Playing with Fire

BUSKING, PERFORMING in public places for tips, is an ancient and honorable occupation which has been marginalized in the post-industrial world where everything that is not permitted is prohibited. Thus entertainers are relegated to officially sanctioned locales where the price of the show is the entrance fee. Turning a traffic light into a stage for a 30-second show can be viewed as a transgressive act that breaks the enforced isolation of people in cars and brings them back into the public space of the streets. It is also dangerous and definitely not permitted.

The four-way light at the intersection of Avenida Oaxaca, Av. Pérez Gasga and the Coastal Highway is sometimes the stage where Erik "Limoncito" Iñarritu Heredia performs his act of juggling with fire. Limoncito juggles three flaming bars, one of which he sometimes throws high over his head while keeping the others in motion. He uses gasoline for his fire, but the most dangerous part of his act, he says, is working in traffic. Limoncito is only 19, but he has been juggling with fire for six years. He learned the art in his native Morelia, Michoacan from the brothers Miguel and Daniel Rojas with whom he studied for one year. He left home at age 14 after finishing secondary school and has supported himself with his fiery sticks ever since. Before coming to Puerto Escondido, he worked in Ixtapa-Zihuantanejo and Acapulco.

"Impressive and elegant" is how the youth describes the experience of juggling with fire. It is clearly a way of life for him. He wishes that fire juggling were considered a sport in which people could compete. Busking is also in his soul, and he has no desire to work in a circus or to be part of a show. His dream is to start a school for jugglers and clowns that would attract performers from all over the world whom he could learn from. When asked where he would like this school to be, he shrugs and says, "maybe it could be mobile."

Limoncito says he averages 100 or 200 pesos a day and that foreigners are more generous than Mexicans. What amazes him is that some people will take photos of his act and not give him anything.

Limoncito mostly performs at the Crucero and on Zicatela at night at the Bar Aquí or on the calle del Morro. He is also available to perform at parties. You can catch his act on YouTube by entering: Limoncito Puerto Escondido.

Barbara Schaffer is a poet and language teacher. barbaraschaffer.com