MEETING ‘KING’ CONG
I hooked up with a new group of "Tir" travelers yesterday in Galway. Most are Aussie and we're all women, apart from one token bloke, Nathan. Two fellow Americans, Tracy and Rachel, are both medical residents from L.A. It's the most fun group to hang out so far. We took off from Galway and headed north, first to the "Connemara," a beautiful, slightly mountainous area. With heavy rain falling, the mist only adds to the atmosphere. Going past small villages, one known as Oughterrand, meaning "heavy cream", is known for its rich buttermilk. The autumn leaves have changed more now, and it's quite cold as we head further north. The greens are still very vivid, but dotted amongst the varied shades are yellow, orange and red highlights. Even the browns are auburn tinged. Its a hilly area and with U2's "Achtung, Baby!" playing on the cassette player, we head on through the rolling hills. The Connemara was first introduced to American audiences via the film "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne, which highlighted the beautiful Irish countryside on movie screens nationwide. The road signs announce, "An Gaeltacht", reminding that Irish is spoken here as a first language, here in the western part of Ireland more than anywhere else in the country. This area is also quite full of "bog lands" full of peat (the Irish call it turf) and we're off to do some bog-hopping. The soft underbelly of land is beneath us, built up over eons of time by the ancient ferns, mosses and heather beaten down and crushed over during last ice age, and left now. As acidic barren land, this area is home to the dying art harvesting the "turf" or peat, a non-reusable fuel used by earlier farmers as the primary heating source of homes here. In one bog land nearby, an ancient Viking's remains were found nearly intact, due to the preservation, and because no oxygen can get though the compacted dense bog land, the remains were almost mummified. It's misty, foggy and beautiful, with scattered pine forests off in the distance. Then on past Killary Fiord, Ireland's only fiord, where oyster farming is done in the sea inlet formed by the glaciers long ago. Soon, we passed by Lough Corrib, Ireland's largest lake, a constant drizzle our companion. Now we're in County Mayo, where my mother's great-grandmother Finn hailed. Finally, we land in Cong, where we'll stay the night. We found the main pub in this small town and I sat down and was quickly encircled by a slew of local men. Geez, I’m the only woman in here, as I felt the vulchers surrounding me. It's friendly enough, though, as one of them bought me a pint and the good times soon began. After an hour or so, as I wondered where the rest of my troop was....a young, strapping Gaelic footballer (Dave, age 25) decided we should go fetch them. On the way, we stopped off so I could see the "Ashford Castle", a beautiful 12th century castle, complete with moat and drawbridge stonework, now used as a hotel for the wealthy and celebrity visitors (cost 500 euros a night!). Then back to the hostel we went, to summon the others. Nine of the girls came back and got a tour of the castle also and before heading back to the pub with us. Then, the "craic" (fun) began. These locals, it turns out, were not only the biggest cast of characters straight out of central casting but most were also millionaires due to land ownership. One old man, Eamonn, was blitzed and kept picking the meat off of my dinner plate, until I got a small plate and cut up some of my food for him (into little bits as I was warned to by the other guys for his dentures). Turns out Eamonn is the richest one there, and had just sold some land in Galway for 3 million euros. (get your own damn plate of lamb, Eamonn!) Another guy, Mick, we nicknamed "the king of Cong". He weighed easily around 400 lbs. and was a perfect Irish John Candy knock-off. He was falling down drunk and kept falling asleep in between sips off his pint, only to wake up and start singing "The Heifer Song", a hilarious romp on the similarities of women and cows. These guys bought us all so many rounds that the tables were covered with undrunk pints the entire night. The music was great, led by Matt Kane, evidently of the well known Kane family (his sister Delores, is like the female Christy Moore folk singer). Pat, on accordion joined Matt, in several traditional tunes and eventually other musicians joined in, including a stand up bass player. Other men sitting at the bar joined us in song. The band played some other songs for the many Aussie girls present and Kate even sang a Sinead O'Conner song for us all. Tonight was a fantastic, authentic Irish night of craic!