The only resident of the highest mountain village in Europe (6 photos + 1 video)
84-year-old Irakli Khvedaguridze is the only doctor in Georgia's mountainous Tusheti region, which covers an area of about 969 km². The man lives in Bochorn, his faithful companion is a horse named Bichola. 
In the Yes Theory documentary, an elderly man talks about how he strives to preserve the last pockets of life in the mountains.
When asked if he has considered leaving Bociorna, located at an altitude of 2,345 meters above sea level, he replies: “You also need to think about the well-being of other people.” 
"I help sick people. Even when I'm sick myself, I still put on my hat and mount my horse."
“The way of life has changed. Nobody wants to work in the villages. If this continues, then there will be no more winter tourism in Georgia,” Irakli complained. 
Tusheti has been inhabited for thousands of years, and the main branch of its economy has always been sheep breeding.
However, with the gradual fading of traditions, many residents left the mountainous region. According to the Georgian Travel Guide, there are 40 abandoned villages and another 10 sparsely populated ones. Most of them, like Bochorna, are inhabited by one or two people. Irakli doesn’t even think about leaving. 
A doctor told National Geographic in 2022: "My father, my grandfather, all my ancestors were born here. This territory belonged to us."
When he was in first grade in 1949, there were nine families living in Bochorna, but over time they left the village, and even his own children left in search of a better life.
In his youth, Irakli left his father's home to study medicine in Tbilisi, and got his first job in a hospital in another part of the country. When the previous doctor of Tusheti left in 1979, Khvedaguridze came to replace him. 
The man says that the long journey makes the job difficult: “When there’s a real emergency, you want to help, but you can’t. I’ve had several such cases. A 14-year-old boy’s palm was cut in the middle - blood was gushing out like a fountain. We held his hand tightly, to stop the bleeding, and, thank God, the pilot immediately flew in and took the child away. I take such situations very hard.” 
After treating the Yes Theory team to wine and food, the doctor took the guests to a church located next to his house. In the stone church built in the 1800s, he lit candles and said a few prayers.
Yes Theory's Thomas Brag admitted: "Part of me hopes that someone in the younger generation will see the beauty of these places and reverse what now seems inevitable. Perhaps I'm just romanticizing life in villages like these. Time is inevitable, and trying to resist it - meaningless."
