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Published: October 22nd 2007
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really can't help myself! Hello, hello!
Latvia was incredible - though I think I would have to say, more for the quirkiness and the people than anything else. I jumped on a ferry to Latvia from Stockholm and was a bit lost and nervous as I had missed the connection with John (having missed the ferry and having his wallet stolen, his schedule was pushed back a bit) so I was to head on to Latvia (bearing in mind that I had no tour guide or information of any sort) and we would figure out how to meet up there.
I had managed to email a few people about couches to stay on, but had only done it a day before leaving, and had no chance to check my email, so was resigned to embarking on another scavenger hunt to find the tourist information. Of course, that was only after the all-night ferry across, where karaoke and duty free filled with night with little sleep and a few new friends (imagine meeting a vancouverite on the middle of the Baltic sea!).
Unfortunately, all of my new friends had cars and plans, so in the morning, I was left standing alone as I
The cowgirl comes out...
made me miss the stampede! lined up for the long customs proceedings. Once I passed inspection, I was trying to find my way out of the building to search out a map when a guy walked up to me with intention in his eyes and a smile on his lips... I was about to u-turn and head back into the building, when he said "Trish?! Hi! I am Vadim from couch surfing, you emailed me about a couch" I was so baffled that I could hardly speak, so he went on "I could see that you had no time to check your email after I said that I would be able to host you, and since I thought it would be very difficult in a country by yourself and not knowing where everything is, and I knew this was the only ferry today, I though I would come with my car to see if you made it - we can take your stuff to my house, you can have a shower and some lunch and then I will show you around the town! That is, if you would like... " At this, I jumped with joy and hugged my new friend. That day we did
a fine tour of the town, including the local castle, caves, and much more.
Over the next few days, Vadim continued to be the most astounding host (he refused to let me sleep on the floor and took it himself, giving me his bed, room, even clearing his closets and shelves and leaving me with the keys so I could sleep in and meander around in the day. Each night he would cook an authentic local dish and we would talk the nights away as I waited to meet up with John.
A few glitches and John and I were back on track and heading to Lithuania... not before checking out one of Vadim's recommended parks, I true playground for grown-ups!
Latvia has a lasting impression in my mind, and will forever beat out Lithuania... John and I blasted through this haunting country, and it left a bitter taste in our mouths, for no real reason than our utter stupidity. Having just had his wallet stolen, John was trying his best to be in good spirits, but when we woke up to a river and rain that was occurring inside our tent (yep - that stormy) it
Gotta love children stories...
and they are so much better in real life! was hard... we followed our day with another literal run for the bus (and I mean a 3 km run, not a short little stint...) where we sat chilled and shivering waiting for the bus to arrive. In between we had a slight accident with the change in our pockets and were short a dollar to get on the bus, so literally had to go outside, in the pouring rain to splash through the puddles where there had been a pocket explosion as we had tried to transfer at the bus station.
We arrived at the little spit of land, again, in treacherous weather and found the tourist information closed on weekends. Now, just think of that for a second - we had woken up at six am so that we could reach the tourist information is good time since it was the weekend... and it was closed on all weekends... ?!?!??!
Desperate for somewhere to leave our bags, we stashed them near the tourist information where we were going to set up our tent on the beach and made our way into the town for some sightseeing and even found a nice Jazz club. Deciding our luck
Surfin!
On a toothbrush?!?! was changing, we opted for a hot, local meal, some meed, and great music, only to run for the last ferry and realize I had misread the schedule and we had missed the last ferry across to our bags. Luckily there was one other option, we ran, another few kilometers and managed to find the "new ferry" that was still running, and after making our way across, set out on the long like (about four kilometers at one or two in the morning) to get back to our bags. We were contemplating our idiocy when we finally arrived at the spot where we had left our bags... and found no bags. It took us about an hour, a few kicks and the ground, a few tears, a few hugs and we set our minds to the task at hand. We assessed all the items we had - consisting of one umbrella, a fan from Japan, a head lamp, and the dirty clothes on our backs. There was nothing we could do but plot out how we would quire enough from a second hand shop or little market to make it on - and what we really needed - two pants,
two shirts, some fresh underwear & socks. We huddled on the porch and shivered viciously as the temperature dropped to something around zero and tried for something like sleep.
In the morning, it being foggy and freezing, and our spirits still a little low, we sat and hovered for a while longer instead of starting the task of visiting the local police for an off chance or something before going to the market. Just as were drifting off, again, two old men shuffled up and started stuttering away. We could not understand a word, save one, "baggage" we jumped to our feet and started gesturing wildly - after some quizzical looks we followed the men to a near by house and found our bags sitting just inside and the men giving us coffee and gesturing madly that we were crazy not to have knocked on their door with the temperature outside.
So, seeing our bags, we had never felt so rich and complete, until we noticed out tent was missing. We gestured again, and after some time learned there was nothing with the bags... until there a small fight between the men and one stormed out. He re-emerged
Me
lovin the park! with the tent, said a not-so-genuine "sorry" and disappeared into the morning mist. The other man nodded, smiled, fed us coffee and turned on the discovery channel so that we could watch some tv we understood until the first ferry was ready to depart.
At this point, we were in no mood for the planned bicycle trip around the island, so we jumped on the ferry and went straight for the train to Poland...
What can I say, some lessons are learned that hard way!
Trish xxx
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