Disoccidented

Alice: Please, which way shall I go? Cheshire Cat: It depends on where you want to go to. Alice: It doesn't matter... Cat: Then it makes no difference which way you go. Alice: ...as long as I get somewhere. Cat: You always get somewhere if you walk far enough.

I recite the dialogue for myself as I start walking from my hotel in Sao Paolo. It is far from my first visit to the Southern Hemisphere, but I always forget that the sun is in the wrong place. And I always misjudge the distance when using a map. As I walk, all the streets seem to go uphill, and all those hours on the treadmill are to no good. My clever husband always says that when you only have a few days in a big city, take a taxi between attractions. But I always persist in walking.

When I get somethere, having walked far enough, I get my reward: a market of the kind where you never buy anything but can browse for hours.

I taka a taxi back to the hotel.