The mountain villages of Northern Azerbaijan, on the cusp of change

On our way out, we met a man in a rumpled suit carrying a cabbage the size of a bowling ball and a bag of apples. Rehman was in town for a few days, preparing to head back into the mountains with his sheep. He spoke a pragmatic English and was an enthusiastic greeter, taking my hand in both his large, warm paws. As we fell into step with him, he said, “There are 3,500 people in this area,” meaning the surrounding mountains, too. “Twenty-one hundred speak Khinalig. Not bad, not bad.” We passed the school, where classes are still taught in Khinalig. Four hundred children come to Khinalig to board, a significant number. Eldar mentioned his long-ago work welding there.