A night in Mendoza

Last night was an experience all by itself.

Meli and I and two blokes from our hostal went for a stroll to the Plaza because I am the educated traveller who understands that even at midnight there are many things happening in latinamerica. We walked the few blocks to the plaza and at first the big fountainous area was completely empty and it didn't seem like anyone was in the plaza at all... we walked down the long steps toward the center (it is a big plaza) and found a big crowd surrounding a crude spotlight shining up at a couple of clowns and an even more crude looking ´backstage´ made of cardboard and painted to look like a proper circus.

There we witnessed the juggler of fire and the unicyclist who had no issue with risking the lives of the young children in the audience by asking for volunteers to ride astride his shoulders as he cycled in a the tight circle in the center of the crowd. Because the purpose of these shows is never just for fun, I handed 2 pesos to a boy of about 2 years and asked him to give it to the clowns. He was the most acutely adorable child I'd seen yet in Argentina and without a word, and without a smile, and without hesitation went to give the money to the clown.

I was unaware at the time of how much 2 pesos was to a street performing clown and the clown exclaimed loudly that he had received a ´billete´(paper money instead of a coin) and asked who had given the money to him. I happened to be standing in just the spot where everyone in the park could see me and the boy pointed to me... more exclamations from the clown and I was just embarassed because I had become the obvious rich-lady tourist who can afford to throw away 75 cents.

Very nearly after that gripping performance we witnessed a couple who also performed as circus clowns but who had recently heard that the circus had died and their mission was to revive the circus by performing acrobatic and circus-like acts. He walked on his hands and she stood on his shoulders while juggling (not in that order) and he twirled her about with his feet as he lay on his back and she did many pretzle-like poses as he held her up as though she were a fluff of cotton candy. She had also tied a type of stretchy circus fabric ropy-type thing to the branch of a tree which she climbed and twisted her legs and body around in it to dance, climb and slide down and end in many crazy, acrobatic poses.

As we walked along after that enthralling entertainment we walked in the direction of some drumming... well, this in fact was not your average performance. There were 8 or so young boys surrounding a bench, a few sitting on it and playing their congas, bongos, flingos and wangos. Two of the young men stood off to the side and since we saw no hat for accepting money, we continued to walk past them when I heard ´es cocaina nada mas' and I glanced to the side as I saw them exchange objects in their hands. I had witnessed my very first latin american drug deal. I was oddly unafraid and perversly disappointed that it wasn't a more dangerous, adventurous or thrilling situation (like the circus performers)... in the end I just felt bad that every country and city suffers from drug addiction.