The story starts with a travelling circus visiting the peaceful town whose name i have conveniently forgotten. Baltazar is an old clown who owns the circus, and together with Felipe (ventriloquist with a puppet that looks just like him – typical, typical!), a bearded lady, a gentle giant (with matching hump at the back), and several other performers (and animals) form a closely-knit adoptive family to our heroine Peregrina who is a trapeze artist/belly dancer, cared for by her adoptive grandmother/fortuneteller Sabina (who has a knack for heavy eye make-up, big dangling earrings and matching bracelets, with the stereotype gypsy get-up, complete with sequins and what-nots. Childhood friends of Peregrina are protective Karim (male hottie/cutie) and Tontin (the sad clown) who secretly admires her. What’s a story without the love angle so there is super possessive boyfriend/fiance Ivan, who throws daggers for breakfast. Forgot the name of the female hottie/cutie who’s madly in love with Ivan and makes life hell for our heroine. When Ivan finally moved on after Peregrina left, he hooked up with a tall, blonde trapeze artist who tragically dies after the female hottie (enraged with jealousy) sabotages her flying trapeze act. But i digress . . . Did i mention Cheetah the monkey who starved himself (or hereself? – i think she was wearing a pink tutu at one point of the story) almost to death when Peregrina finally left the circus and live with her real family? But then again, i digress . . .
Peregrina is a simple girl with simple dreams (small house with a beautiful garden and all that shit), and everything’s well until the night Rodolfo [with his muscle and friend (another male hottie/cutie)] watched Peregrina dance and as expected, the two fell in love (Rodolfo and Peregrina, not Rodolfo and friend), what with the figure-to-die-for-and-to-live-again-to-kill-for, killer smile, aquiline nose and long eyelashes of Peregrina (not Rodolfo). After a few trysts at the beach, Rodolfo mysteriously vanishes, and while the heroine goes around town (much to the dismay of grandma Sabina) haunted by our hunk’s sweet kisses, several people almost drop dead while exclaiming “Marcela! It can’t be!”
Sleepy sleepy town this place turns out to be as Peregrina is easily seen (and remembered and talked about whenever) by the bad characters such as chauffeur Melquedes, his daughter Abigail (maid in uniform with matching ribbons on her hair, dangling earrings and horrendous black flat shoes), Señora Victoria Contreras [the anti-heroine with a knack for flowing pants (go figure)], see-through blouses, big earrings with matching necklace, heels and parasol) plus the ever bratty Evita (long-haired, braced and blue-eyed adopted member of the high society Alcozer family). Conveniently, they are able to plot and scheme so that the rich Eliseo Alcozer (whose house all the bad characters live in and who looks lika Santa Claus with bad health) will not meet Peregrina, for fear they will be kicked out of the house and lose inheritance. On the sideline is another ho-hum love story involving Angelica (Marcela’s aunt living in Eliseo’s house as usual) and Alonso (buffed, muscled, mustached dirty old man/doctor). Vicenta (who is best friend to dead Marcela and later, to Angelica, and who has the knack for wearing dusters) is still pining for the husband who left her alone to raise their paraplegic daughter Charito (who fell in love with Tontin when they eventually moved into their house when the circus folded up) to follow his dreams (go figure) by washing and pressing clothes for the rich people like Angelica’s family. On the sideline is yet another ho-hum love triangle involving lawyer Eugenio (brother of Alonso and with whom Evita has a huge crush on after turning down Karim with whom she also had taken a fancy) who fell in love with Peregrina who eventually married Rodolfo. WARNING: At this point, you have to get your Zoloft ready.
On the much-awaited honeymoon night, Peregrina accidentally overhears Rodolfo telling someone that he’s not in love with Peregrina. Our heroine, brokenhearted and unconsolable in her tube top, dangling earrings, great hairdo and flowing gypsy skirt hurriedly leaves (with a matching small handbag and slip-on heels) the island where all her love fantasies came to an end (during which time, Rodolfo had an accident). Peregrina, upon arriving at the mansion, could not bring herself to tell her grandfather that she now knows the truth because of his bad heart (according to Alonso). Eliseo, on the other hand, has learned about the truth several episodes before, when Victoria was found out to be the lying, stealthy bitch she really was, and which was basically the reason why Peregrina and Sabina have been living in his house even before Rodolfo shocked everyone, including his mom Victoria about his intention to marry Peregrina.
Peregrina falls in love again (as predicted) with Rodolfo when he finally returned to the mansion coz his kisses were like those she’s tasted at the beach (and also because she is so pregnant right after the honeymoon escapade to the island). Eliseo conveniently suffers a stroke and is bedridden, giving Victoria the opportunity to send everyone packing, leaving only her motley crew to run the house. As expected, Peregrina and Sabina are adopted by Eugenios’ family (for some reason, Rodolfo suddenly turned cold again). Angelica (with long mascara’ed eyelashes and her super curly hair kept up in a ponytail – thank God coz when she first went out on a date with Alonso to a discotheque where Peregrina caught Rodolfo smooching his ex-girlfriend), she looked really horrible with her hair let down), who works as a secretary to Eugenio takes divorce papers of Vicenta without permission with the intention of expediting process. As fate would have it, she accidentally finds out the truth (which was supposed to have evaded the stupid characters because if it weren’t so elusive, then there won’t be any telenovela in the first place. WARNING: At this point, you have to check yourself in a rehab for severe depression, mania and delusion).
Angelica with her curly hair finds out that her best friend (with whom she is living with and with whom she has been pouring her heart out about finally finding the one great guy who swept her off her feet) is actually the abandoned wife of her fiance. Peregrina has actually learned at the island that she is the legitimate heiress to Eliseo, being the baby of Marcela (Eliseo’s daughter married to Delfin) stolen by Melquedes and given away to the circus people per instructions of Victoria in exchange for the dead baby granddaughter of Sabina. Evita got the shock of her life when she learns she was not just trash left at the doorstep of the Alcozer house but is actually the daughter of Abigail and Anibal. To add to this craziness, get this: Peregrina ACTUALLY married Anibal, Rodolfo’s evil twin, who was just after the inheritance, and it was Anibal who is the father of Peregrina’s baby and it was really him and not Rodolfo who was killed in the island by jealous Abigail. What insanity flooding my brain with these useless details just from watching a couple of episodes that i conveniently (and by choice) avoided watching the final episode. Who cares what happens to these insufferable creatures? I’m going to join the circus and make my own destiny.
