Locals are much friendlier when they realize you are not hiking through or jumping off the tour bus for 30 minutes of rude photography. We walk around the lake, observing activity and taking the smells of autumn. Drying apricots cover every roof. There are no streets, just a scattering of low buildings interspersed between fruit trees and stone-walled fields. Every house and each field is connected to a maze of irrigation canals that can be turned on and off as needed.
Home construction is simple but strong-very thick walls of stone with tiny windows.
Roofs are made of thick beams covered by stone and sealed with dried mud. They look like they would last forever. A hundred year mortgage would probably be a good bet here. Fences of stacked stones surround fields of wheat and potatoes. The villagers are very busy digging up potatoes and tossing the wheat into the air to separate the chaff.