My January is half melancholy, half relief. I slip back into well-worn patterns, and find comfort in the familiar. There is beauty there, and surprises too. Ailsa’s Travel Theme, Routine, made me think of these — glimpses of other people’s ordinary moments. 1. Early commuters streaming to work in São Paulo. An hour earlier, I ambled through the sleeping city to São … Continue reading
When I began preparing for a work trip to São Paulo, my expectations were quickly tempered: The city does not come up as a destination of choice. It is sprawling, congested, scruffy, expensive (many of the visitors are business travelers who stick to the ultra-luxurious hotels and restaurants), and not altogether coherent. There are more … Continue reading
There are places, artists, and musicians you always remember encountering for the first time. Hieronymus Bosch, who died 496 years ago today, definitely makes this list for me: I remember my surprise and wonder when I first saw fragments of Hell from The Garden of Earthly Delights in an old book at my school’s library (thanks … Continue reading
A staple of many a far-off destination: the pigeon, always there to provide the familiar grey, the endearing vermin that keeps on spreading. I usually try not to catch one in a photograph, but they do sneak in. I will count them today. In London, I caught the beginning of the end of the pigeon domination … Continue reading
São Paulo may not be an obvious tourist destination if one goes to Brazil. The reviews I saw before I arrived were not stellar. I was there for work, with very little time to explore and absolutely no exposure to the rest of the country–still, when I get a chance to return to Brazil, I … Continue reading
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