Pictures From Lahic

Bruised but not broken

I went up to visit a PCV is a village called Lahic this past weekend for the first time. While I was there I went horseback riding with 3 other PCVs and had a great time. We rode up a mountain and got a beautiful view of the village, river, and Caucuses (I'll post pictures when I get a chance). Unfortunately while riding I was thrown from my horse. Twice. Went to the hospital yesterday and got x-rays and an unltrasound, no broken bones or ruptured organs, just a couple bruised ribs and sore muscles. It was my first trip to a hospital in Baku though. I kind of enjoy it. Everyone speaks Russian and I feel like I am in a James Bond movie.

Camping

Jake gutting a fish on the beach

So, spring has come to Azerbaijan and since the weather is getting better I just want to be outside. Yesterday Jake, Amanda, and I decided to go camping on the Caspian because, well the weather was perfect. We loaded up our stuff and headed out at about 1pm. We took a car to a village the walked out the the sea and about 3 kilometers up the shore. Jake got out his fishing pole, Amanda hooked up some music, everything was good. There was a slight accident involving my camera, a softball glove, a tarp, and an open beverage (hence only camera phone pictures) but everything is in working order now. Anyway, 9 hours, 6 soldiers, 2 police officers, 3 fish, 1 campfire, 1 bottle of vodka, and 1 military escort later, the 3 of us are being detained by national security for questioning. I'm not gonna lie, I had a blast. I had never been on an Azerbaijani military base before. We had a bunch of officers asking us all about why we are in Azerbaijan. We did have to call the Peace Corps Safety and Security Officer, but he rocks! At the end of the night we even got a free ride plus another military escort all the way back to Jake's front door. So, camping was sort of a bust, but I still had a great time. I just recommend that you never go camping in Azerbaijan if you don't know a man by the name of Jeyhun. That guy is amazing.

Novruz and Jake's B-Day

So, I went up to Sheki for Novruz, the spring holiday in Azerbaijan. It was a lot of fun. I hiked around Sheki and went on a Saray-crwal (think like historic pub crawl but palaces instead of pubs). I made it up to Zaqatala too and we cooked some amazing food. Josh even smoked some pork. Then it was back down to Sheki for Jake's horror themed birthday party.

The famous Sheki chicken shack

An Albanian church in the village of Kish

Walking up to Gelersen Gorersen

Danachi village in Zaqatala