Day Seventy-Two.

When I left Ukraine a week and a half ago, I was used to days that were chilly in the morning, then got warm during the day. Slovakia and Poland were freezing- ice all over the ground, rain turned to snow, definitely hat and glove weather. I was expecting Ukraine to be warmer, but in my absence winter moved in (apparantly with the flu). It was snowing when I woke up this morning. Good thing I love winter.

[All of these following pictures are from Slovakia. I fell in love.]

It was worth it though. We didn't make it to the Saddle, but we did see some amazing views.



Carlos and Shane trying to figure out where we were. Carlos and Blanca are both from Spain, but going to school in Slovakia for a year. They decided to come up to the Ginger Monkey for a mini vacation from the city. The night they came, Shane and I were discussing our hiking plans, and they decided to join. Shane is a chef from New Zealand, but has been on vacation for the past six months, traveling and working in various countries. Though there were four of us hiking, we still managed to get lost.



Gen, Lynsie and I. It was quite the slippery hike- at least 75% of it was in snow.



At the end of the hike. This particular hike didn't bring us to any summits- just to a couple of lakes.



Doesn't it look like I'm standing in front of a back drop?



This one doesn't need words.



Two weeks ago, this was all covered by snow.



The view from the front porch of the Ginger Monkey. For the first three days there, I couldn't see the mountains because it was so cloudy. Saturday and Sunday were incredible days though.



Ceaser, Athena and their child. Isn't he handsome? [Since we couldn't find any pumpkins, we had to make our jack-o-lanterns out of a melon, gourd and this hideous vegetable. I'm not sure what it's called- it smells like celery and looks like a huge lumpy turnip of sorts.]



Jude, Me, Geneveive and Lynsie in front of the High Tatras. Jude is from Korea and has been traveling alone for the past year. She'll be back home in Korea around the same time I go home to Maine.