The Urban Circus: Travels with Mexico's Malabaristas

Catriona Rainsford

Bradt Travel Guides, 2013 - Biography & Autobiography - 286 pages

The story opens in Chihuahua, North Mexico, with a chance meeting with a group of itinerant Mexican street performers. Entranced by their stories and free-roaming lifestyle, the author accompanies them on a two-year, hand-to-mouth journey across Mexico, learning to live off nothing more than a few performance skills, initiative, and the kindness of strangers. Compelling, humorous, sometimes violent, and full of wonderful descriptions of life on the road, this is also a discussion of the morality of hand-to-mouth travel and offers an insight into the day-to-day experiences of Mexico's urban poor.

Contents

• Millionaires: 1
• The Disappeared: 10
• Aluminium Flowers: 18
• The Patron Saint of Lost Causes: 27
• Señor Talón: 37
• The Five Rules of Master: 48
• The Wheel of Fortune: 61
• The Missing Half: 71
• Wirikuta: 81
• Playing the Semáforos: 96
• La Migra: 106
• Deportation: 119
• Borderlands: 126
• Saint Death and the Ball Game: 136
• La Chaparrita: 149
• Topes: 164
• Welcome to Chihuahua: 172
• The Silent Zone: 181
• The Letter Z: 189
• A Delicate Equilibrium: 199
• The Layered City: 208
• Three Mornings: 220
• Barbed Wire and Scissors: 236
• The Sacred Mountain: 246
• The People Who Love You: 259
• Kinichs Message: 271
• Series Advert: 288
• Back cover: 289

About the author

After travelling to India on leaving school, Catriona intended to make a life for herself in Asia until an injury forced her to return to the UK. A promise made at closing time in a Cambridge pub then took her to Mexico, where a chance meeting began her journey with Mexican street performers. Catriona is currently living in London while she studies for a degree in politics and anthropology. She continues to practice circus, talk to strange people on the street and speak Spanish in a strong Mexican accent.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Urban Circus: Travels with Mexico's Malabaristas; Bradt Travel Guides (Travel Literature) Series
• Author: Catriona Rainsford
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides, 2013
• ISBN: 1841624446, 9781841624440
• Length: 286 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts; Travel / Central America; Travel / Essays & Travelogues; Travel / Mexico