Latvia: Riga

Monday 10th July

Early into the parks info office to check out another route out of the park into Latvia. The town we'd thought we could go through was a good place it seemed, as all the busses to Riga leave from here. We left at lunchtime on a small local bus to Panevezys and it was one of the longest and hottest and most uncomfortable trips we've had to date. The approx 160km took 4 hours with the driver going a maximum of about 40/50km per hour. The heat was unbearable inside the bus with the sweat pouring like rivers down our backs!! The whole of Europe and Eastern Europe has been experiencing a heatwave with exceedingly high humidy levels. Shoo!!! Once at Panevezys, we had a 2hr wait for the bus to Riga and thankfully it was a Eurolines bus with - ahhhh..... - air conditioning!! 3 hours later, at 10.30pm, we were in the capital of Latvia and found our hostel was cooking inside, literally! At approx 11.30pm we took a walk around the Old Town as it's the best and coolest time to be out! We discovered a hive of activity with all the pavement cafes and nightclubs doing a roaring trade. We actually heard on satelite TV news that Riga is going ghrough a phase of conflict right now, linked to the night club and sex trade scene. All the red light activities are centred around the famous Old town and there is a huge threat that it will affect the tourism here. On out late night walkaboaut we witnessed the strip club touts trying to get you inside but apparently, once inside, you get ripped off so badly, for even just spending 'harmless' chat time with a lady!! We've only just arrived here and so many stories abound. The concern is that the historical Old Town will turn into this sleazy place where, eventualy, people won't want to visit. It will be an interesting situation to follow..

A City of Image...

Tuesday 11th July

Once again, it's as hottas hell! There's just nowhere to go to get away from it. The sweat permanently pours down and the clothes are permanently wet and sticking to you. So uncomfortable. Due to the heat, we decided to take it easy on our first day here with just a short exploratory walk through the Old town and then sat and caught up with journals etc... A rather lazy day really as this endless heat takes away all motivation and you just don't get anywhere very fast at all.

Wed 12th July

Another hellishly hot night with an equally hot day in front of us. When IS it going to let up? We have to walk around this town sometime so thought we should just try to forget the heat and hit the streets. We followed all the lanes which had the most shade and discovered some interesting nooks and crannies and quanit cobblestoned courtyards. We visited the Occupation Museum of Latvia which is a fascinating glimpse into Latvia's past. We didn't realise that it's history was quite so traumatic. From WW2 up to it's independance in 1991 it has been subjected to constant attemps to destroy it's people and the entire country by both Soviet and Nazi regimes. The Latvians experienced the humiliation of the Siberian Gulag camps under the Soviets, thought they were being 'saved' by the Germans but then experienced the entire holocaust as well. If that wasn't enought the communists regained control again... Eventually they became a free country and the place we are now seeing shows evidence of the Latvians realization of just how good life can be. It shows in the fashions, the way the people act, their attitudes. Sometimes going way over the top as can be seen in their total obsession with the night club and strip show scene. Image appears to be a national obsession too. For example who in their right mind goes to the beach dressed as if for a nightclub. Fancy sequined tops, heavy makeup and high heeled shoes. Yes really! Most women dress to kill and to compete and outdo each other. Seems too, that this country [and all the Baltic countries], are about to produce the next generation of anorexics! We've never seen so many stick thin and boney specimins, altho' granted they are very beautiful!!

Thursday 13th July

We'd met up with a German guy, who had approached us in the street yesterday, and he asked if he could join us for the day. Of course we agreed but didn't really know what we were going to be doing. We'd heard of a 1hr boat cruise for very cheap so went to check this out - not running today! Canned that idea as the other boat was way too expensive. Instead we took a walk across the river on the almost 1km long bridge, just to see where we ended up. We discovered the non-touristy Riga where the real people live and also came upon the immensly huge war memorial in the middle of a park!! We heard music and thinking there may be a festival or something happening, headed towards the sounds. What we found was actually a local basketball match complete with cheerleaders and pom pom girs. Must have been something big regionally as the TV cameras were also there. It was great to watch what the locals get up to. It was still incredibly hot and humid so we headed back to the city across another huge bridge furthur up the river, which took us into the backstreets of the Old Town. Went for a late lunch at a tiny cellar place which we'd been told is super cheap but good. And good it was. No tourists come here and it's a bit of a hangout for the local neighbourhood goths!! A very interesting place to people watch!! In fact it was so good that we decided to come back later in the evening for a beer or 2. When we did, we brought about 10 others from the hostel and ended up partying until about 1am. One of the Goth girls, complete with full-on black and purple regalia, silver jewellery, piecings, fishnet elbow length gloves and heavy dark makeup, approached us begging for money to go to the public loo outside! She put on such a dramatic performance and gave such a good story, but we wondered why she didn't just ask her friends for the money! We didn't give it to her but she returned again, pleading it was a desparate situation!! David gave the money to her, something he wouldn't normally do. She returned afterwards with such words of thanks that we reckoned this had been a genuine plea [we'd been very dubious at first]. She must have very sad friends if they couldn't have given here 20c!!