IES Trip to Kerry

As in the natural spirit of all adventures, whenever I go to a new place I learn something new about myself. After the Spain/London trip the IES program took us all to see County Kerry. What I learned about myself in this place is that with the loss of some significant weight I am now enabled to do more physical things. Kerry became a natural jungle gym, and it seemed as though everyone had an amazing time. Kerry is also known as probably the most beautiful place in Ireland, and having been there I agree. The whole country is gorgeous (maybe not Cork city) but Kerry is on another level.

Brad and I woke up at the ass crack of down, 5:30, and got our stuff together and took a taxi to Heuston station where we met with the rest of the program. I slept for most of the first train ride, then for most of the second train ride, and then we were in Kerry.

The first thing we did was take a short bus ride to a group of horse carriages. We got off the bus and formed groups of four for the horses. I was with Peter, Sam and Patrick, and a very nice Irishman named Dan took us to his horse named Billy.

As soon as we get in the carriage the horse took a massive dump and Dan said, "Oh, that means he doesn't like ye." But Billy turned out to be quite the speed demon, and even though this was the horse's first ride since the winter, he ran right past all the other horses without being whipped. I was impressed.

The ride was obviously hilarious, and when we approached major hills we had to get out and walk them because it put too much strain on the horse. The countryside was really beautiful and took on a very primeval look.

As we rode, Dan sang little charming Irish ditties to himself which definitely added to the ride. This part of the country is so isolated that in certain parts that we passed Dan told us they didn't have electricity until 1979 and the first phone line was installed in 1988.

We were the first carriage to arrive at the destination, said our goodbyes to Billy, and got lunch. I had an egg salad sandwich. The last carriage arrived about an hour later, because their horse was lethargic and about to die en route, so they told the driver they'd walk the last mile and a half. After lunch we took a boat ride across an 8 mile long lake, and I sat next to the boatman who lived in the area and said that his job was to drive people across the lake once a day every day and that was it. He said life was good and he looked to be very content.

We arrived at the other end of the lake and walked around for a bit, climbed up a sweet tree, and then went to a waterfall. This was jungle gym number one. We were climbing all over this thing though it was pretty dangerous, and I decided to not care that I was dirtying my one good pair of pants on the trip. Luckily there were nice Filipino tourists who were good at fording waterfalls and lent a hand. It was at this waterfall that I made the observation that no matter how far you climb inside or upwards, you always want to climb higher and are never quite satisfied. I realized this everywhere we went afterwards.

The Waterfall

After this we walked to a very large field with an open mansion in front of it and hung out. This was a lot of fun. We were pretty slap happy and tired so we played such classical games as piggy-back races, tag and ninja. Brad was especially goofy at that point because he was so tired, but it was entertaining.

After that we went to our hotel in Dingle.

The hotel was very nice but they didn't turn the heat on so it was pretty cold. I needed some shampoo and some cider so I walked into the small yet charming town and went to the Supervalu. I bought a six pack of Bulmer's and came back to the hotel. After that it was pretty late and everyone else had gone to dinner, so Brad, Patrick, Peter and I went down the street to Murphy's Bar and got dinner. I ordered the only non-meat dish, which was the "potato platter," which included a dissatisfying amount of potatoes and then a small side of peas, and then of course a Guinness. We ended up staying at Murphy's Bar all night with a lot of people from the program. At one point Browyn ordered everyone drinks because a guy in a cowboy hat on the street handed her 50 euros and told her to have a good night. She didn't ask questions and we were all happy with that. Later that night we made our way back to the hotel.

We woke up early the next day and had breakfast at the hotel. Our first stop that day was to the ancient beehives, which are 5000 year old stone structures that look like beehives and are not held together by anything but the gravity of rock upon rock. I was amazed and somewhat skeptical as to how those structure were able to last for all those millennia without some pre or post Jesus punk knocking it down as a practical joke, like cow tipping. But maybe they've always been well protected.

We got back on the bus and stopped at many different places to appreciate the awesomeness of the coastline. In one place we stopped at a beach for about an hour that was situated below a cliff about 80 feet high.

The beach was right on the ocean and we took off our shoes and ran around in the cold sand. Here was jungle gym number two. I, along with a few others, climbed up a natural rock wall all the way to the top. Again, the higher you get the higher you want to climb, though it was pretty dangerous. Ireland is very much a country that you take on "at your own risk." If you fall down a jagged rock wall barefoot and break your head open, it's your fault. I'm sure it's happened before.

After the beach we went to the Blasket Island Heritage Center, which is a museum glorifying a small community of about 50 people who once lived on an isolated island for generations. Some of Ireland's most well known literature comes from this community, including the Islandman by Tomas O' Criomhthain and Peig by Peig Sayers. In the museum they had quotes from different people on the island. This quote from Peig's book stuck with me, because it held a gravity and creativeness I don't often find, and I still think about it a lot. I'm definitely going to read her book.

After the center we went to lunch at a pottery place. Before lunch we got to use the clay wheel and make little bowls. My bowl is now a change holder in my room back in Dublin. Lunch was delicious.

Then came one of my favorite parts of the trip. We stopped at this coastline mountain called Kiosharaha (that spelling is incredibly wrong, I can't find it on google). I raced a few people up the hill and then we explored. I went down the peak toward the cliff edge, which was pretty dangerous, but this was the most spectacular view I'd seen of Ireland the whole semester. We sat at the edge while one of the girls on the program played ukulele and sang. The whole thing was glorious.

That night we went to dinner with the entire program at a great place and then went back to the hotel and played a hilarious drinking game called "Cheers, Governor." After that we went out to a pub called Paul Geaney's with live music and stayed there the whole night with about half the program. I had my first Irish Car Bomb (Don't ask for this, it's insulting to Irish people), which was a Bailey's shot dropped into a Guinness, in a race against Peter. He beat me and it was sad. The night ended when my friend chucked her empty pint glass across the street and it shattered everywhere.

The next day we had free, so many people went to see the lighthouse. We took some pictures with cows and then went over to see the lighthouse. Here was jungle gym number four. I along with a girl on the program wound up climbing really far on the edge of the mainland and found a cave. At many points we were hanging literally over the deep cold water and it was awesome. I really learned to appreciate climbing on this trip. We met up with some people after at a place called The Diner and then boarded the bus to get back to Kerry. Overall, very awesome trip. Thanks IES for the memories.