Hija Pleven - Hike

It has been a flurry of weeks, months even..and as I’m sure life here in Bulgaria is not about to slow down, I need to make the time to update some of my activities over the past few months..but, going back

– starting from Christmas and New Year’s in Istanbul. I wrote a lot of my stories about Istanbul for the holidays on the pics..and some of the pics are from Patricia (the volunteer that I travelled with..she’s much more of a picture taker than I am), so click here – or go to the ‘Tricia’s newest pics’ link at the bottom of this page.

And below are just a few of my pics from this weekend – full of ups and downs. I went with my regular favorite hiking group to Hija Pleven..last year when I did this hike, I had broken off with a smaller subset to hike Botev (the tallest mountain in Stara Planina) before heading to the hija. This year there was no chance of that, since I've been fighting off a cold..but knowing that all that fresh snow was waiting in the mountains..I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So, here are the hi’s and low’s of the weekend:

• There was snow – lot os snow..up to my hips at some points

• It snowed the entire hike..but it wasn’t cold or windy

• The street to our starting point for the hike had so much snow that the bus couldn’t get through, and our hike started sooner than anticipated
• Along the way we passed to stranded vehicles..left in the middle of the road

• Our feet got wet when we had to cross a couple creeks
• There were covered cars in a parking lot..they had been there for 2 days stranded..that’s the first time we heard that there was no electricity in the hija

• We arrived at the hija, to find it confirmed..no electricity (glad I remembered my flashlight, even though I forgot the headlamp)..we had candle light dinners, no lights, no heat, no hot water..it was a very cold night’s sleep

• Everyone was fighting for a place to dry their clothes in front of a little fireplace, and 100+ people coming in from the snow..so instead of waiting, Stella and I played a couple games of Backgammon (Bulgarian style – did you know that Backgammon originated in Turkey – or that’s what I was told..it was pretty interesting background when I googled it.

• Reneta had the great idea (sarcasm) of sledding in pampers..yes, she brought pampers..there are probably a few pics floating around on Facebook..but I only got one of Stella..we tried..it didn’t work..but I did have fun playing in the snow!