The idea of Pulserita Viajera (The Traveling Bracelet) dates back to the days that we spent in Mana, one of the islands of Fiji. When visited one of the tribes there, we started to play the “Girotondo” (a typical game played with children in Italy) with some of the kids.
What is pulserita viajera
We enjoyed to interact with them, and later when we traveled in Southeast Asia, we really felt the need for a more intimate connection with all those kids we met on the road. We wanted something more than just saying hello, waving, smiling and taking pictures of them. This was the moment when the idea of Pulserita Viajera was finally born. We started to make simple colorful bracelets made of cotton thread and we gave these bracelets as presents to the children we met on our travels.
Seeing the joy in the eyes of the children when we gave them a Pulserita Viajera, we immediately understood that this was an idea that worked and we found just the way of communication with them that we had been looking for. We have been doing this since then, and we have had so many happy moments of making children smile by our Pulserita Viajera. In this section of the blog, we will present you many of these happy Pulserita Viajera moments that we lived on the road. Here comes the first one:
When we went to Siem Reap in Cambodia, apart from visiting the majestic temples of Angkor Wat, we also went by bike to discover the surrounding villages. As in most places in Cambodia, people greeted us in every corner and we smiled back. In front of one of the houses, we saw a bunch of kids cheering at us. We got off our bikes and approached the kids timidly. It was our first Pulserita Viajera moment and we already gave at least ten bracelets to the kids.
#Pulseritaviajera Movement
In the near future, we will share with you in our blog these happy moments of giving these Pulserita Viajera bracelets to kids around the world, and at the same time we would like to invite you to join the #pulseritaviajera movement! All those of you who travel around, just carry some cotton thread with you and make your own bracelets! Remember that it does not have to be a very sophisticated one, if it is colorful, the kids will love that! We assure you that once you start doing it, giving Pulserita Viajera to kids is addictive!
If you take a picture of the kids with your Pulserita Viajera (or the moment you give it to them), send it to us with very brief description of where, when and how it was taken. We will publish it in our blog with a link to your blog and/or your social media pages.
Our best Pulserita Viajera Moments
Here are some of the places we met kids and gave them these bracelets, and shared some good moments together.
Battambang, Cambodia
In Battambang, Cambodia we took a tour to visit some interesting places around, and we took the bamboo train which was once an important mean of transport, now it is basically a touristic attraction. We arrived in a small village where we walked around for a while, when a little boy and girl approached us. The girl instantly made friends with Rachele, she showed us her little book and soon she was in her arms. She even gave Rachele a small ring made by herself from palm tree leaves. The boy was more shy, but he also stayed with us till we had to leave, they were our private tour guides in the village!
Koh Tonsay Island, Cambodia
Koh Tonsay Island, CambodiaOne of our favorite islands we got to visit in our round the world trip was in Cambodia. Close to Kep, Koh Tonsay (known as the Rabbit Island because of its form) is a relaxing island with just few bungalows there, and we spent there some days eating crabs most of the time, since it is incredibly cheap there. We also took some walk around the island where there are a couple of fishing villages. When we arrived in one of them, the village seemed abandoned, and there was just a fisherman there fixing the net on the shore, but soon we heard her daughter saying hello from far. Her father told her to come closer, and although she hesitated for a while, when we started a conversation with his father she came closer and closer. She was really shy at first, but after giving her the Pulserita Viajera she became much more friendly and stayed with us while we were talking with his father. She is one of the best memories we have from the Cambodian islands.
Bago, Myanmar
Until now we have shown you Pulserita Viajera moments from Cambodia, this time let’s remember one from Burma, a country with the kindest people you can imagine. When we visited Bago, a small town not so far from Yangon, which is famous for its beautiful pagodas, reclining Buddhas and the Golden Rock, one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in Myanmar, which is found in the mountains nearby.
On our way to one of the pagodas, we met a group of really sweet kinds. They all wanted to play with us, and actually Gábor stopped for a while to play football (soccer for our dear American readers) with them. Actually it was the strangest thing, as the kids chose the Buddhist altar to be the goal. In Burma, most little kids wear thanaka on their face, a yellowish color paste. We played with these kids for a while, and the girls really liked their bracelet, while the little boy, being the man of the group, said he’s better of with his toy revolver. Bago probably is not as exciting as Bagan in the same country, but mostly because of these kids, we will never forget it.
We hope to recollect many of your wonderful Pulserita Viajera moments in our blog, so we are looking forward to receiving your photos!
What an awesome idea and a great way to connect with the local children! It is beautiful to see the smile and enjoyment on the kids faces!
Thanks Constance! I hope you can participate one day and send us a picture with kids wearing your traveling bracelet!
Can I have one of those please? 😀
Sure Raphael! 😀 However, we might prefer that you try to make your own bracelets (even it seems to be a tough excercise for a guy) and send us pictures of you giving them to kids around the world.
What a fabulous idea, I bet they love them! 🙂
Thanks Emma! We hope that traveling on the road you can also give your “pulserita viajera” bracelets to children and then send us your photos!
What a great idea! I give out those little clip-on koalas – I think plenty of inquisitive kids and taxi drivers now own one around the world 🙂
Thanks Caitlyn! We hope that you can also join us in giving out some “pulserita viajera” bracelets and send us your photos when you are on the road!
What a great idea! May have to look into this 🙂
Thanks Ashley! We hope that you will be one of the “pulserita viajera” family and send us from you travels pictures about you giving out bracelets to cute little kids:)
Thanks for linking up to the #SundayTraveler!
What an awesome way to connect with children who might not ever have that opportunity. I’ve worked with orphanages in the past with my nonprofit, but the children were used to visitors coming. This is truly a wonderful authentic moment with local children. I will definitely look for opportunities to participate in pulserita vaijera!
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Nancie for your lovely comment! We were more than happy to show the world your pulserita viajera moments on our blog!
Great idea, guys! If you ever visit Istria, I hope you’ll make me smile with a colorful Pulserita Viajera. OK; I am not a kid, and I am far from being cute, but I would still love it 🙂
Of course, you can have your own pulserita viajera:) We hope that you can also be part of this movement when you travel around!
What a lovely idea! Happy to have found your blog through #SundayTraveler
Great Phoebe, we are happy that you liked the idea! I hope we can have you amongst those who participate in this!
I think this is such a great idea! It’s a way to interact with the kids and give them something that costs very little, but can make them happy.
We really appreciate your comment Jess, we hope you can also be part of this movement!
My heart has melted, and I feel sad at the same time. As a Mum, I cant imagine having my son live such a life – of being so poor. Yet I want him to be as appreciative as these sweet kids are to receive such a small gift. I love how you were so well though to give back to the community xox Lastly thanks for linking up with us to #SundayTraveler
Thanks Sarah for these lovely worlds! We don’t have kids yet, but had similar feelings as you when we found ourselves among these children! Hope you can have your own pulserita viajera moments in the near future, and you can share them with us!
How sweet!
I love bracelets and would love it even more to give some away to children when I travel 😉
I did create some when I taught my kids in South Korea and the smile on their faces was priceless!
What a great idea!
Keep la pulserita viajera going 😉
Thanks Karla very much!! We would be so happy if you could join this movement! Looking forward to receiving your photos!!
This is such a beautiful way to connect with the local children. My 8-year-old daughter would love making and distributing these. (Or she might continue with her Rainbow Loom craze and hand out those types of bracelets instead.) We’ll be heading to Cambodia in 6 weeks, and I just happen to have a Friendship Bracelet kit on hand already with all sorts of ideas.
Grest Michele! We hope that from Cambodia you will send us some photos with kids wearing your bracelets, we would love to include them in our blog!!
I bet they loved them, that’s a great idea to give back a little to the places you visit.
Thanks Samantha! You are right, kids always loved these small presents and their smile meant the world to us!
A really lovely and thoughtful idea!
Thanks so much! We hope you can participate in the #pulseritaviajera movement!
I love the idea! 🙂 really cozy, tender and human. I would love to apply for the project as soon as i have the chance to do it. Big hug and nice travel! ^_^
So kind from you Vic! We would absolutely love to share with people in our blog your contribution to the project! A big hug to you too!!
Lovely idea – Definitely worth doing! Thank you!
Thanks so much!!!
So Cool! I’ve always looked for ways to connect with the kids, and now carry a Ukulele as means of doing exactly that… which they think is hilarious and it certainly makes its mark.
But I love this idea of giving them something, however small, that they can have in order to tie memories too… I’m going to start doing this, and I’ll send you some of the stories. 🙂
Carrying a musical instrument is also a fabulous idea! Happy to hear that you might send us your stories with little kids around the world, we are looking forward to them!!!
Beautiful idea! 🙂 So much better than giving them candies or change..
Actually I bet in Cambodia the bracelets mean even more. I got one at Angkor Wat from a local very old lady, she said some prayer and tied it on my wrist. She said it would protect me. I’ve had it for almost 3 years now, it’s really durable 🙂
Ah! We got a bracelet like you from an old lady in Laos, we wore it during our whole round the world trip and it protected us! You are right, people and especially kids there really appreciated these bracelets, it made us happy to see them smiling. Thanks for commenting!