Traveling Feet

traveling feet
Originally uploaded by Katherine H.

There were travel delights, mishaps, and surprises during 2006.

The delights: Enjoying the home-grown ambience of the Chile Pepper Festival near Sunnyside, Washington. A one-woman show at the Lee Center for the Arts in Seattle. Getting up close and personal with alpacas. A night hot-air balloon glow in Bend. An irreverent breakfast with friends in Salt Lake City. Hiking around Iguaçu Falls in Brasil. Exploring Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro.

The mishaps: A seven hour wait in an overcrowded São Paulo airport while the pilots were on strike. A tropical storm in the Amazon that caused our river pilot to lose his bearings as our boat was tossed around on the Rio Negro. A “severe weather threat” at the Dallas airport complete with a tornado drill.

The surprises: Making connections with others in locations near and far because they have stumbled upon my blog entries.

Travel shapes, informs, and inspires me. I travel because it stimulates my creative mind, it helps me to better understand myself, and it makes me a better world citizen.

I write about my travels because it frames my experiences in a new context, and it connects me to what is most important to me – my relationships with others.

What travel adventures will 2007 bring?

Market day in Recife

7 November 2006

Recife tapioca stand
Originally uploaded by Katherine H.

I’ve always felt that the best gauge of the true pulse of a city is to wander the streets during one of the day’s busiest times. While the tour group perused the gift shops at Casa Cultural for a little souvenir shopping, I slipped outside for a brisk walk through the teeming side streets of the central market district in Recife.

The call of the vendors, the clap of the hands to signal a potential customer, the stalls of leather belts and sandals, pyramids of fruit stacked at the ready, and the smell of street food such as grilled meat or tapioca omelets create the seamless ebb and flow of daily living. You can purchase most of your household necessities within a radius of only four or five blocks.



Throngs of pedestrians crossing the bridge as the work day ends are treated to a serenade by a local folk duo who has positioned themselves at the bridge entrance. Some stop to listen, to shuffle a few dance steps with a partner, or to drop a few coins before continuing on to complete the evening shopping on the way home. There is a sense of purpose in their stride, and yet an air of leisure as the people of the city begin to unwind from the cares and worries of the day.

Decadent

decadent
Originally uploaded by Katherine H.

A few months after I moved to Salem, I met Liz. We soon discovered that we share a birthday (along with a healthy appreciation for gelato and all things Italian).

When November arrived, I posed the question, "What are we going to do for our birthday this year?" while thinking silently to myself that it should be decadent and involve chocolate.

So last Thursday we cleared some space in our schedules to celebrate at Pix Patisserie, a little corner shop in Portland that has grown to three locations. We stood for several moments in front of the pastry case transfixed by the array of eye-catching delicacies.

How does one choose between Almond cream, chocolate ganache, and orange vanilla bean crème brulée all piled into a buttery tart shell and Chocolate mousse blanketing a crisp hazelnut praline filling and dacquoise base surrounded by a mosaic of nougatine?

In the end, we couldn’t settle for just one…