Azerbaijan

It's been nearly 4 years since I went to Azerbaijan the first time for a college internship. I spent 6 months there working for a Microfinance Organization called Azercredit. I made some good Azeri friends and I'd always promised I'd return again to visit. It was great to reconnect with the people and the place. I'm hoping the relationships I've maintained will last for the rest of my life. While I'll only ever get to see my Azeri friends on rare occasions, I feel the relationships have already made a significant impact on my perspective.

Our visit was a little short, but enough time to feel reconnected. We had a weekend in Mingechevir (the city where my friends Azer and Alizamin live) and a couple days of sightseeing in the capital, Baku.

Both of the nights we were in Mingechevir, Azer's wife Aygun cooked us some traditional Azeri cuisine. It was very delicious. This is a group photo after dinner on the first night. Azer is leaning on the couch, Djavidan is sitting on Aygun's lap, then there's Cara, and me (Gabe was the photographer).

On Sunday, my other good friend, Alizamin took us to a mountainous region for a hike and lunch. He brought his son Ferid (who was just a baby when I was there last). The picture does a poor job of capturing the beauty, but it's at least a cute shot of Alizamin and Ferid ambling up the hill.

Azeris love cars and there are three common makes: Mercedes, BMW, and Lada. This is Ferid in front of his dad's 4x4.
After visiting my friends, it was time for a little sightseeing in Baku. This is in the Palace of the Shirvanshahs in the old part of Baku. I really liked the entrance to their reception place for guests. Unfortunately, the living quarters had been turned into office space, so we weren't able to explore as much as we wanted.

Baku is flanked by steep hills on both sides of its bay, offering lovely views. As you can see, the day we went up to the top was a little hazy. Nevertheless, it was a rewarding climb.
Drinking tea is the national pastime in Azerbaijan, and Baku has a number of quality tea-drinking establishments. My favorite is right next to the spot from which I took the above photo. You can clearly see a very satisfied look on both Gabe's and my face. To accompany our tea, we treated ourselves to a special rose petal jam, which you eat straight, using a teaspoon.
Gabe and I both love bumper cars, and Baku has them set up permanently at a spot along the boulevard next to the bay. No one else was using them at the time, but that didn't stop Gabe and me. Yes, the video is boring (and long) due mostly to our being a little rusty. Maybe that's why, if you know us, you could also construe it as being entertaining.