Shkoombini Excursion

Today, my compatriots and I wandered around the "Shkoobini River," which runs next to Peqin. The pictures below are from the trip.

As I said in my last post, it has been been raining recently in Peqin. The rain ended yesterday and the sky was clear today. 

This morning, I interviewed a butcher as part of an assignment. He went by the name of Llushi. He had a tree trunk cutting board, which he said was 100 years old. The diameter of the trunk was a little over a yard, and it was a good three feet tall. The rings were lined with white congealed fat. While we talked, he shared his goat cheese and taught me some profession-specific vocabulary: ribs, knife sharpener, cutting board, etc., etc.. 

During the afternoon, four volunteers and I met and walked to the river. The mosque is the city's town center. It's where all the men sit at cafes, chat, and loiter. As you go away from it, the town grows considerably more quiet and you see more women walking around. 

All around Peqin, there are beautiful mountains like the ones in the photographs. What is really impressive about the area is the way that the mountains surround you. Since I lived next to the Pacific Ocean all my life, it's a new experience living with land all around me.

For dinner, I had a big bowl of yogurt with shredded cucumber and little garlic for the aroma. 

Peqin 

Forest across Peqin 

 

Local football field. "Shkumbini" is the name of the river next to Peqin

The forest featured above begins on the left. Shkumbini is the river on the right.