idea what it was about, but his performance was so good, you couldn't fail to appreciate it.
A short interval followed, during which the star of the show sold bags of popcorn, two bags per trip (someone buy the man a tray!).
The last spot was another audience participation thing, this time with adults. It was very verbal and reminiscent of some of the classic Marx Brothers word routines. Even so, it worked for me. One of the 'audience members' was almost certainly part of the act. If he wasn't, he should have been!
The show went for an hour and a half and this extraordinary fellow carried virtually the whole thing. (I did wonder if he might even get up on the trapeze as well, but nobody did. Not that it was needed.)
He was superb. He deserves a bigger audience and a better tent.