Bush League

Last night we went to the circus. We haven't been able to drive anywhere without passing the tents for the past week, so I decided I had to see it. Wow. Apparently there is no handbook of international circus standards.

To start, as soon as we pushed our way into the dusty tent, there was no hope of leaving for water, food, bathroom, or, as Ryan Davis pointed out, fire escape. We paid 90 pula ($12) for "Ringside Seats," which meant we were placed 3 feet from the caged tiger entrance. Mostly, it meant we had the best view of the carnies smoking cigarettes on the sidelines. It also gave us a nice view of the extreme terror on the faces of Rita the tiger trainer and her backup man with pockets of meat as the 6 enormous Bengal Tigers seemed to do disobey them in just about every way possible. As hell broke loose, her fake plastered smile got wider and wider. This happened again with the poodles, the horses, the ponies, and even the acrobats.

There were only six human performers who kept reappearing in different sparkly garb with different stage names such as Magic Rashid, Mongolian Jugglers, and Feline Frenzy. Then, during the intermission, the talent all put on hair nets and served cotton candy, popcorn, and light-up swords to the crowd.

Overall, it was a good time, no one was eaten alive, and we had some fun with cotton candy...