Inis-Mor

I was running a little later than I was comfortable with so I left the hostel this morning only grabbing two pieces of bread--no tea. It was sunny though. Maybe that's how it's going to be everywhere I go: one gross day and one perfect one. Or nearly perfect anyway...

Honestly, I wasn't very impressed when the ferry was pulling up to this island. There doesn't seem to be much there--you can see every building on the island from the dock. It turns out all the restaurants that are open at all this time of year, open at noon. It was dead. It was weird. The loudest thing besides the wind were disgruntled cows. So, I walked up the road a little ways and hung out on the beach for about half an hour until I decided to stop being lame. I told my caffeine headache to go to hell and started walking. After about twenty minutes of walking up this road and seeing no one--no cars, biker tourists, or people who live there--I felt like the fairy winds picked me up and dropped me in Cormac McCarthy's The Road and I should be looking around for canned food. The wind was gone and the cows were far off so now all I was hearing were my own foot steps and all around are ruined stone houses, tall stacked stone pillars with Celtic crosses perched on top that are too old to read the inscriptions, newer houses with blackberry pushes taking them over. I was walking along when this dogs comes around the corner. He came up all nice so I pet him and then he was mine for the next few hours. I went as far as the point before I decided there was nothing farther on this road. Up on the hill you could see all the stone fences or barriers that the islands are known for. There's also another old ruined building. I didn't know you could go up there though. There's a trail. It's very cool. It's not far at all, but it's steep. You have to climb over some rocks or walk up some narrow stone steps.

The view from the top is amazing though. The island is smaller than I thought it was. One way you can see the Atlantic and the other way is Galway Bay. That building is actually a church from the 5th century. It's so small though. You couldn't fit more than 3 people in there at once. Right next to it the fields begin. At this point I played fetch with the dog. It was cute. Anyway, you can walk through all the fields. It was a weird experience actually. I think I spent an hour walking around up there and climbing through the walls and following this dog. It was so quiet. There was a point where I turned around and started going back the other direction and nothing looked familiar so I was thinking: okay, this place has turned into the labyrinth, time to go. But really, if you're able to keep some rationality, you'll find that you have excellent reference points--the massive ocean behind you and the points of that church. And somewhere up there my buddy the dog left me. I started thinking maybe he was another in incognito leprechaun trying to get me lost. Not so. I am supremely, maybe overly, rational.

On the way back down the road to the lack of civilization it started raining. Oh first there was a rainbow over the bay, so I should have known. Not that knowing would have helped cause there was nowhere to hide anyway. I thought my clothes were wet yesterday, this was totally different. This was like having someone pick you up and dunk your lower body in a lake.

The only establishments open today was the sweater shop--I guess the Aran islands are known for their expensive handmade sweaters--and "The American Bar." I'd avoided this place the whole time. Really it's just another pub with photographs of famous Americans all over the place. I got seafood chowder and a pint Smithwick's. I like Smithwick's more than Guinness. They aren't really comparable though because one is a stout and one is an ale, but whatever. After sitting there for another hour the Bailey's cheesecake was calling me. It was delicious. Way different than how we do cheesecake.

The ferry back was leaving pretty soon after that. On the way over it was super choppy and my stomach didn't appreciate it, but one the way back I was asleep. It was kind of weird because I think I kept my head up the whole time and I when I woke up it was all stiff and sore. The bus was 15 minutes late and it's an hour ride into the city anyway. Even with all that though, I got back here to the hostel a little after 7. It got dark at 5:30 today. That's the only bad thing about fall.

There was some hardcore partying going on in this common room up until a few minutes ago. It started out with the occasional yelling but it was pretty constant at the end. They did that weird pounding on the table and making animal signs game. Really poor atmosphere for skyping...

But yeah I don't know. It was a very peaceful day. Tomorrow I have to be out of here by 10:30, but I'm going to be sooner because I want to catch the 10:30 bus to Donegal. It's a 4 hour bus ride and I'd like to get there before it's dark since the hostel is a little ways out of the village. Not too far people, don't worry.