A Traveling Circus and its Great Escape

Overheard at National Geographic

National Geographic

Science, Society & Culture

4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Decades of daring acrobatics, spectacular motorcycle stunts, and mind-blowing magic tricks couldn’t prepare Central America’s oldest-running circus for its most challenging feat yet—how to get home during a pandemic. Photographer and National Geographic Explorer Tomas Ayuso encountered the Segovia Brothers Circus stranded in Honduras amid the coronavirus lockdown, and then chronicled the performers’ rollercoaster journey back to their native Guatemala–and the surprising circus fan who ultimately came to the rescue. For more information on this episode, visit nationalgeographic.com/overheard Want more? If you’d like to read the magazine article that inspired this episode, you can find that in our show notes. There, you’ll find another story from Tomas Ayuso – it’s about the impact that coronavirus has had on migrant families applying for asylum in the United States. Also explore: If you’d like to read more circus coverage from National Geographic, check out our story about traditional tightrope walking in remote Russian villages. And for paid subscribers: Check out a recent National Geographic Magazine feature on COVID-19. It takes the work of photographers in five countries and compiles it all into one photo essay about how the pandemic became a painful shared experience around the globe. If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:32.5	So as I was driving around and I just noticed the big red and yellow big top in a distance in the
0:39.6	middle of essentially a paralyzed frozen in time city. And when I saw it I thought to myself,
0:46.2	well I wonder what they're doing.
0:48.4	That's photographer Tomas Ayuso. He was on assignment in Honduras covering the effects of COVID-19
0:54.8	on the country's capital to Guisi Gala Pa. And that's when he spotted something he didn't expect.
1:00.2	It looked like the ruins of the circus because at this point they've been like four months into it.
1:05.4	So things were pulled down in different states of packing. So I just approached them and asked,
1:11.6	so what are you guys doing?
1:13.9	The Sugovia brothers circus had come from Guatemala. They often perform all across Central America
1:19.6	and they were on tour when the coronavirus hit and left them in Honduras without an audience to
1:24.4	perform for. And without ticket sales they didn't have enough money to buy fuel for the trip back home.
1:30.8	So it's in Guatemala and circus that's stranded effectively in Honduras.
1:35.5	Anyone who is not under and should appear is stranded. Like it happened in the rest of the world.
1:42.8	They just so happened to be traveling with four trucks full of circus gear.
	...

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