Conversations with Innocence

FOREWORD: The majority of my evenings are spent with kids. Whether I’m arriving to a city’s main plaza to take in the shadows the sun casts upon Spanish architecture or camping for the night in a small rural village, its the kids who seek me out and keep me company. It’s refreshing to see the world through child eyes. Everything is curiously new, untainted by our adult tendency to see a situation/object, judge it based on previous experience, and act as though nothing new can be learned from it. This is not the case with my rambunctious evening friends. I’m forced to view (and explain) even the most basic ideas in such a way that I begin to see them in a new light. Below are just a few of the most recent conversations with children in southern Peru.

Shy girl behind wall

Shy Girl: Why is your bike ugly?

Me: I like my bike.

Shy Girl: It’s ugly. You should buy a new one.

Me: I don’t want to buy a new one. I like it how it is. Besides, if its ugly no one will want to steal it.

Shy Girl: If I were you I’d buy a new bike and ride all day eating lollipops with my arms open like a bird.

Me (laughing): Why?

Shy Girl: So I could fly.

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My friend Eddy

Eddy: Can I ride your bike?

Me (concentrated on cutting vegetables for a stew): No.

Eddy: Why not?

Me: It’s too big for you. Nobody but me rides my bike.

Eddy: If I can ask to borrow it in English can I ride it to the highway?

Me (knowing even Americans confuse “lend” and “borrow”): Ok, if you ask me in a grammatically perfect way I’ll give you my bike.

Eddy: (runs off to find a dictionary)

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Eddy’s Friend: Do you see that road?

Me: Yeah, the one that cuts through the mountains.

Eddy’s Friend: It’s the road to the sun.

Me: It’d be pretty hard to ride to the sun, don’t you think?

Eddy’s Friend: You won’t get there on a bike, but if you drive fast enough you could follow it around the world.

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The mountains ARE too big for my camera

Boy with sun-cracked cheeks: Take my photo.

Me: Ok, what do want as a background?

Boy with sun-cracked cheeks: The mountains, but they won’t look as good in the photo. They’re too big for your camera.

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Little Girl: How long will you stay here?

Me: Tonight, but then I leave tomorrow.

Little Girl: But why?

Me: I have places I need to be.

Little Girl: You don’t have a job. You don’t need to be anywhere.

Me: You’re right, but if I stay I’ll never see new things.

Little Girl: But you can see new things here.

Me: Like what?

Little Girl: The fields look different everyday, depending on where the cows are.

Me (amazed at her insight): You’re right.

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When Animal Crackers Attack

Beautiful Girl: Want an animal cracker?

Me: Yes, please.

Beautiful Girl: What kind?

Me: A giraffe.

Beautiful Girl: There are no giraffes.

Me (pointing to the long-necked cracker): Yes there are, that one, the one in your hand.

Beautiful Girl: No, that’s a lion. Rarrrrrarrrrrrr….