Ring of Kerry

This past weekend I went with the school to tour the Ring of Kerry and it was absolutely beautiful. No wonder it is one of Ireland's top tourist destinations.

Friday, we went to Kerry Bog Village. We saw little bog huts, and the Kerry Bog Pony. One of the most exciting bits was seeing these 2 Irish wolfhounds. They are HUGE dogs. We heard about their excellent hunting skills and how they basically freak out if there is a cat around. So we see these dogs and hear about them but what happened next is up for debate. We were getting back on the bus and all of a sudden we see one of the Wolfhounds taking off...with a cat in it's mouth. Half the bus thinks it was a real cat, the other half thinks that it was a decoy for the tourists. I haven't made up my mind but it certainly was interesting. We also learned about this guy who lived near by and was quite a character. Apparently he used to go in the lake and "tickle the fish." To tickle fish you have to stand still about waist high with your hands in the water. The fish come to rest against your hand thinking that it is the bank and once they do, you somehow flip them out of the water onto the bank. This guy also used to have a significant moonshine operation going on (they call it potchin over here.) He used to string the bottles of alcohol across the river but under the water, so they would be naturally cooled by the running water.

That night we got to the hotel and had a guest speaker talk about growing up on a farm in South Kerry. She was fascinating. I learned about going to school with no shoes on through peat bogs and being distracted and getting to school late but it didn't matter because the speaker would bring in peat bricks to heat up the classroom. I learned about milking cows (which is apparently pretty boring) but her brother would squirt her in the face with milk. Apparently life was full of hard work but full of happiness. People would come in and out of houses and tell stories or play instruments and dance around. After the talk, we had a caeli which is always so much fun.  We learned three different dances and while I'm not sure I have the hang of swinging people around, I had a great time.

Saturday we went to the Skelling Experience. We couldn't go to the Skellings because it is winter but we learned about them. The Skellings are two rocks. On the bigger rock there are the remains of the monastery, and on the little one there is the second largest gannet population in the world. I have no idea how monks built a monastery on this rock. It is literally 7 miles into the ocean, with no shelter and winds whipping around, waves crashing and oh the Vikings would come around every so often. The rocks are ridiculously steep as well. Saturday night we had a guest speaker who was a former professional Gaelic footballer. He was great. We got to learn about how the game is played, about rising through the levels (you are basically born into a club and grow up with them) and how Gaelic footballers put in the same level of commitment as any other professional athlete but they essentially play for free.

After the talk we had Quizzo which I always enjoy. I got a few questions right like what ingredients go into a Bloody Mary or what canal is a Greek god spelled backward. I even pulled out who Homer Simpson's neighbor is which kinda shocked me because I don't really watch that show. But anyway there was a wide variety of questions, so most people get at least a few right.

Sunday we hiked to these forts that we got to walk on top of and then drove around the rest of the Ring of Kerry. It was a clear day and the Ring is absolutely beautiful. Overall, a great Irish cultural weekend.