Sunday Market ...

One of the things about travelling light is the liberation from buying stuff ... whether you want it or not, if it doesn't fit in the pack, you don't buy it ... Ecuadorian stall has the most attractive stuff, a poncho suggested ... but not practical ... Portuguese plant seller desists on hearing sad lack of land ... churro can be eaten on the go and Scouts cake bake provides some biscuits for the kitchen later ... otherwise all the stuff holds little interest and a wander into the village, while Peter finds his friend, still living nearby, locates a bar for coffee and blogging ...

Return via an elusive waterfall, found with the assistance of Adriano, pictured with Peter, then home for late lunch ...

Outliers is finished and passed on, since good books like to be read ... Gladwell's foray into contentious territory of cultural norms and their impact on success, however we define it ... as the descendant of Jamaican slaves he more easily examines the issues and digging into the questions from many angles reveals compelling evidence for projects and programmes to redress the disadvantages inherent in being born into a particular culture ...

Wear & Dao has played with national stereotypes along the Way and Gladwell's research confirms the validity of taking them seriously ... whilst recognising that transcending them is possible, though maybe acknowledging them and how they arise over generations is a pre-condition for that ... at the level of simple survival, the climate and terrain in which we find ourselves conditions the experience of creating shelter and finding food and water ... language and culture develop as layers on top of this, as stories about who we are ... until the stories stand and guide, assist or constrain us long after the basic survival questions have been solved ...  and interesting to reflect on deeply embedded tales of poverty maybe still driving economic growth through unreasonable fear of not having enough ... the wealthy looking up in envy rather than down with compassion and gratitude ... the poor stuck in poor patterns, even in the midst of wealthy countries ... the wealthy and not so wealthy meanwhile often stuck in toxic patterns of over consumption, leading at the macro-scale to threats to the very planet on which we currently live ...

Patience settles as Tuesday's dental deadline approaches without certainty of reaching Faro airport for Tuesday evening flight ... there are other destinations from Faro before next Tuesday, and other airports with flights to Newcastle too ... mainly Malaga ... having options relaxes the mind along with continuing warm weather and warm company ...