I think I have gotten a bit too much sun. My hairline hurts. And my nose a teeny bit. I guess I will be wearing my funny hat more.

To take the elevator into the Metro, you have to have money on your card. Sigh. There aren’t that many steps…I’ll need to charge my card with a few more rides since I will be taking it on Monday to get to the bus station to get to the big rock. I don’t think I am using it tomorrow. I am probably taking an Uber to get to the Circus. Though, I did just find that there was another entrance. The guy I spoke to led me astray pointing the wrong direction. Moron. Really. Pisses me off just a lot. We shall see how I feel tomorrow. And I found out where at least one Gondola station is. I want to take at least one of them while I am here. Tuesday I guess…Or maybe Sunday before or after the circus. So maybe I will need to add some rides to the card tomorrow. (This was written Saturday night)

So, about the circus. Great Show. Yes, it was in Spanish so I missed quite a bit of the humor, I am sure. And I didn’t get any of the sing alongs. But overall, it was one of the better circuses I have seen in a while. There were maybe 25 performers. A few were kids of Señor Gasko (who made a speech). (None of them had very good voices) I couldn’t tell if the music was live or not. Some of it was, obviosuly, the parts where people performed in the ring. But the rest, not so sure. Anyway. About ten acts with an intermission. Two longish clown bits – one with two whacky guys that focused on a man sitting next to me. One about a movie that the clown got people from the audience to perform in. There was a cool whip, drum, dance act. A dog act that turned into a kids act (with a ringer). Motorcycle death cage with seven motorcycles – not my favorite act in general but this was one of the better versions of it I have seen. Now if only they could make the bars translucent…The first act was a trampoline act. The last was a decent trapeze act. I’m sure I’m missing something. I had a great seat, too. Let’s see what Circo Medellin brings to the table. (Also written Saturday night)

Up early again. Good thing too. I play/do Duolingo to help practice my languages and learn new ones. Play because they have gamified language learning. Which I actually enjoy. Yay score keeping. But…they changed the point structure or something because I have been stuck with a lot of try hards lately. Try hards are people who do 1000 points a day. I don’t know how many lessons that is – but it’s a lot. I used to get by with doing 3 lessons a day (maybe 200 points). Now if I don’t do ten lessons a day, I drop way down. Grrrr.

The VPN is going to take some getting used to. I tried getting directions today and Google told me it couldn’t do it. I realized that the computer thought it was in NYS. And I also had an email message that wouldn’t send unless I paused the VPN. Learning in baby steps.

Conflicting sayings: “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” vs “third times the charm” Today, I tried for the second time to find a passable entrance to Circo Medellin. And I failed. And it was almost the death of me. Again. This time because I found myself scrambling cross country after climbing up and down hundreds of steps. Grrr. So frustrating. And no one to ask. Again. A dog, but it didn’t speak to me, just barked at me. I was so frustrated that I didn’t want to see the circus after all. But this is one of my favorite kinds of circus – small, al fresco (this has an open sided tent) and probably just plain fun. So, after getting home (using a taxi!) and resting a bit, I have decided to try one last time. I hope it isn’t so popular that I can’t get in. We shall, of course, see.

But before that, I went on a bit of a metro explore. I saw last night that one of the tramway/aerial gondolas, was accessed through a relatively close metro station. So, off I went. And boy howdy was it fun! I love them!! I think as a child I had a toy funicular that we set up a couple of times. Anyway, this one went way out of the area that I have been spending my time in. It had a couple of stops along the way which was cool, too. Maybe on Tuesday I will ride more of them.

My coccyx hurts from the second flume ride. Maybe it would have been wiser to get out and walk a bit before going a second time. Oh well. It ought to heal eventually.

Circo Medellin

I got to the Circus way early fearing a crowd. I needn’t have worried. Sadly there were only about 30 people in attendance at the end. (If I were them, I would have had someone passing out flyers at each of the Gasko performances) But I am way ahead of myself. I took the metro there, to eat a little time. I didn’t want to arrive toooo early. But I did anyway. The show was supposed to start at 4, and I got there at 2:30. At around three, the gatekeeper showed up. I asked if I could go inside and sit down and he said no. Then another person arrived and he let her in (I think she was a past performer). Then a family of people arrived and he let them in. And I guess someone said something to him because he let me in too.

I was greeted by the director of the Circus, Carlos, who gave me the nickel tour and welcomed me to the circus. One of the spaces was a circus museum. If I ever come back, I would like to take more time in there – looking at all the stuff. Anyway, since it was still only around 3, I mostly did nothing. Eventually, though, I ate some baby empanadas. And got a battle of gassy water. And later had a freshly spun cotton candy that was bigger than my head! I even tipped the guy because he did so well! I just wanted to give them as much money as I could. I think they are government funded but I doubt they are making huge amounts of money.

Eventually they let us into the little top. I was going to sit in the director’s seat (at the back in this case) in the middle – but some little girl beat me to it. So I sat in the second row. On the aisle of course. As close to the center as possible.

There were six performers, most did two bits. The director and the magician each did one. There was a DJ who acted as a part time MC. I wasn’t thrilled with him. There were maybe 10 acts all together. Three juggling acts (hats, diablo, pins). The aerialist also did a hula hoop bit. There were two clowns who each did two bits – Or maybe one of the clowns only did one. Lots of audience participation with them. The director did an interesting mime/mask set. And then the magician to close the show. Not very creative tricks. I am spoiled by Penn and Teller’s fool me show – seeing all sorts of clever magicians creating tricks to try and fool them. Most of the tricks he did I learned when I was ten. Sigh. Anyway, all in all, a fun circus. Completely different than Gasko circus from last night. Glad I persevered. I wonder if I will find a circus in Panama City.

Oh, I discovered there is a zoo here, so I will add that to my possible Tuesday’s activities list.

And that’s all for now. I am going to go and eat something and then come home and see if it’s time to sleep. Hope you all have happy dreams!