London - 9 Mar 06

Returning to the Scotland trip…Saturday’s start was at Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye. We then ended at Loch Ness. Before we left the Isle of Skye we drove the northern perimeter of the island. It is beautiful. There was plenty of snow, and hairy coos and sheep were running around in it. We had some more snowball fights as well.

One bus stop was at a creek where some of us put our faces in the nearly frozen water. Fab also filled up his bottle with the mountain water and it was so great. I think too many people are scared to drink mountain water. We are all so paranoid. Some of my best shots of the whole weekend were taken on Skye at a waterfall and at a castle that was next to a cliff. I got a donut for 36p from a local bakery in Portree. It was far better than something in London for the same price.

The group had a memorable presentation from a Scotsman on how the Scottish lived 600 years ago. I don’t know completely what it would have been like, but I’m pretty sure it would have sucked. He showed us how to fold up a kilt and how to kill using traditional Scottish weaponry. The Scottish, like the British, strike me as a generally sexist group compared to the general population in the US. Gender stereotyping and discrimination is much more of a joking matter over here. I feel the US is closer to gender equality than the UK is. It is a cultural habit of some British, who are mostly from the old school, to use sexist jokes when talking to foreigners, as if they are showing off their chauvinistic values. I don’t know if they think we would be impressed. I just don’t know, but it is sketchy.

I have been really busy, and I will be for one more day so I am going to bed, but I haven’t written anything about how soon Kate is going to be here. I am excited.

I don’t like Scotch. Scotch tape is great. I love the green plaid pattern on the paper inside the tape casing, but scotch whiskey is nasty. If I were more of a fan of that liquor I would have liked the Isle of Skye a little more than I did. Don’t get me wrong, the Isle of Skye is not just for scotch lovers, it was one of the most far out things I saw when I was abroad, but there were all these famous distilleries around, like the Tallisker distillery, which makes some of the finest scotch you can buy.

The island feels like the North Pole. You drive to the northern tip of it and the cold blue sheet of the Atlantic envelops your vision. There are impossible rock formations that remind me of Mordor, except they were blasted with snow when I saw them. There are signs of civilization, but that didn’t keep me from feeling I was the only person around for miles and miles.

The water that we pulled from the creek was the best. Don’t always be scared of diseased water. Drink. Enjoy.

Ah yes, the Loch Ness Monster. There are people that believe there is some creature in the loch. Light only works thirty or thirteen feet down in the water. The loch has so much peet in it that deeper than one of the two said distances there is no light that is able to pierce the dark water. The myth really does live on, even in the Highlands.