Kenmare, Ireland

Sometimes you just don't get your way.  Like trying to post all my adventures before returning to the states and uploading the relevant pics.  But for what it's worth....I have this - the last of my Ireland stories :

I'm glad life has taught me to not focus on the negative but instead to seize the opportunities which a challenge may pose. I woke up early today and took the 2 hr drive to Portmagee in the hopes of my Ireland pinnacle trip.  A journey to Skellig Michael. Having reserved my spot from the states I knew it was a gamble when the reservation required a call the day before to check the weather. Upon waking I saw the weather was going to play hardball. 

 Patchy clouds, a drizzle here and there followed by heavy rains and then mist.  Not the kind of out to sea weather to a UNESCO site with a reputation for dangerous and recorded climber deaths.  And so, it was no surprise, 15 mins after my arrival that the excursion was cancelled.  Disappointed and not quite with a Plan B (I love how flowing I've become), I stared out and watched the fisherman working his traps in the early chill.  

Perseverance. I watch him  draw in the heavy traps with ease and grace.   He doesn't seem to grimace when some come up empty.  He just keeps on moving to the next one. Meanwhile i am a soaked voyeur on the dock.   By now the small group of fellow climbers with cancelled journeys have departed and only a few debate their direction .  I am in no rush.  I want to believe that I am like the fisherman drawing in  his traps,  not checking them with the expectation that they be full but with the gratitude that they bring me something I didn't have before. And it's in that gratitude of what's to come that I take solace for the cancellation.  

111 beautiful miles later, I complete my drive around the Ring of Kerry and point north west towards the Cliffs of Moher. Ah yes, nomadic experience indeed. 

Mental note- if you stop at a major market and ask for directions everyone is very helpful.  Just be ready to wonder if you are missing the mark or if they're speaking Gaelic since the varying accent can prove to be a challenge. But, then again, that's the beauty of exploration.

I have to say that Ireland has the most amazing and thorough tourist offices I have ever seen. The people are jumping to assist you and load you with maps (sigh, I needed them on night number 1) as they mark your roads and pepper your journey with places you should pull over and look for things of interest. It's like a grownups Easter egg hunt of ruins.  Ohhhh and the ruins!! What the US has in billboards along highways, Ireland has in castles, abbeys, monasteries, old burial sites, partial walls, monoliths, stone circles, and then some. You cant miss them. So much history and a people whose smiles rival those of my own homeland. That takes a lot for me to even say since us Dominicans are extremely smiley.  But tis true. No matter where I have gone in this country, I have been greeted with huge smiles and given a taste of the local lore.  

I admit that I do not wish to end my travels;  I'm thankful for the experience and refreshed view of the world- and my own spirit - that they have given me. I needed this and like a junkie, I drive forward until my next fix.