The highlanders

This is the second part of a journey thru the country of the Scots, further north, near where the land ends and the sea ice begins.

About Scotland, what can I say? Well, firstly that their meteorologists are the most optimistic people I met. They always say it will be sunny, but this fact is only a mirage for those who come from Portugal. In nearly two-week stay, I saw the sun comes only on one occasion and a half. What I can assure yes, right in August, almost every day, that pervaded a very strong breeze thru the territory, the cold wind from the North. As the photos of landscapes, I can say right now that are not a big deal, they don't do justice to the beauty of its mountains and its lakes. The locks are flanked by intensely green vegetation, (if you will excuse the redundancy) lush and populated by dense morning mists. I should point out also, that like the other mortals, I did not see the loch ness monster, all do I wait for its appearance sitting for a couple of hours. The grazing valleys are ideal for sheep and the famous angus cows swarming these landscapes, only cut by rocky cliffs which overlooks to the sea. There are immense ruins of abandoned castles along the coast, static ghosts of a more warlike time, a skeleton deterrent to potential intruders that remain standing, despite the hardships of time and the disappearing of their respective clans. The rugged mountains are half-covered by a purple robe, a wild resilient plant, they call it heather, urze in Portuguese, which has a very special meaning to the Scots, though is not its official flower, when a highlander leaves their land, rips a small amount of the ground and takes it with him to other new worlds, is a bit of his beloved Scotland that he carries next to his heart. It's beautiful is not it?

As for the people who can add more? I mentioned that they are one of the nicest? And oh, have a real obsession for auctions, it is true. If there is something that the Scots like to do is bid on objects of every life and I am not exaggerating. You can get the stuffing of a house in these places, is indeed one of the favorite pastimes for the end-to-week, I attended one where an angry ex-wife auction, as revenge, everything she received at the wedding including the wedding dress, how I known that? The auctioneer makes a point of telling these little tidbits interspersed with notes humor, this is another of the attractions of these places, the stories reveal about the items up for auction. And living up to the event, I will relate a little mishap I had on my first visit; going through the crap runners I crack a porcelain green lion, which seemed the football sporting club mascot. It was horrible! Everyone looking at me and the auctioneer was kind enough to remember that nothing brought more bad luck to a future owner than taking home a piece cracked, of course everyone laughed! What matters is that this young lion was worthless and happily he not charges me a cent. Just thinking that I had to pay for such an ugly piece in my first week almost broke my nervous system. That's what I say, that the Scottish are nice. This whole conversation for what? To highlight another of their features. They love to buy porcelains of all types. The pieces I saw, in my view, were not worth the effort! But they, the women, especially do not share my opinion of this subject. People here buy compulsively all kinds of porcelain. They love "bargains". Another idiosyncrasy of this people is to decorate the houses with different wallpapers in all the rooms of the house, is a festival of patterns, colors and motifs that left me somewhat perplexed because there was paper up in the bathroom and kitchen, something that may seem strange to the Latin peoples, accustomed only to paint the walls of various colors, but that is common in Scottish homes. An event that I would strongly recommend, are the highlanders games. The strongest men in Scotland, without exaggeration, a sort of Olympics sites, faced several trials of strength, throwing tree trunks, cast iron balls and spears made of heavy wood, dressed in kilts! And, to my regret I must say, everyone had lycra shorts underneath these clothes instead of the tradition. To my luck, Prince Charles was even among the distinguished guests who attended accompanied by his Camilla and ultimately held the awards. It was a royal end to a really wonderful trip.