Over a three-week period, Cusco served as our base for trips to the Manu jungle, Bolivia and the Inca ruins of Machu Pichu. When our final day arrived we found ourselves saying goodbye to a host of friends. None would be more difficult to leave than Alex. After weeks of joking that we would adopt him or leave him with a handsome gift, the time actually came to say goodbye.

Alex was no where to be found when we arrived at the Italian restaurant. We gave up our search reluctantly and I felt a tinge of sadness as we crossed the Plaza de Arms in Cusco for the last time and without having said goodbye to our young friend. So you can imagine my delight when my ears picked up the cries of "amigos, amigos!"

Our young friend scurried toward us with a glowing smile, gleaming eyes and his usual box of chocolate. When asked if he was hungry, Shorty nodded with enthusiastic approval.  "Pizza, pizza," he answered, motioning towards the Italian restaurant with its red drapes and signs advertising Italian delicacies. Without any debate, the three of us entered the restaurant, the smell of garlic and wine tickling our senses and Shorty grinning excitedly as he carried his box of chocolates to the table.

We learned a lot about Shorty during that last night together. Though he insisted his name was Michael Jackson, he still responded to Alex. He told us he was seven years old and had six siblings, all of whom work on the streets, the oldest at 26 selling walking sticks to tourists. We were pleased to learn that Alex attends school every morning in the mountains outside of Cusco where he lives. Then Alex brings his box of chocolate on a 75 cent cab ride down to the Plaza de Arms where he spends most night on the streets of Cusco until 1am before catching a taxi home alone.

At seven years old, Alex was fully responsible for himself during those late hours spent selling chocolate on cold, dangerous streets. I never saw him with food or drink in hand. He constantly ran the risk of being robbed of the change that he carried in his little palms. Also, he had to avoid the policia who more than once we saw him scurrying away from towards dimly lit alleys where he could easily disappear. As if the dangers were not great enough, Alex could be sure that after so many cold hours spent on the streets desperately attempting to sell unwanted chocolate bars, his parents would take from him every penny he earned.

As we watched Alex attempt to manage the oversized utensils, I felt a growing satisfaction in my heart.  I took the fork from him and sliced his pizza into bite-size pieces admiring the feeling of great tenderness within. We had come to think of Shorty as a younger brother, a companion and a friend. His youthfulness reached out to us and we felt the desire to bring about change in Alex's life. As we sat in the corner of that Italian restaurant watching a dirty and happy 7-year old Peruvian boy eagerly munching his pizza, drawing confused looks from staff and patrons alike, I realized that his moment alone was a gift to all of us. Alex glowed like a shining star as he commanded the attention of his restaurant. He was in the inside circle now sitting among the people who he had seen through the restaurant window so many times. No sum of chocolate or spare change could rival the throne on which he was sitting.

I had been in South America for over five months at that point. I had danced to the early morning hours in cosmopolitan Buenos Aires. I had shopped at traditional Peruvian markets with villagers from the high Andes mountains. I sea kayaked for a month through isolated fjords in Chilean Patagonia. I walked in ancient Incan footprints to the ruins of Machu Pichu. But never did I feel more satisfied as when I watched our young friend departing the Italian restaurant, his friends looking on jealously from lonely street corners, with his head held high and his small hands juggling his container of leftover pizza and a nearly empty box of chocolates.

The following article is Kyle's first article for the magazine:

• New Zealand’s Waitomo Caves ~ Explorations
• Living A Dream In The South Pacific ~ In Fiji 

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