Ziplines and small children

After we finished the church build in Freire, Chile, we headed two hours south to the tourist town of Pucon. Amazing!!! every outdoor excursion from mountain biking (tear) to cliff jumping, white water rafting to ziplining was at your beckon call!

A huge group of us opted for the Canopy, or zipline on Tuesday! Fun fun fun!!!

I rode the first one with super-buddy Azriele tandem. we decided to scream and yell the WHOLE time to NOT use the break. it was fantastic!

Julie is from NorCal via Georgia and a high school junior. She and I worked side by side laying blocks for the church walls. And i must say, we look fantastic in those harnesses. I feel like i wore a helmet the WHOLE time. between a hard hat, climbing helmet, and then another one on the volcano, my hair looked fantastic. 
The crew getting ready! Jenoa D, Christina, Dean, Adam D, and Azriele D

The trip to the top of the canopy was nuts. they put 15 of us in a small mini van without seat belts. it was filled with dust as they did burn outs up a tiny mountain road peppered with switch backs. half of my seat was NOT attached to the floor either. I think that was what the helps were really for...

There were four ziplines linked together, so it took about 40 minutes to get it all in. 
So, i had some issues. kids drive me nuts. sometimes. this trip was FULL of kids. the exact age of kids that i teach. completely rude. 

They followed me. 

They sang "Joy to the world" to me

They asked me to fix their hair, to comb it, to braid it. you know, the basics. 

They asked me to console their sisters when they were crying...

Are you KIDDING ME?!?!?! So many HUGS, hanging ons, following... UGH>!>!>! they Did not know me at all! i have the hugest bubble ever, i don't let kids get within 2 feet of me. serious. my moto is "no touchy-touchy" no lie. Kids dare each other to try and get me to hug them. 

But then i started to look for THEM... eat lunch with THEM...it wasn't that bad after all. It was actually nice. And i was pretty good at it. There were a lot of borderline epiphanies on this trip, and that was one of them. 

I like kids. and they like me.