Juan Lopez is the ranking elder, trained in all parts of the show--bullfighting, impersonations, comedy skits. He started as a clown in a children's circus at 25, and has been with the Aguascalientes troupe, one of a handful operating in Mexico, since its inception in 1991. He appears sanguine about the attention, but admits that it comes at a price.
"When we do the shows, people come down afterward and want to take pictures with us," he says. "They're excited to see us. But outside the show, if we're walking down the street, for example, they might cross the street to avoid us. We get ridiculed by kids who have never seen someone like us--we look like them, but we're older. And the parents maybe even encourage them to make fun of us. 'Hey, look at the little midget.' It hurts when people do that."
"There are more of us now, so people don't look at us as much as they used to," adds Tomas "Tommy" Emmanuel, the barrel-chested master of ceremonies who also emcees local wrestling matches, and once wrestled under the name the Little Savage. "When someone does offend me, instead of getting mad, I try to explain to them how we feel. I tell them we're not just little people that they see on TV or in shows, and that the myths surrounding little people aren't true--even the silly ones, like we eat people, or eat each other."
Hector Miguel (aka "Chiquito"), Ricardo Reyes and Audelio Miranda are known as the three bullfighters, and seem to be in the best shape, although none of them claims to work out.
"It's genetic that we're like this," says Audelio. "We don't do much in terms of training."
"We just eat and sleep," says Erika Amescua-Flores, Audelio's wife. Erika is one of two female members of the troupe, along with Elizabeth Medina, both of whom perform impersonations of famous singers such as Ana Barbara and Thalia.
The eighth member, Jose Chipa, will join us late from his second job at an orange juice concentrate cannery. About half the troupe carry a second job: Juan works at a restaurant, Ricardo stocks shelves at the Super XX grocery and Audelio occasionally moonlights as a mechanic and electrician.
"At first, I lacked confidence," says Audelio, when pressed on his experiences. "I couldn't even look at my own kind. I was ashamed. They disgusted me. . . . I still don't like midgets, but I'm not ashamed of being one now. They've got a lot of attitude, and they're difficult to deal with. There's always some kind of drama happening. They're eccentric. Stubborn. They just seem to have a lot more problems to deal with."
