To me it seems such a thing as beautiful smooth even tan doesn't even exist. No matter what I do, no matter what sunscreen I use or don't use, I always get the embarrasing spotty & half burned skin when I'm out in the sun. You know the kind - the colourful patterns you get on your skin when you keep changing the outfits depending on the occasion (walks, restaurants, sangrias, beach, feeding cats&dogs) and don't enjoy spending your days lying beside the pool in bikinis.
The lovely pattern of shorts and skirts, dresses and shirts, towels and rags, scarfs and handbags.. at this very moment (Sunday evening, 10pm) I have a fucken even SQUARE on my chest from a weird shirt I wore today.
Well, enough about that. I never travel for such silly reasons, ah, but yes. Who can deny they wouldn't like a beautifully tanned skin?
The love we have for these people for having the love for these animals
It came as a total surprise, and I still can't quite believe it. These people actually take care of the cats and dogs living on the streets! When we arrived and met the first street pets, we instantly noticed how healthy and happy they seemed to be. Then, after walking around in the narrow alleys we started noticing all the bowls and plates the people had left there on purpose. Fresh water and food for animals they don't even own. Or do they? To me it seems the animals just choose random people to hang out with. Some of the dogs (and sometimes cats) wear collars, but they're all wandering around free, in small packs or alone. Some of them keep following the same people, like this funny guy living on the streets (?), taking care of at least two of them fulltime. The other dog even has puppies somewhere, hidden, and the guy is making sure they have a safe place to be in. He's been hiding them and sneaking the dogs over the fence, cause apparently the landlord doesn't like to have stray dogs around.
Tonite, we heard some kitten noises too! They had a safe place under a table in someone's backyard (yes, we sneaked&peeked, isn't it obvious!).. and yes, we do realise it's not a good thing to let the cats run around and make more kittens who'll grow up to be cats who'll have more kittens who'll grow up to be cats and so on. But still! Kittens! Wish we somehow got to see them!
Tomorrow, we're gonna buy a bag full of quality cat & dog food and leave the whole thing on their doorstep.. maybe leave a note, thanking them for taking care of the animals. Or something. The Finnish pet fairies!
After seeing how happy and healthy these animals are, me and Aija even had this idea that some animal shelters should bring their homeless, miserable puppies to the city border and let them loose.
One day we went out and bought some decent dog & cat food and went out walking to a nearby alley where we had seen an old dog and a lot of cats. There they were, almost like waiting for us to arrive with our treats. The cute, old, shy dog got his very own can of food. He was very happy about it, ate it all and even stole some of the cat food when he had a chance. The eight or nine cats we fed were really cautious too, not allowing us to come too close, so we just stood back and took photos while they ate and sneaked around in the shadows. I think it's awesome that they don't trust just anybody - after all, some people are just full of shit and do the meanest things to the creatures weaker than themselves.
Which reminds me of last night. Me and Aija went out for a few ciders and met some funny Northern Irish guys, in their 40s or something. Had some laughs and a few pints. At some point a hen party posse joined us, a bunch of noisy, young women. At that point we kinda lost interest in all of them and were planning to go back to the hotel and get some sleep. But, just then this beautiful young golden retriever(ish) dog trots around the corner and comes to say hello to the ladies sitting around the tables. Naturally me and Aija were all ooh and aah and aww, but the closest bitch just slapped the dog away and said something about fleas. I think she kicked the dog too. Yes, the ever so dangerous and fatal FLEAS, oh my god. But the best part of this was the instant reaction she got from us: Aija gave her the finger and I kicked her pal's butt without thinking one second. I bet we looked really scary!! ROAR!
(After that we left the group and spent at least half an hour with the dog, playing with a plastic bottle. People bad, animals good!)
(We also met a skinny, friendly cat who purrrred to us! Spent another 30mins with her.)
(Of course we had to check Our Cat Valley too before getting any sleep.)
(Every time we are walking back to the hotel, the 10min walk takes us an hour at least.)
Oh, wait till you see the photos of these street pets! The cat with the different color eyes and everything! And CHARLIE! (Yes, we've named some of them).
Dolphins!
Tomorrow, we're hoping to see some wild dolphins up close and very very personal. We already booked & paid for a boat trip out to the sea. Gonna see the caves and everything! Of course, we can't be 100% sure the dolphins are gonna come over to greet us, but they just HAVE to. The thing that sucked about booking this trip was the fact you had to walk all the way to the marina (harbour) to book it and to pay it the day before.. sure, you can give them your credit card number if you want to, but we decided to be extra cautious with that. After all, the nice Oirish Guys from last nite had gotten a forged (?) 50 euro bill from a barman! It seemed pretty authentic, but after a closer look you just knew it wasn't right. He hadn't even noticed anything weird, but a waiter in another bar brought it back to him and showed the things that were wrong with it.
Aww man! That sucks. We were (and are) so sorry for the man. It's not a lot of money, but it's still money and a frustrating trick done to a happy tourist.
Things we should write about:
-- Food & restaurants
-- Beach & paths
-- Pubs & waiters
-- Locals greeting you on streets!
Anyone have any questions? We'll be GLAD to answer :)
--Tiia--
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