Land of Fire!

Into the Land of Fire (Azerbaijan) we marched, and hot indeed it was. Spending a couple nights in Zakatala, our first stop. The town itself, however, had little more to boast than a 400 ft tall flag, so we decided to hop on a random local bus (read: oversized van) and head out to a village. We disembarked at the end of the line and walked down a winding road, followed signs that our fluent Azerbaijani told us meant cafe (it was written “Kafe”) where we could ask a waitress how to find the nature preserve we had read all about.

In short, we walked a great distance, winding ourselves farther and farther into nowhere when we finally stumbled upon a gem of cafe. More of a lean-to with a wood burning stove, surrounded by tables hidden under trees around 50 yards from one another, and a creek running through the middle of it all. We drank tea, stumbled through conversations in Russian and about 2 hours and 2 pots of tea later, a delivery of food was brought to the “kafe.” So we ate and relaxed in the mountain breeze some more before heading back to town by foot. This is also where our current love affair began, no not with the kind Azeri border guard who took us out for a traditional Azeri dinner, but something a bit less....animate. 

Along with salt and pepper Azerbaijani tables also come equipped with what is called “Sumakh” (pronounced with a guttural “k”). At first, not knowing what it was we lightly sprinkled some on top of our shishkabab. Then it happened, an explosion of flowery, sweet and sour, slightly spicy deliciousness overwhelmed our pallets. In short, we were hooked. We put it on our salads, plain bread, anything and everything possible. Turns out, when I exclaimed out of utter bliss “it tastes like flowers!” I was right. It is in fact dried and crushed flower pedals. It may be time to stage an intervention as Katie and I have become full-blown addicts. At the bazaar we bought ourselves a stash and it has accompanied every snack and meal since.

Working our way back to town, at the very top of Zakatala stands an old castle that had fallen under Russian, Turkish and Azerbaijani control throughout the years, but was currently in Russian hands as a military base within the old fortress walls. We had read that you are actually not allowed in, being a “sensitive area,” however, after eh hem.... accidentally, tripping and falling into a door, we discovered that is in fact open to those who may be interested, though tip-toeing around Russian barracks does not necessarily equate to a leisurely stroll.

Ever onward, we continued east to an ancient Silk Road town called Sheki, where we stayed with an adorable Azeri family. Other than some of the sights and overall feeling in the town itself, the best part of staying here was this family. We were given an intimate glimpse into the life of a typical Muslim-Azerbaijani family upholding their traditional culture. Ilgar (husband) works at the silk factory and was able to describe in detail the process of silk making, a welcomed impromptu lesson as we sat in the first true silk road town on our journey.

As the road never ceases, never shall our feet, and we were off to our next town, Barda. A fellow peace corps volunteer from Moldova had actually already served not 2, but 4 years in Azerbaijan before signing up again and serving in Moldova. When we told him we were going to Azerbaijan, without hesitation he announced that we would be visiting his old site and staying with his old host family. So we did, and it was amazing. Not only were we warmly welcomed by the family, the current PCV's took us under their wing to show us around. We were taken to play basketball and ultimate frisbee with no less than 20 local kids, most of whom turns out are actually refugees from the Azeri-Armenian war. We were even taken to the (no longer functioning) school where all of the families are now living because of the conflict. Within minutes we were surrounded with eager ears and smiles as we walked into the courtyard and immediately Russian/Azeri/Hand-signed conversations ensued.

Although we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Barda, we were quite ready to escape the sweltering heat, and open desert plains for the cool breezes of the Caspian sea and of course the bright lights of Baku.