Inspiration

As of late, I haven’t been able to get inspired to write anything. No amount of traveling or meeting new people seemed to stir my imagination. Until today.

Today I ventured for the first time into the world of the Mercat Del Encants, one of the biggest and oldest flea markets in Barcelona. Heaven and hell had come together to create this hot, loud, bustling, screaming fair ground. Everything imaginable under the sun is being sold there for prices that would make peoples eyes bulge. It is the Camden Market of Barcelona, before Camden Market sold out. 3 Euros for a pair of shoes. 20 Euros for beautiful antique chairs. Awesome records for under a euro. Air rifles,  antique army uniforms, knives, tools, porcelain cups, all types of silver, books, electronics, jewelry and that’s not even mentioning the vintage clothes that would make the girls shopping on Melrose pee their pants in hysteria.

And all of this simply laid out on the sidewalk in front of the vendors, allowing any shopper to dig through it at their hearts content. From every direction vendors are screaming that their prices are the cheapest and everyone from elderly ladies to tattooed hipsters are on their knees searching for their own personal treasure. Its true that this is not for everyone, the faint hearted who don’t like crowds, aged items, haggling and strange smells probably should stay as far away from this market as possible. But for those of us who love the thrill of spending hours digging through worthless things for the possibility of finding something that everyone else missed, worth hundreds of dollars, and buying it for only a few. For those of us who will never sell that item, but put it on a shelf just to remind ourselves of our own little personal victory. For those of us who can spend hours there just walking around and buying nothing just languishing in the feeling and energy of the crowd. And even for those who wander there simply to imagine the story behind that painting, or the romance behind that ring, or the childhood spent with that toy. Well, for those of us, it is this place which opens the floodgates of inspiration.