A note about Guinness...and the world

First, the world. I am in the most remote area of Ireland, the area around the Mullet Peninsula (yes, please laugh). Speaking of mullets, I thought about going to a barber and getting one of these speak mohawkish mullets that's popular around here, but I figure I'll stick with my long, flowing locks for the time being. Anyway, I am in the most remote area of Ireland. No cell phone service...but there's broadband internet. I'm chillin here doing some work after a huge dinner in this hostel/lodge. The only other person staying tonight is this middle-aged German guy named Axel (I think that's what he said). He's really nice and we had a delightful dinner together. He's been coming to this very place for 11 years to get away from things and hike some long distance trails around here. This area of Ireland is dominated by peat bog stuff. It's not as gross as it sounds. There's a whole science to it that I learned about today, but long story short, people use the bog as fuel for fires. The fire going next to me has peat logs instead of wood logs. They're basically burning dried ground. It has a distinctive smell that not exactly bad. Kind of like toast and smoked sausage. It also does a great job of preserving stuff like tools, wood, and human bodies.

Now to Guinness. You can look it up on Wikipedia if you so desire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness). I'll cover a few things that aren't made explicit. It's delicious. Like a smoothie, but beer. There is truly a difference in how it is tapped. If tapped incorrectly, it is simply not as good. So, first you must tilt the glass and open the tap. Fill the glass until there is about 1-2 cm left at the top. Set the glass to the side and watch the beautiful waterfall of the settling process (due to the nitrogen in the tap instead of carbon dioxide). Once settled, take the glass back to the tap and push the tap backward to top it off with the perfect white head arching over the rim of the glass. Let it settle once again and then drink. You know its good if the foam sticks to the glass as you drink the pint. The inside of the glass should be white by the end. Also, a good Guinness is creamy and smooth. A bad one is watery and acidic. That's about all I know so far.

Guinness is only 198 calories per pint and costs an average of 3.60 euros at a pub. Let's do some math. Pretend I continue at my current pace and have about 50 pints before I go back to the States. That's 9900 calories of pure satisfaction. That is also 180 euro--about $260--well spent. That's also enough alcohol to get everybody who reads this blog drunk...unless Matthew is reading because he's got the tolerance of, well, a seasoned Irishman.

When I got here, I was a little creeped out. There are spiders and webs everywhere, but I think they're better than the ubiquitous midges that suck human blood. I'll tell you about midges some other time. No snakes, bear, wolves, crocodiles, or other other man-eating beasts--just lots of spiders, flies, and midges...and sheep.

Here's a picture of Downpatrick Head. It was really windy, cold, and rainy today. I didn't want to get too close to the edge. These are some serious cliffs.



Still day 7; no Guinness out here in the middle of nowhere.