In 1787 Osturňa had 200 houses and 1,339 inhabitants; in 1828 it had 252 houses and 1,809. Hold those numbers next to the village you can walk through today, because they explain almost everything that happens next. This is a valley that grows oats and potatoes and not much else, and it was carrying getting on for two thousand people, who lived as shepherds; Osturňa's bačovia — head shepherds, the men responsible for a whole flock and its cheese — were known well beyond the valley. A place that full, that high and that poor has only one way out of the arithmetic, and the nineteenth century found it: people left.Roku 1787 mala Osturňa 200 domov a 1 339 obyvateľov, roku 1828 už 252 domov a 1 809 ľudí. Podržte si tie čísla vedľa obce, ktorou dnes prejdete, lebo vysvetľujú takmer všetko, čo príde potom. Toto je dolina, kde rastie ovos a zemiaky a veľa iného nie, a niesla takmer dvetisíc ľudí, ktorí žili z oviec; osturnianski bačovia — hlavní pastieri, zodpovední za celý salaš aj za syr — boli známi ďaleko za dolinou. Takto plné, takto vysoko položené a takto chudobné miesto má z tej aritmetiky len jedno východisko a 19. storočie ho našlo: ľudia odchádzali.