adventures in ireland

so this trip had a few firsts for me. it was the first time i really planned to travel by myself. it was the first time i slept in the houses of strangers. it was the first time i ever hitchhiked.

i never even considered hitchhiking as a mode of traveling, but the girl i was staying with in moycullen, a small village in the west of ireland, suggested it. i told her that in the states its drilled into our heads that its illegal and dangerous and to never do it. but in europe it is accepted, and she said it's safe and really easy; especially in these villages away from big cities. i wanted to go out to this region called Conemarra which is known for its beautiful landscapes, but she and her boyfriend were busy all day, and buses are too irregular, so hitching was the best way to get there. in the morning when i was getting ready to go out i was nervous, and considered changing my plan to a safer, more boring one, such as getting a ride with her to the city and walking around looking at the shops, drinking cappuccinos, finding somewhere to eat lunch; basically all the things i did in the other cities. but since i wasnt really impressed by those activities, i decided to go through with the more adventurous, slightly scary plan anyway. and i'm so glad i did; it was so exciting, and easy, and a great way to see the country. all my drivers (i got around 6 different rides) had something to say about the area, and they were all really nice and interested in my story.

somewhere around 20 cars drove by me without stopping. most gave a gesture with their hands that expressed something along the lines of, 'sorry, its not gonna be me'. i had my new camera on me, which i think helped my case, since i'm obviously not some bum with 500 euros hanging around my neck. my first ride was at 830am, after holding my thumb out for about 15 minutes. so the guy asked where i was going and i told him the name of a village all the way on the coast, about 80km away. he said its my lucky day, he was headed to work in that same village. alright, i was happy that it was so easy, but also a bit nervous, because, well, here i was in the car with a total stranger who picked up a young looking girl, and he's a big guy, and we're kinda in the middle of nowhere. conversation didnt really flow easily. i dont know if it was his accent, or he was tired, or shy, but it seemed like some of his sentences didnt really finish; leaving me to nod my head while looking out the window. but he told me if i wanted him to stop so i could take photos, just to say so. he then explained that he just picked up his first hitchhiker a couple weeks ago. he usually avoided it because he didnt want to feel forced into conversation with someone. the first guy was a rough looking english dude with a big scar on his face. but i guess something about the experience was good enough for him to try it again. anyway, we had about an hour in the car together, and towards the end he woke/warmed up and we got along better. he stopped at this one well known vista point for me to take pictures while he smoked a cigarette. then when we got to town he pointed out the visitor's center, drove me round the main drag, pointed in the directions of the next towns, showed me the restaurant where he's the chef, and offered for me to come in for a bowl of soup or cup of coffee later if i wanted. he was very helpful.

so i got out of the car, wandered down to the visitors center, and saw the sign that theyre closed on weekends during september (this was a saturday). great. but there was the bus timetable on the window which would be helpful in getting me to the next town. clifden, where i was, isnt very big. i figured it could entertain me for a couple hours tops. but the buses run very, very infrequently, and only back to the city that i was trying to avoid, or to this national park that i really did want to see - but that bus left 6 hours from then, and would only give me couple hours before i'd need to take a bus from there back home. not a good plan. so, i start walking around. to skip ahead a bit, i ended up walking 8km south along the coast, or near to it. it was beautiful landscape all around, and the weather was also beautiful. cool, sunny, pretty white clouds, perfect for walking and taking pictures.

anyway, i get to this beach and i figure im getting close to the next town which was supposed to be 9km from where i started. there's a nice looking older couple walking from the beach back to their car and i ask the lady if she knows how far ballyconeely is from there (cuz i really had to pee, actually, and wondered if i'd make it. but i didnt mention that to her). she wasnt sure, but she told me to wait and she went to ask her husband. she came back and said its still about 4-5 miles. (they switched from miles to the metric system in 2002, when they became part of the EU, but most people over 25 still speak of miles) i thought that couldnt be right, but thanked her anyway. she asked if i was driving. i said no, walking. she said, oh, is that so. well, you be careful now. so i said thank you, and started walking on. about 3 minutes later they pull up in their car and offer me a ride. she said they thought it was later, but that they could take me to ballyconeely because theyre going there too. i wasnt sure what she meant by thinking that it was later, but i accepted the ride in any case. they said they were waiting to go to a lecture at 4pm in the town where i started, but it was just about 130 then. anyway, one minute later and we reached ballyconeely. it was just about 1km away from where we were. they asked if this was where i was going, and i said i was actually going to get to the next, slightly bigger town called Roundstone, another 15km away to catch a bus from there. so she said, well dear, we're going to roundstone, aren't we? no they werent, but they were so sweet that they took me there anyway. they asked about me story, and i told them how i studied memory. the man said, 'oh, i could use you. my memory isn't so good anymore'. then over the course of the ride he asked me about six times where i was staying. and it wasnt to be funny. he just kept forgetting. but he drove well enough. slowly. everyone else passed him. but they were very sweet.

so, i made it to roundstone. i had read about it in a guidebook the night before and it sounded like thered be something to see. but there really wasnt. but i had to pee, and thought it'd be a good place to grab a bit and a cup of tea before i found a bus back to the city. i saw the busstop, so i looked at that first so i'd know when i should be back there. well, wouldn't you know that the buses dont run through there on saturdays. nope, mon., wed, fri. and sun. only. and theres no other towns big enough for a busstop for at least a hundred km if i kept going in the direction i was headed. so my safest option seemed to be to go back to where i started. but first i ate and drank and rested my feet while i mulled it over. i really didnt feel like walking back the way i'd just come, since i'd seen it all and taken photos of it all, and it was a long way back. but it was also a long way to anything else in the new direction. but i opted for the new, adventurous, unknown path. there were enough people in the town with cars, and i thought most would be heading to the city, even though i didnt know just how long it'd take to get there. but since it was such a beautiful day, and i had enjoyed walking so far, and i'd gotten so many great pictures and knew i could get more, and there were so many times when i was in the car with the old couple that i wouldve liked to stop to take photos but didnt because i had to pee, that i decided to just keep walking until i got tired. so i did that. i guess i walked another 5km before i reached a crossroads that seemed like a good place to catch a ride. a few cars drove past before an old man in a lexus stopped for me. he said he was just going down to the angler's return down the road, but i was welcome to go that far. i had no idea how far that was, but went along anyway. he asked if i was taking photos, and commented on what a beautiful day it was for photos. i think it was my camera that helped him to stop for me. anyway, he mentioned this art opening he was on his way to see before he went to a lecture in clifden a bit later. there was an arts festival in clifden that weekend, so all these old people were going there for various workshops (my observation, not his). anyway, i guess it was a mile or two before we got to the Angler's Return, which is a B&B with an art exhibition going on. he said its kind of a quiet road, but i shouldnt have much trouble getting another ride from there.

it was another very pretty area, so i kept walking and taking photos. i walked and walked, and came across some open hills that i realized i could use as a shortcut. i startled some sheep at one point. and i startled myself shortly afterward when i stepped in a big muddy patch. i was hoping it wasnt a big poop patch. but the lack of smell, and the amount of other soggy, muddy patches helped me put together that i was walking through bog territory. my host mentioned that there's lots of bogs out there. anyway, i decided to get back on the road to avoid more mud. by this point my shoes were squishing and i felt that if i kept walking like that then blisters would start forming, and that wouldnt be fun. so i found a nice spot to sit on a bridge over this private fly-fishing stream. it sure was nice out. i took off my shoes, rolled up my pants, and pulled out an apple and some olives from my backpack. after awhile i walked on, until it was foresty. i was faced with another decision, to stay on the main road i'd been walking, or take this cool looking road into the forest. well, sticking with my motto for the day, i chose the unknown and went into the forest. i learned that it was the property of this really fancy looking hotel in an old castle that gave permits to fish in the private stream (only fly-fishing was allowed). after another 1 or 2km i started wondering where i was headed. i saw another older couple walking down the road. they were picking blackberries (there were so many blackberries throughout the whole day). i asked how far to the next main road, and he said not too far, half mile or so. she said if i got hungry i could eat blackberries. i thanked them, and hoped that his distance estimation skills were better than the first old man's. well, he wasnt too far off, and i eventually came upon what looked to be a main road. but there were no signs pointing to the next town, so i wasnt even sure which direction was the right one. i used the sun, which was going down and made me a bit nervous because that meant it would soon be colder and darker. i thought it'd be harder to hitchhike in the dark, so i decided to try to catch a ride right away. well, that didnt turn out to be so easy. cars were going fast, and not slowing down. so i kept walking, hoping in the right direction. i saw a car a ways down the road, with people and gear, and it looked like they were stopped for awhile, like for hiking around or something. so i went up to ask if they had a map and could tell me where we were. it was a group of 4 girls, getting ready to camp for the night. they took out their map and showed me where we were. they then pointed to where they saw me sitting on the bridge while i was drying my feet out. they were amazed that i had walked as much as i did, and asked if i had a tent or sleeping bag. i said no, and they seemed concerned because i told them where i was headed and there was no way i could walk there before dark. but it turns out i was on the road that i wanted to be on, the one that's a straight shot back to the village where i was staying. i told them that i wouldnt be walking all the way, that i would hitch back. then some cars were coming, so i held out my thumb but no one stopped. the girls seemed concerned again. i said it should be fine, i'd gotten plenty of rides already, someone was bound to stop. some more cars were approaching, i held out my thumb, no one stopped. the girls started to offer to drive me somewhere, then they said, oh, wait, someone stopped. i looked behind me and a car had stopped up ahead. so i thanked the girls, and ran up to the car. it was 2 guys in their 30s and a dog. they said they could take me to the next village, oughterard, which was the one before where i needed to go. great, i'll take it. so it turned out to be about a half hour drive, and the dog rested its head on my lap the whole way. they had all been out hiking at the national park that i would have liked to go to, but didnt. they were nice guys, and couldnt believe how far i had walked that day. anywy, they pointed out my best spot to get a ride to my village.

so, after 5 minutes of trying from there, a young polish guy with a french accent stopped and took me to moycullen. he was on his way to galway, the city that i'm really glad i didnt decide to spend the day in. but from the village, it was still about 4 miles to the house. and by now it was dark, and its a narrow, winding road. i really could have walked it, but decided it was safer to try to hitch. but it seemed harder in the dark. cars had less time to react, or they didnt want to stop, i dunno. but soon enough a car with 2 young guys stopped and took me to the house. i finally made it home a little more than 12 hours after i had left.

it was an amazing day in so many ways. overall, i learned some things. i learned that my physical endurance is greater that i thought. i learned to have faith in myself and others. i learned that choosing the unknown path led to pleasant and interesting situations. playing it safe would have been boring and fear would have only gotten in the way of some great experiences. i knew that i wouldnt find myself in a situation too dangerous, or too far away from other people, and that if i really needed something these other people would help me. all the helpful people i came across really made my day that much more special. and in all the moments in between i felt so good about myself for going through with something without knowing how it was going to turn out. i just trusted my ability to adapt to circumstances, and follow my instincts, and i have a greater sense of confidence now. and i learned how to use my new camera, and i love how it feels to capture all the beauty i see around me and be able to share it with others.

so, that one day was one amazing day that i plan to carry with me every day from now on.

here are some photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/kendallicious77

in ireland

well, i sit in cork, ireland, about the halfway point of my trip already. at this time tomorrow i'll be in the city of galway which sits on the west coast. i've heard nothing but how amazingly beautiful it is, so i look forward to that. i started my trip in dublin, on the east coast, and stayed with a guy who i met through my master's program in amsterdam. he lives in dublin most of the year, but travels a lot and somehow spends a lot of time in the netherlands, too. i had a full 24 hours in dublin, then jumped on a bus to the south where i started my first couchsurfing experience. but right before i got on the bus, i hit my head so hard on the door to the baggage holding area underneath, and it was bleeding the whole ride down (4.5 hours) and still later into the night. i figured i'd wait until morning, and if it didnt close up i'd go to a doctor and get stitches if necessary. but this morning it feels like it finally scabbed over, so thankfully i didnt have to find out if stitches on the top of my head would mean shaving part of my head.

so i spent today wandering around cork. its really not a very exciting city. i probably would have enjoyed taking a day trip out to some castle or something. But!, i did do something worthwhile, and i've spent the last couple hours enjoying it. i finally bought myself i nice digital SLR camera! i've been reading about them, and finally decided to get the nikon d40. the price range is one of the lowest, but it has everything a beginner really needs. so i first started lookin in dublin; went to 3 different camera shops but they all told me it's been discontinued and i'd have to find one second hand and if i did i should grab it because its a good camera at a good price, but no one had one second hand. i had pretty much pushed that one out of my mind then, and didnt even think about looking for any here. but i was walking down the street, saw a camera shop, and a sign on the door said 'nikon d40 special sale'. so i went in, they had 5 or 6 left, and an amazing deal! for 479 euros, i got the camera, a lens, an extra battery back with AA adapter (in addition to the 2 lithium batteries that come with it), a 1gb memory card, a nice case, a remote control, and he even threw in the european plug in addition to the uk plug that it came with! so i started setting it up right away, and am still learning how to do everything i want to do, but i really look forward to using it on the rest of my trip. i think the most beautiful parts of ireland are still ahead of me, so hopefully i can figure out how to get the best pictures.

i'll be staying with a couple in their 30s who live in the countryside a bit outside of galway. they sound like nice people in a pretty area. so i stay there for 2 nights, then go back to dublin for a night before i fly back home on monday morning. i'll post pictures shortly after i get back!