New Kids on the Block

When I was young I traveled to Brazil. I remember getting off of the plane with my excitement building by the minute. We emerged from the airport and caught a taxi to go through the mountain tunnel on the way to Rio de Janeiro. New Kids on the Block was pouring from the speakers in the taxi. I was beyond disappointed. I was ready to experience Brazilian culture and America had followed me.
On that trip I saw poverty like I had never seen before and it broke my heart. We were staying in a luxury hotel and I cried each night at the poverty I had seen during the day. There were children literally sleeping on the streets. And the card board shacks of the favelas spread up the mountain sides. There was one woman with a baby outside of our hotel. Every night I would have my aunt, who spoke fluent portuguese, give her my leftovers from dinner. On our last night in Rio she tried to give us her baby. She cried as she begged us to take her child from her and give him a better life. It almost destroyed me.