Ireland, Day 5 - Killarney and Dingle Pinninsula

Whew. Another full day.

I've managed two runs so far while I've been here, which is excellent considering how much food I've been eating! We're not doing that much walking or anything during the day, but I've been hungry the whole time we've been here. Maybe you spend more energy while traveling? Dunno.

Regardless, knocked out 3 miles on Monday and 3 miles today. Then saw a bunch of stuff on the Dingle pinninsula as well as a lot of Irish countryside.

One of the more interesting things about the trip is how very undeveloped the countryside is. This country has such a vastly more expansive history than ours, yet there are acres and acres and acres of beautiful land that are pasture and farmlands and not in the least bit developed. If that land existed in the US? Some developer would snap it up, bulldoze everything, put a bunch of houses on it, and voila. No more pretty countryside.

It does sound like a few developers tried that several years ago, but when the world's economy tanked, all the funding dried up and left ghost developments. Sort of like Florida and Arizona, I guess. But it's not just the lack of development. You don't see cell towers, or power lines, and very rarely do you see billboards. Gas stations are few and far between, and the road situation is...interesting.

Today we traveled on several "two lane" roads that were actually one lane and required both cars to squeeze over as far as possible to get past each other. Did I mention that they have no concept of a shoulder? Seriously - there are probably 6 inches between the edge of the road and the hedges. NO SHOULDER.

There's no trash on the sides of the road, no dead animals, no large street signs. It just feels undeveloped. Part of it is their food culture, assuming I understand it right. They don't do feed lots. All of their cattle graze, as do their sheep, goats, and all other animals. They don't mass produce meat, which requires an enormous amount of land. And makes a huge difference in how the food tastes. Butter, ham, beef, cream...so good, and very fresh. I think that is probably a much healthier way to eat, although our driver did say that Ireland is starting to see a problem with obesity, just like the rest of the world.

But again, if that farmland existed in the US, someone would farm it within an inch of its life, and mass produce everything possible. That just doesn't seem to be done here. Everything is done on a smaller, more natural scale. We could probably take a few lessons from that. Granted, everything is a LOT more expensive, and I think Ireland's unemployment is worse than the US's. So it's not all rainbows and unicorns. But there are definitely some things that the US could take a look at in terms of healthier living.

That, and maybe a Guinness factory.