Lerik, Azerbaijan.

While my friend Katie Browne was visiting Azerbaijan, a few of my friends joined us for a CBT stay in Lerik. Lerik, a southern region bordering Iran, is composed mainly of one of Azerbaijan's minority groups, the Talysh. The five of us headed down to Lankaren, stayed a night there, and then met up with CBT's regional director the next morning. He put us on the right taxi to get to Lerik--6 people in a Lada is spacious on PCV transportation standards. We enjoyed chicken levengi and tendir bread, staple foods of the southern regions of Azerbaijan from local vendors on our way.

Cooking tendir bread.

Eating levengi (roasted chicken with a onion, nut filling) and tendir.

The road between Lenkaran and Lerik.

Upon arrival, we met the family we'd be staying with. They were a husband, a wife and their daughter-in-law. We were immediately served tea, given a tour of their house, and then conversed with them about all the other Americans met through their association with Peace Corps and CBT. They were incredibly friendly with good senses of humor, and we learned that the man is a meyhanna (essentially, a freestyle Azeri wedding singer). We quickly took up his offer to take us through the mountains with his car. The following pictures chronicle our journey:

Our guy and our ride.

Katie and I.

And then there was a cave.

Donkeys.

Houses in the mountains.

Climbing a mountain.

View from the top.

Iran is behind me. 

Pointing to Iran. 

Top of the mountain victory dance.

Azer victory dance.

Andrew and I.

Our host waving to someone he knew at the bottom.

Our crew.

Clouds on the mountains coming down.

And then there was the time our car broke down.

Not feeling good about it.

Making decisions.

Not letting a broken Lada break our stride.

And we start going downhill...

And back uphill.

Can't hide fun from this girl.

We made it back to our home stay in one piece and enjoyed dinner with our gracious hosts. In the morning, we were only allowed to leave under the condition that we promised we'd come back in the summer.