The Circus

The Mazatlán girls (Tania, Imelda and Cristina) had discussed going to the Chinese Circus on Thursday after Ashley got to town. They had also mentioned that they were going to see a movie on Wednesday (buy one get one free day) with the other English teachers from their English teacher training school. I was more than happy to attend any social event with my new friends.
After some text and phone tag on Tuesday, we realized that the Circus was leaving town on Thursday. Ashley would just have to do without. I was kinda sad about that because now what was I going to do with her upon arrival? I mean, chilling at the house and resting after that miserable day of traveling (Trust me; I know!) wasn’t a bad plan, but it didn’t feel right.
I met the girls at their school (Two buses and about an hour later, but I remembered where it was!) and sat in on their meeting. Tania joked as I walked in that they were just beginning and should be finished around 7 pm. They wrapped up their meeting immediately and we discussed the plan. Of the three other girls there, none decided to go with us (And it was actually one of those girls’ ideas!). It was the Mazatlán crew again, which of course was fine with me. We packed into Tania’s car (I’m not sure if the other two don’t have cars, or if Tania just drives every time.) and headed toward my part of town. We didn’t know where said circus was (Welcome to Mexico), so we started making phone calls. Turns out it’s in the Wal-mart parking lot about 2 (kind of big) blocks from my house. I was a wee bit frustrated I had spent an hour on two buses to end up back at my house! But only a week bit, since I’m accustomed to this Mexican characteristic.
We pulled into the parking lot, but the name of the circus was in Spanish. We didn’t feel good about its being a Chinese acrobat show. We took matters into our own Mexican hands and drove around aimlessly for about 10 minutes. We found a supermarket parking lot that looked promising… minus the tent. We pulled in and decided to find a good lookin’ fella to ask. Tania is so funny. She will wait until an unfortunate-looking creature passes and then say, “He’s so hot, huh?” with a straight face. Then the whole car will burst into laughter.
We found a man and he was sweet and helpful. (Read between the lines at how handsome he was.) He said that the circus where we were was actually both the Chinese acrobatic circus and the Mexican kiddie circus. We returned to the Wal-mart parking lot, parked, paid, and entered. I bought 20 pesos worth of peanut M&Ms and a 15 peso strawberry soda. I had had my heart set on a coca light all day long, but it was not meant to be (theme of the day).
The circus was your typically horrible, small town circus for children. It was awful! It was 2.5 hours of cheesy humor, clowns, animals and sparsely dressed girls with hula hoops.
I let out a sigh of relief when we got back into the car. The girls were hungry, so they suggested instant noodles (ramen noodle soup comes in a Styrofoam cup for purchase here for very cheap) and heading back to my house. None of them had much money and though they had just been paid the Friday before, they were all anxiously awaiting the next quincena (15 day period before getting paid). I mentioned to them that we were more than welcome to come back to my place, but that there were seats in the kitchen and nothing else; we have no living room furniture. They considered that and suggested a taco stand. We drove around looking for one. I was supposed to be the authority on the neighborhood. Ha! I remembered a hamburger place where I had gone with Mabel and Demien one night, but I was falling short for a taco place.
We found one quickly.
We ate and I tried a new “agua.” They call their drinks that are mixed with water, “aguas.” I suppose it makes sense, but when I say “agua,” I usually mean staight up water. I don’t remember the name of my drink, but it reminded me of a sweeter (if possible) horchata. It kind of had a caramel taste. It was good.
We stayed there about 30 minutes (it doesn’t take long to order, be served, and eat at taco stands) and the girls asked for a separated ticket. I turned to the waitress and asked for it to all be on one. I had just exchanged money that day (Wednesday still) and the rate had been a little over 14.5. This whole year I’ve felt like I “had money,” but especially this day with such a good rate. (Fall semester, I survived easily, but I did a little credit card surviving since I had two $1000+ flights and $500 worth of educational materials that I hadn’t been paid back for yet. I only got reimbursed for one of those flights through the Fulbright program, but still having $2500 of my own money pending was a little tricky. I deposited my check over Christmas and now am good to go.) The girls gave me a hard time saying they had been the ones to invite me and that it was not my responsibility to pay and I shouldn’t pay for them. I must explain here, of course, that that the bill was less than 140 pesos, so I was treating three friends and myself to a less-than-ten-dollar-total bill. It felt really good to finally be able to do something like that. Occasionally in Nashville, I can buy the cheese dip or a round of drinks, but usually I’m too busy thinking about my loan payment or saving for my next flight to Tucson or Chicago. It just felt good.
The girls dropped me off at my house (I was able to get them there easily!) and we sat in the driveway for about 15 minutes just chatting. I really like my new friends. I told them I would let them know about any plans I made with Ashley.
For such a terrible “main event,” I had a really good night.