Tatra Mountains, Zakopane, Poland.

Hola Queridos,

My time in Zakopane, Poland was time very well spent! Of course, first I had to find a way to communicate with the train-ticket-seller, in POLISH. It was very, very entertaining, me waving my arms around & also not understanding anything that she was saying...Polish is really nothing like Spanish. However, we eventually came to an agreement & I had a ticket in my hand, although I still wasn't that confident that I'd actually arive in Zakopane (2 1/2 hours South of Krakow) more than arriving in Bangledesh. Fortuantely, I found the right train, and some people who were able to tell me that, "No, this isn't your stop." : )

Zakopane is the Winter capital of Poland. It's located around the Tatra Mountains and the Tatra National Park area...so beautiful! It was my first encounter with the beautiful landmarks and the mountains left me wondering around the city until dark. In the hostel I stayed at, I met a fellow traveler from France & we decided to go hiking the next day.

So we got up early and headed off...it was great! I ended up hiking a good 7 hours that day, sometimes on nicely marked trails, other times on steep inclines with snow still covering the ground. We also only got lost one or two times, so nothing major! I was really content with all the running streams and also the waterfall that we found : )

We then walked through a couple more villages to find the cable car up to the top of the mountain...coolest thing ever! Of course there was a rather big line, but after we were in the car, it was totally worth it! The sights of these overwhelming mountains just took my breath away (or perhaps that was my fear of plumenting when the cable car was rocking back 'n forth). We unboarded the car and were on top of mountain! But wait! it gets better! We then boarded another cable car to take us to the very, very top of the next mountains over 2634 meters in the sky!!!

I've never felt that close to the sun before, it was amazing....and really, really bright. I just wondered around in awe, I couldn't believe how brilliant my surroundings were. Then I spotted an area where you could climb farther and farther up, so of course, I did! It was all really fun, until a cloud came and make everything dark and my visibility not at a comfortable level. So I had to turn around and head into the restaurant as we waited for our turn to take the cable down.

I was on such a high, I still am...that was the coolest thing ever!

Besos