French Fries - Part 1

Today, I've decided to tell you a story. It all started in 2013, when I was 12 years old. Back then, my aunt had a tradition of traveling to Minas Gerais every year to visit family. She always went in July because that's when her daughter—my cousin—was on school break. This time, however, she decided to invite me along, and with my father's permission, I accepted. I was incredibly excited about the trip, as I had never traveled to another state before.

My mother's entire family came from a little village called Vargem Grande, located in the far north of the state. The trip there from São Paulo took two full days, and we stopped halfway to rest. The halfway point was the state capital, Belo Horizonte, where we stayed the night with an uncle who lived there. I remember my favorite part was playing on his son's PlayStation 3; after all, I was just a kid and had never seen such a modern video game console before.

The next morning, we were back on the road, and about 12 hours later, we finally arrived in Vargem Grande. I immediately fell in love with the place. It was so quiet and peaceful—something you don't experience in a big city. In the days that followed, I met plenty of other kids, and we would play on the village streets all day. Back in São Paulo, I was always alone and never allowed to play outside because it was too dangerous. So, in Vargem Grande, I was having the time of my life. I had never felt so free!

At the same time, I was used to having technology, and the house we were staying in didn't even have Wi-Fi. Thankfully, there was an internet café in the village—which in Brazil is called a "lan house"—so every day, I would take some of the money my father gave me and spend an hour or two on a computer there. I could play games, listen to music, and check my Facebook account. The village was perfect; it had everything I needed to be happy, and I completely forgot about home. But something was about to happen that would change me forever.