Circo Hermanos Atayde: Atayde Brothers Circus

 
 Photo courtesy Circo Hmnos. Atayde.

The circus came to Morelia!  Mexico Cooks! had to be there. 

The Mexican Circo Hermanos Atayde (Atayde Brothers Circus) gave its first show in 1888.  The founder, Aurelio Atayde Guízar, actually ran away from home as a child to join a circus.  Later, Aurelio convinced his other brothers to come with him to found their own company.  One hundred and twenty years later, the Circo Hermanos Atayde is the longest-running and most exciting circus in Mexico.

Under the Big Top, the circus roustabouts set up the ring for the opening act.

Getcher cotton candy!  Getcher popcorn here!  Georgia and Chuck were as excited as any kids.

Fifteen enormous tigers filled the ring to capacity.  

We were seated less than six feet from the big cats.  One of our companions got a special souvenir: a huge male tiger sprayed her trousers with urine!  She was eager to see what her house cats would think of that memento when she got home.

Pink and purple lights played over the ring filled with the tigers.  Beautifully cared for, healthy and well-muscled, these tigers respected their trainer and he definitely respected them.

This bactrian (two-humped) camel ate as much popcorn as it could while posing for photos.

First the juggler juggled silver clubs, then huge rubber balls, then seven ping-pong balls (with his mouth!), and ended with flying multi-colored straw hats.

The last of the dancing horses in the ring took a bow for the troupe.

The Ibarra brothers flew on the high trapeze, nearly 45 feet above the ring floor.

We waited till the last night to go to the circus this year, but we'll absolutely go again the next time the Big Top goes up.  The circus!  It was pure magic, pure entertainment, and pure delight.

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