Camera. Check. Passport. Check. Old clothes to give away. Check. Pop rocks. Double check. Yes, pop rocks. The candy that shaped so many childhoods and apparently they only make them in the U.S.? We try to bring these along with all sorts of other candy so we can make friends with little kids. Not creepy at all. Well one day, it backfired, at least Heidi will say so. We boarded a 3 hour bus ride and within 5 minutes of taking off, the CA-YUTEST little Ecuadorian girl walks right up to our seats. Blank stare. She was small, brown hair, tan, her face had some leftover lunch and some crusty boogs. Her arms had some dirt smeared around, she definitely looked like the kinda girl who ruled the neighborhood. But dang she was precious. We strike up a convo with our new friend.
"Quieres dulces?" (First thing we learned in Spanish.)
She nods. I pull out some of my tootsie rolls and hand them over. She instantly unrolls that puppy and runs back to her mom. 5 min later we meet again, we start asking her questions but she can barely answer cause she was sloshing that tootsie roll around. We ask her how old she is and she runs to the back of the bus and yells in her high pitch perfect voice, "CUANTOS AÑOS TENGO?" Half the people on the bus are now laughing cause everyone heard her. This little human runs back and holds up 4 fingers. I fell in love.
She nods. I pull out some of my tootsie rolls and hand them over. She instantly unrolls that puppy and runs back to her mom. 5 min later we meet again, we start asking her questions but she can barely answer cause she was sloshing that tootsie roll around. We ask her how old she is and she runs to the back of the bus and yells in her high pitch perfect voice, "CUANTOS AÑOS TENGO?" Half the people on the bus are now laughing cause everyone heard her. This little human runs back and holds up 4 fingers. I fell in love.
Now I'm sitting on the window so I'm leaning over Heidi to talk to my new friend. I keep giving her candy and clearly we are buds. Heidi was over it, she was grossed out by the boogers and wanted to switch seats. We switch and this little niña wedges her way in front of me and next thing you know she standing between us, just staring up at us with her big brown eyes. She proceeds to push us aside and pop a squat in between us. This girl is a hustler. I'm laughing hysterically and Heidi is saying, "k8 k8 no seriously seriously? Do something. This is not happening". Homegirl starts touching Heidi and her camera, I mean she just wants to play. Heidi apparently needed her space and it just made me laugh harder.
We took selfies cause that's what girls do. Clearly you can see Heidi's face. This niña y yo kept saying "somos mejores amigaaasssss".
So everyone meet Margo. Her favorite color is pink. She is 4 and has two brothers. She likes Joostin Beebear but doesn't like to sing. She's down for a good time and now loves tootsie rolls.
Heidi is usually way better with kids. Every child is practically her own. Like in India, she no joke just picked this child up, she would have taken him home but she was getting the stink eye from a mom a few yards away. Someone might have just peed in her Cheerios that morning but either way Margo and I are
2 good
2 B
4 gotten