Wandering around the mall our eyes were caught by a poster on one of the shop windows. Ballet this weekend. This is one of the first times we’ve managed to find out about a cultural event earlier than the day of the event. We decide we should try to go. A talk with a saleswoman in the store reveals she doesn’t have any idea where we can buy tickets. Back to the poster. It has a phone number, which during the three days we try calling no one answers. It says something about it being the ballet for Universidad del Norte, contains an address for a bookstore, and is being held at the Municipal Theater. Out running errands with Kim the next day I manage to find the bookstore on the map just two blocks before the street. (A success of its own type.) We stop by, talk to a few people, and they say yes you could have bought the tickets here…only the bookstore is closed. It is after 12 on a Saturday. We go a bit farther downtown and decide we might as well stop at the theater and see if tickets can be bought there. By the time we find the front door we are pretty sure it is not going to work. Even though they are setting up inside the doors are not open and you can’t get to the ticket office. There is a woman outside that asks us if we want a ticket for the special performance which begins in 20 minutes (really? But there is no one here!) Plans for the rest of the day prevent us from taking the opportunity. Apparently even knowing that an event is happening doesn’t make it any easier to actually get to it.
Later that day when we’re running more errands in the mall we pass the small stand that sells tickets for random events around town. I say random, because they don’t ever seem to have posters or a listing up, and it all seems to depend upon you happening to know that something is going on. We decide to ask about the ballet tickets. Turns out they aren’t selling them either, however there is going to be a different ballet in town next weekend if we’re interested in that. Yes! Tickets in hand we are pleased that we’ve managed to find out about an event over a week ahead of time and already bought tickets. The night of the ballet we’re not really sure what to expect. None of the four of us that are going have ever been to the Municipal Theater. We show up at 7:45 for an 8:00 performance only to find a long line of people waiting at the doors, all holding tickets. Turns out so far they are only letting in the people who have special invitations right now. One benefit of going places with embassy personal is that they know people, and so somehow we follow a group of people in the side door. We’re in, having never had to actually show our ticket. Not that that means that there are any seats left at all in the theater. Major confusion in my mind. How can they sell tickets for and then not even have any seats left for the people that bought them. I guess one of my mistakes was assuming that buying a ticket would get me a seat, or even get me in the door (as I am sure that some of the people outside didn’t make it in). Right before the lights go out a man comes out carrying a stack of plastic chairs and maybe a third of the people standing manage to grab one to put in the aisles. The rest of us sit on the stairs or find a handy wall to lean against. Luckily for us, we manage to get three seats when a special guest doesn’t show up (also an advantage to being with a pregnant lady) so we aren’t going to be standing the whole night. Once the show begins I forget about the craziness of getting into the theater and sit back to enjoy the first bit of culture that I’ve enjoyed since arriving in Paraguay. We watch pairs of dancers from all over Latin America take the stage for their individual dances – from Brazil and Chile to Mexico and Ecuador, a mix of classical ballet and modern dance. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening and my bit of culture…but I’m not sure the entire theater experience has made me all that likely to try it again anytime soon, assuming I could find tickets to anything else.
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