new discoveries

Moments like this are supposed to happen only at the movies.


I went searching for the mystical circus on Tuesday afternoon.  One of the message boards I read gave very precise directions.  "On the highway into Barra.  Next to the chicken man."


That is how we give directions around here.  No numbers.  No street names.  With a number and a street name, the best you can do is get lost -- without the aggravation of looking for the blue sign with the bull on it.


It turns out I have been around here long enough that I recognized the spot where I was supposed to find the circus -- even though it seemed rather cramped for a tent, animals, and patrons.  And it was.


The first notes of the overture to The Magic Flute had barely sounded when the circus tent appeared.  Mozart and Barbum.  A natural pair.  Both show men par excellence.


Nothing was happening around the tent.  There were a few ponies, a horse, a dog, a kangaroo, and a coatimundi.  But none of the reported big cats.  Or zebras.


The animals up front were well-fed and in the shade.  And apparently content.  With the exception of the coatimundi.  He was obviously bored.  Chewing his right paw -- like some frustrated teenager who cannot figure out what else to do with his nervous hand.


I finally saw a young woman wandering aimlessly -- perhaps, looking for a parasol and a high wire.  She told me that there will only be four performances in Barra: at 6:30 and 8:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Then the tent will be struck and the show will be on the road.


I think that was our conversation.  For all I know, I agreed to marry her and live in Paris.  And that would be fine, as well.  She could bring along the coatimundi and we could pretend to be Scott and Zelda -- she wrapped in a coatimundi, he chewing the paw. 


She also told me that tickets sell for $100 (Mx) for a box seat and for $70 and $50 for less desirable seats.  For much less than the price of a movie ticket in Salem, I can pretend to be the King of Spain in his box seat and see acrobats and animals -- live.  Up close.  Personal.  I don't need no stinkin' CGI Avatar.


I had planned on attending the circus on Tuesday evening.  But I did not want to miss my Bible study group that fell right between both performances.  My box seat will await me on Wednesday.


On the way home, I stopped by to listen to the crowd.  The sound system is great.  And the crowd was obviously involved with the performance.  More importantly, I saw both the tiger and the leopard that are part of the circus -- both being chauffered about as if they were feline Rockefellers.


So, I still have at least one day of discovery ahead of me.


But I cannot let my one big discovery of Tuesday pass by unnoticed.  In November, I noted the complete lack of women surfers and skimboarders on our beaches: gidgets wanted.  Locals told me women surfers show up -- now and then.


And they were correct.  I spotted my first today.

Persistence pays off.