São Paulo's Mercadão; a photo essay.

I was born in São Paulo, Brazil. Between my many moves I've added up about 9 years here, and I barely know my own city.

I've decided that its better late than ever to venture out into the wild and get to know the places I've always heard about, but for a number of reasons never really got to know.

First stop; the Municipal Market
Rua Cantareira, 306 - Sé (near the São Bento Subway Station, or the Parque D Pedro II bus stop).

It is a gigantic farmer's market, located in downtown São Paulo that has somehow eluded me for years, and now I finally realised what I've been missing.

The architecture resembles an industrial warehouse, bursting with food items, from solid to liquid, cold to hot, fresh to dried, prepared or raw. There are dozens of fresh tropical fruits, vegetables, wine, cheese, chocolate, seafood, chicken and spices.There is something there for every taste, and I recommend you show up hungry and try  the famous Mortadella (Bologna) Sandwich or an enormous Pastel de Bacalhau (Cod fish pasty). 

If I had to describe it in one word it would be abundance.

Abundance of colors, smells, flavors, textures, sounds. It is a great collection that stimulates all the senses and were I a creative person of any sort, I would have felt compelled to write a song, a movie or paint abstract pictures.

Although I didn't create anything, I did feel a newfound appreciation for the city in which I live. There is so much in here that I am missing out by wishing I was somewhere else. 

There were things hanging from spice racks that I would have thought were a world away, but turned out to be within my reach, just a few stops down the subway line. Enough to inspire even the most culinary challenged (yours trully) to want to give a go to the most outrageous recipes.

All the vendors were very friendly and eager to get you to try their merchandise, so if you are comfortable with it you can make a meal of samples of all sorts of different flavors.

I finally understood why, for my entire life, people insisted that I go there, and the reason for the astonished and disapproving looks that followed the statement "Well, I just never got around to it". If you are a fan of food, if you're an artist, or just your run of the mill wanderer I absolutely recommend it.

Where the fuck, Morringhan?

I started this blog without much of an idea of what I wanted it to be.

You can probably tell how much attention I pay to it by the cookie-cutter layout and the amount of time that goes by between each post.

What I'd love for this to become is a travel blog. This is where this blog is headed, everybody strap in.

I'm not traveling much at the moment but I have a ton of planed trips, and I'm going to start sharing some of them, beginning by the preparation process, which is just as much fun as the trip itself.

So come with me... and you'll be... reading all about how I train for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, how I penny pinch to get myself to Thailand, or scavenge booking sites like an underground creature looking for food, on the hunt for cheap flights and cheaper accomodation.

I hope you enjoy the trip.

Best,
M.

Making Sacrifices

   Almost all my life I've been working towards being location independent. Hasn't happened it yet, but I slowly but surely cut ties here and there to things that could keep me in one place for too long. I do this because I want to travel. I want to travel on a whim and be able to just lock up behind me and not have to think if I've got somebody to watch the dog, or water the plants, or somewhere to forward my bills to. I just want to lock up and go.

   Ironically, yesterday I applied for a tourist visa to another country I was planning on going this Christmas and it got denied specifically for that reason. I do not have strong enough ties anywhere that prove to them that I wouldn't just stay in that country.

  Which is fine, the person who interviewed me was very open and honest about it, and I'm not holding he/she personally responsible for anything. But it did get me thinking about the things I'm willing to sacrifice for that need of freedom and to literally not be tied down and feel like any gust  of wind could take me anywhere. And yes, it is so worth it.

  It is a mild inconvenience to have been said no to, but now I get to do one of my favorite things, and plan a new trip to someplace else. I can use the money for that trip (which I considered gone by the time I decided to go) for a different one, maybe go see my family. Maybe go someplace I've never been.

I'm excited. It's cliché to say it, but sometimes not getting what you wanted is exactly what you needed. I was bummed out about it for all of yesterday. Today, I hit the stores for some new travel guides.

M.

The Purple Pack

For Halloween 2010 I dressed up as Dora the Explorer.

I made a quick run to Wal-Mart and purchased a purple backpack for $5, and I haven't parted with it since.

It is deceivingly big and can comfortably hold everything I need for a 5 day trip. It fits my life so perfectly I have used it as a purse, as a school bag and my permanent travel companion. It has been with me to New York, DC, Florida, Colorado, Texas, California, Illinois and all of the UK.

The Purple Pack in Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, Scotland. 

It has developed a personality of its own, I like to think that it has changed as much as I have with  the things it's seen and experienced. The pins and doodles are each scars and stories of each new place. I have been keeping journals since I was in 5th grade and I like to have a notebook specific for each trip. (Post about it to come later). But this backpack is a collection of all the stories, it is sort of a friend who was there with me through every trip.

I could get a newer, better one. With more space and better design with comfortable straps. But I don't want it. Just like my old beat up Converse, it has been with me everywhere, it was there when I stopped making excuses for staying put ("not enough money, not old enough, don't know anybody, still in school" you've heard them all) and I like to think that Dora's spirit did dawn on me with this backpack and I finally started exploring.

It became a sort of running joke with my friend Carmela, when she followed my lead and dressed up as Dora in 2011, acquiring for herself a purple pack of her own. Amongst many things, we share the love of travel, and now a recent graduate, I hope she gets a bit of the explorer spirit herself.

M.