Kids. Maybe because seeing them brings back memories of when your own were that age, or maybe it's because there is almost always an innocence about them. Whatever the reason, they always seem to be compelling subjects for people who like to take pictures in foreign countries. People like us, and kids like these…
This young fellow was out w-a-y-y-y past his bedtime (maybe that’s why he’s wearing such a big smile), because we found him nearby when going to watch the cliff divers at night in Acapulco.
How could you not fall in love with a place you’re seeing for the first time when you're greeted by this young Chilean girl at the market by the cruise port in Arica?
In the Dominican Republic, there is no shortage of scenes like this one — youngsters raised in poverty always finding something to bring friendly smiles to their faces and waves from their arms.
This was just outside a tiny seafood stop in Coxen Hole, Roatan (Honduras) where our meal was monitored by this smiling girl’s pet cat, sitting by our table waiting for scraps.
He was selling trinkets, as so many kids in Ecuador are when tourists arrive, and when we told him we’d buy one on our way back from a shore excursion, he was patiently waiting. And yes, we did.
You get accustomed to being approached by little ones looking for handouts in many countries, but this was a first — they came in small boats near Costa Maya, Mexico.
And sometimes, kids like this little girl in Guatemala are just too cute and too irresistible for amateur photographers!
Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas
15 nights
May 17, 2015
Dubai, Muscat, Salalah, Suez Canal, Ashdod, Haifa, Santorini, Athens, Istanbul
Inside: $869
Cost per day: $57
www.royalcaribbean.com