SENSE-ational

Occasionally you will find yourself caught in a moment in time, frozen within a thought...'there must be something more to life than this?'. The thought acts like a full stop in your mundane everyday schedule. For some it is merely a window for contemplation, and they will go back to the familiarity and safety of their comfort zone; For others. It is an opportunity. It was on one of these occasional moments, which I acted, finding myself in Brazil within a couple of weeks. From the moment I unfolded myself and stepped woozily out into the rich South American rays, I knew I had made a very wise decision. I was met by my tiny enthusiastic Brazilian friend, wide as she was short, with a huge mood lifting grin across her face. At that point, all my body wanted to do was sleep, but alas, the Brazilian had other ideas...
First stop was a market on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Walking through the door, sent my senses into overdrive. The air with thick, not just with the humidity but with a potent sickeningly sweet aroma, that snaked its tendril-like fingers through your mouth and around your throat. That, mixed with the bold burst of color and sound that your senses were suddenly embraced with, made it an unforgettable experience. As we weaved our way between the plethora of busy stalls, manned by heavily perspiring locals, we were stopped abruptly by a fruit stall owner. I have come to realize, that if you are part of a specific culture, the humor that you can find just by comparing it with another, can break down even language barriers, as I found with this particular fruit salesman. I gazed, wide eyed in astonishment at the alien array of apparently edible objects in front of me. Before I knew it, the tiny Brazilian man was excitedly slicing open the most peculiar of the arrangement and was spooning the contents into my unprepared mouth. The beige slime had the appearance of frog spawn and tasted, unfortunately like vomit. The disgust on my face only enthused the market man even more, and in his glee, he continued to spoon-feed me the vile mixture. After recovering from the shock, I just burst into a fit laughter along with him. It was an experience that momentarily bridged the gap between a naive, milky white giant from Great Britain, and a well weathered, Portuguese speaking fruit seller from Brazil. And that was just the tip of the ice burg for what was a trip that imprinted itself in my mind forever.