Aran Islands, Ireland

Lizz is currently sitting in the lounge of the hostel contemplating how it's possible to get a sunburn in Ireland...

I'll be sure to give a description of my night out on the town with Au pairs and biology researchers from around the world. But, the events of today are so superior I'd much rather share them.
Theresa, a girl I met in Dublin who is now in Galway looking for work, and I decided yesterday that we wanted to take a day trip to the Aran islands. It involved getting up at 8 in the morning and catching a bus that would take us to a neighboring town. We then had to get on a ferry that took us out to the island. When we got up it was cold and rainy. I put on almost every layer of clothing I brought with me and I was still freezing the whole way. When we got the the island we decided not to rent bikes, but to just walk. We made this decision because 1. We thought the island was fairly small and walkable, 2. Theresa hadn't been on a bike in over eight years and didn't know if she would make it, and 3. It was kind of raining which is miserable to bike in. So, we took off on foot and immediately got lost, had to ask for directions, finally got on our way. As we walked the weather very gradually improved. At first it stopped raining, then the clouds goth thinner. Finally, the sun actually started to come out. I also gradually started shedding layers as it warmed up. By the time we made it to the main attraction, which is an old fort and some cliffs, we were fairly hot, and tired, and hungry. As we approached a bend in the road we saw a food vender in a cart called 'The Chipper'. I ordered some curry fries and sat on a wall to eat them. As we're eating a group of local boys drove up and parked and they got out and started talking to the guy running the stand. Another guy then drove up in a backhoe carrying a large stone which he dropped on one side of The Chipper. He then got out of his backhoe and started yelling at the guy working the stand. Despite the fact he was speaking English, I couldn't understand anything and I wasn't sure if he was serious or joking. Theresa and I ended up moving to the other side of the Chipper as backhoe man moved a couple more stones to his pile. As we were watching this show two of the local boys who were at the stand sat next to us. We found out from them that the man with the backhoe owns the land that the Chipper was parked on. Apparently this guy is super rich and owns tons of land, and shops, including a cafe that is a few meters away from the Chipper. And apparently the Chipper was stealing his business. This guy was moving stones to try and block the Chipper in so it couldn't park there again. They told me that the guy who owns the Chipper plans on parking it in front of Backhoe's house tomorrow.
After chatting with the two locals for a while we told them we were trying to walk to the cool places on the island. The told us there was no way we could make it all the way to all of them and make it back to the ferry on time. So they offered to go get their Jeep and drive us around the island. The thing about the jeep is that it doesn't have any back seats. They said they can get more people in there that way.
The first place we decided to visit was the 'worm hole'.
The thing I need to make clear about the roads in Aran Islands is that there really aren't any, not in the way we think of them. There are some paved streets that one car might make it down on its own. They are also full of potholes and dips. Don't forget I'm in the back without seats.
We finally make it to where we can get out and start walking. I would equate the hike to mountain climbing on rocks without the incline. The view was amazing. and when we finally made it to the worm hole it was also mind-blowing.
As we walked we talked to the two guys and found out that they're named Stephen and Cole and they're fishermen. Stephan fishes for lobster on a small boat that his family makes while Cole is on a larger fishing boat that goes out for two weeks at a time. As we walked with them Steve and Cole would periodically slip into talking to each other in Irish which was fantastic. I asked about it and they said they speak both English and Irish regularly. Irish is more formal, so they would be expected to speak it to parents and anyone older, while English is more informal and spoken with friends.
After the worm hole we decided to go see the tower. Steve asked me if I wanted to take the back roads or the main road. I did not realize what we had been driving on so far was 'main road' so I said back road. Back roads in the Aran islands are not actually roads at all but over grown areas in-between ancient stone walls that are just barely large enough for a Jeep. There are branches of bushes scrapping against the side of the car and I am not at all sure how we didn't hit the walls.
We eventually made it to the tower, jumped a fence and climbed around in it. We also went to a fort and some cliffs before Steve and Cole dropped us off at our ferry.
I cannot imagine how my Aran Island experience could have been better.