BELIZEAN SAPPHIRA PLAYO, JOINS CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

A report has come in, that a Belizean, Sapphira Playo has joined the famous CIRQUE DU SOLEIL. No photo yet, or word of her act participation. Sapphira is Orlando Pelayo´s daughter.

Reminds me as a young boy, in the farming village of Tavistock, Ontario, when the FALL Agriculture Show Fair came around the boonies. I got my mother´s permission to work with the Lion Tamer show. My job was to take the tickets and in the FALL I remember it was very cold going until Midnight, standing outside collecting tickets. I was 12 years old and remember well the PROUD FEELING I had, when walking down the street at 2 a.m. after the carnies had closed the Fair down, with a group of them for an early breakfast, or late supper, whichever. But I was allowed to carry one of the monkeys from the monkey cage on my shoulder, cleaning my hair. I was very conscious of that monkey on my shoulder. In the all night cafe, the people would stare. I remember that tremendous feeling of pride and belonging with the carnies, night after night. My tour came to an end abruptly, when my MOTHER made an unannounced visit one morning and found me in the cage with the female lion. A beautiful big LION of over a 1000 lbs. We were playing tag inside the cage. I would paw the earth staring at her, and she would whisk her tail back and forth then charge me. I would try to stand up, but at 12 years old was too small and when she put her two paws on my shoulders, I crumbled to the ground from her weight. The LION TAMER had raised her from a baby and had three lions. She was the one that he put his head in her mouth up on a pedastal. There were three lions, but he would not let me play with the other two male lions. Still it was a young boy´s adventure and I remember it still. Those are the memories worth having. I wish our Belizean well with the circus. That outfit is famous as one of the best, if not the BEST circus in the world today.