Covid Catches Up...

After four years of avoiding Covid, it finally caught up to us.  Thom started feeling a little under the weather while we were in training, but he thought it was a cold or allergies.  We got back from Prishtina on Friday evening and then did the hike on Saturday with the hiking group.

The hike was to "Liqeni i Livadhit (Gjoli)" or Meadow Lake once again in the Sharr Mountains.  We actually rode in the van to Brezovicë Ski Area to start our hike.  The hike was around 8 to 9 miles, but there were some steep climbs and always seems longer.  It was a beautiful day with perfect temperatures for hiking.  The lake was very pretty, but there was a dead fish smell as we walked along the one shore.  We decided to have lunch on the overlook to the lake that was well away from the dead fish smell.  There was still melting snow as we reached the area around the lake.  We found out today, that one of the guys in the group has a son who lives in Wisconsin and that he had worked for a while in a Walmart in Georgia.

Waiting for the van to cool

Ski Resort Area of Brezoviça

The lift chairs at the start of our hike

The resort in the background as we hike away

Wildlife in the Sharr Mountain -- we haven't see much

Different flowers in bloom from the previous trip

Snowmelt waterfall

The resort way below and the mountain peaks around

More beautiful flowers and cloud covered peaks

The last of the snow is slowly melting

Liqeni i Livadhit

A frog near a stream going into the lake

Daisy like flower along the way

Yellow flowers dot the meadow

Row after row of beautiful mountain peaks

It was a small group as it was a holiday weekend, Bajram i Vogel.  This means little Bajram and is one of the official holidays of the Muslim religion.  Sunday was Bajram i Vogel, so the hike was moved to Saturday and not many attended.  

Sunday, I woke up with a terrible headache.  My head was clogged and the pressure was creating the headache.  I was also very tired and I slept most of the day.  I didn't even feel like eating and I am usually pretty hungry the day after a long hike.  After talking with Matt Sunday evening and upon his suggestion, Thom took a Covid test and tested positive.  Thom used our last Covid Test, but Peace Corps sent a driver with additional tests out to us on Monday.  And mine was positive as well.  Sunday, was a hard day, but Monday, I felt better.  Tuesday I felt pretty good.  The new CDC guidelines say that you can go out with a mask as long as you are not running a fever and we don't have fevers.  We went for a walk along the river Monday night.  We walked where there were very few people and did not need to wear a mask accept in the apartment hallway.

Not as many people, but one really big bull on our walk

A new lit up "UCK" sign on the hillside.  UCK = Kosovo Liberation Army

Fortunately, I have nothing on the schedule this week except to get better, so the time was good for me.  Sadly, we missed Bajram i Vogel.  We had many visitors ring our doorbell, but Thom can't hear the doorbell ring and I was barely functioning.  He did answer it one time and it was a group of kids wishing Urime Bajram.  We even had visitors on Monday as well.  Thom greeted them from the doorway, but I was still not functioning well.  I was sorry to have missed the celebration.