flashback friday (natalie)

I still remember my first trip to Peru back in June 2006. Laura, Arnold and I decided to add on a trip to the Amazon Jungle prior to our expedition with Southern Cross. Starting with a sketchy prop plane ride into the jungle and landing on a grassy field, to riding for hours on a long boat along the rivers, and then watching monkeys playing over our heads and macaws flying by, it was an amazing trip end to end. But my favorite memory is meeting little children on our many stops along the way.

On one stop, we met two little girls sitting by the river. With our limited Spanish, we couldn’t communicate with them so we did what tourists do. We took out our digital cameras and took pictures. I think it was the first time those little girls had ever seen a digital camera. The look of amazement and delight on their shy faces when we showed them their photos was like that Visa commercial…priceless.

On this and every trip since, that is one of the children’s favorite pastimes. Looking at photos on cameras. On a recent trip, I took it one step further. I brought my laptop and camera to the children’s dance rehearsal. I would video the kids dancing and then immediately download the videos to my laptop so just minutes after they danced, they could watch themselves on my laptop. Soon a dozen or so kids were climbing all over me trying to see the magic on my laptop screen. We had the kids take turns watching the videos. I can still see their little faces as they watched themselves dancing. I can still hear their laughter and their little voices as they yelled “there’s Maria! There’s Joel!”

I miss those little faces, the voices, and the laughter. Along with the memories, I brought those pictures and videos home with me. And from time to time you can catch me with a smile on my face and tears in my eyes as I look at the pictures and watch the videos on my magical laptop.