It's Friday after school, my dad and I are handling the normal 4:00 o-clock traffic to the beach. We are headed towards Puerto Viejo, a beach 50km away from Lima.
When arrived, my dad and I got our boards out of the car, and headed straight to the ocean. There was a lot of wind at Puerto Viejo, thus ruining the waves. However, this was not going to stop our passion for surfing. We surfed for a couple of hours, until it was around 6:30pm. When done, we went straight back to the car to dry ourselves up, and head towards our beach house in Asia.
We had parked far away from the beach because our car is not 4x4. We had to walk around 15-minutes in the cold and dark beach. When arriving to the car, a very young kid called my name from far away. "Domenico!", he yelled. I was obviously confused because I did not know anyone from Puerto Viejo. The young kid came up to me and asked me if I was in Esto Es Guerra Teens. I answered yes, and his eyes opened up like a owl at night. He could not believe he had found someone from his favorite TV show near his home.
I started to speak with him, and he told me all sorts of adventures he had this summer. He even told me how he and his family cried when I was eliminated from the show. He later on took me to his home, with my dad, and told his whole family that I was outside their home. They all came outside and started taking pictures with me. He then told me that his name is Jonathan and he was 6 years old. He mentioned that after working all day on the beach, selling food with his family, he would sit down at 6:30pm and watch the show. He mentioned that he is a big fan of the Cobras, and that he knew that taking me out of the program would give a huge advantage to the Leones.
What shocked me the most about this experience was the idea of what an impact I had on some people by appearing only a couple of times on a TV show. I am obviously not used to this attention, but the fact that there are some people who remember you, and not even knowing them is somewhat of a strong message for me. It made me realize what a strong TV show I was in, and how everything that I did on that show reflected on who I was as a person and what an example I can be some for people without even noticing.
When arrived, my dad and I got our boards out of the car, and headed straight to the ocean. There was a lot of wind at Puerto Viejo, thus ruining the waves. However, this was not going to stop our passion for surfing. We surfed for a couple of hours, until it was around 6:30pm. When done, we went straight back to the car to dry ourselves up, and head towards our beach house in Asia.
We had parked far away from the beach because our car is not 4x4. We had to walk around 15-minutes in the cold and dark beach. When arriving to the car, a very young kid called my name from far away. "Domenico!", he yelled. I was obviously confused because I did not know anyone from Puerto Viejo. The young kid came up to me and asked me if I was in Esto Es Guerra Teens. I answered yes, and his eyes opened up like a owl at night. He could not believe he had found someone from his favorite TV show near his home.
I started to speak with him, and he told me all sorts of adventures he had this summer. He even told me how he and his family cried when I was eliminated from the show. He later on took me to his home, with my dad, and told his whole family that I was outside their home. They all came outside and started taking pictures with me. He then told me that his name is Jonathan and he was 6 years old. He mentioned that after working all day on the beach, selling food with his family, he would sit down at 6:30pm and watch the show. He mentioned that he is a big fan of the Cobras, and that he knew that taking me out of the program would give a huge advantage to the Leones.
What shocked me the most about this experience was the idea of what an impact I had on some people by appearing only a couple of times on a TV show. I am obviously not used to this attention, but the fact that there are some people who remember you, and not even knowing them is somewhat of a strong message for me. It made me realize what a strong TV show I was in, and how everything that I did on that show reflected on who I was as a person and what an example I can be some for people without even noticing.
I knew that Jonathan was something special in my life, and that I will never forget what an amazing lesson he taught me. Because of this, I knew I had to give him something he will never forget, something that he can use for the rest of his life, and something to teach him that the people who appear on TV are humans, not some type of extra terrestrials.
And as always, thanks for reading.
And as always, thanks for reading.