eric's blog

We've had some interesting adventures the past few days. We first headed west to the beach at Ventspils. Here we were able to find a cool place to camp, just a few minutes walk from a nice beach. The weather has been amazing (maybe even too hot for my liking) so we were really able to enjoy it. The only problem is that I began to feel sick, and of course Jocelyn was soon to follow. At least a beach where you don't need to do anything, apart from lie in the sun, is a good place to get sick. However, this later caused us to fall asleep on the beach, waking up to a nice red burn on Jocelyn's leg.

After a few days there, we decided that it was probably a good idea to move on. Our Lonely Planet suggested a town called Valmiera, where we could stay in a really nice hostel and then canoe on the river. The only problem is that this hostel no longer exists. But that's not a problem, because the friendly guy there gave us a map that showed 2 more hostels, right beside each other only about a 20 minute walk away. So we lug our packs across town, knowing that because there are two hostels, we should be safe. That's where we were wrong. Both hostels did not exist, they just appeared to be apartment buildings. No one spoke any english at all to help us out. However, we were later able to find a little hotel, and while it was more than we wanted to pay, it wasn't too bad.

However, with our luck, the adventure, and surprises, were not about to end. After a fairly quiet evening of relaxing (and watching some latvian TV), we went to sleep. Then, suddenly, i get woken up (it was about 2:30am) to Jocelyn yelling my name in a panicky way. That's followed by a "there's somebody else in the room" and i quickly woke to see a guy by the door. I yelled something (i don't even remember what) and ran towards him. He was quick to leave and we have no idea where he went. What Jocelyn later told me was that she was woken because something was touching her ass. She assumed it was me, but when she saw me still sleeping, she freaked out and saw some guy kneeling (in almost a praying pose on the ground next to the bed...... really weird). We checked and he didn't actually take anything, or really do anything, and he did seem really confused as he ran out (perhaps he was sleep walking and went into the wrong room). Nevertheless, we will now lock our doors from now on.

Today we came back to Riga, and have spent a pleasant evening here. We have also booked a bus for tomorrow, down to Lithuania. Latvia has been nice, but it's time to move on.

Now you all can get by in Latvia. You'll be amazed at how far that simple phrase will get you.

Anyways, we have arrived here in Riga, capital of Latvia, and I'm loving it so far. I didn't really know what to expect of this ex-soviet country, but it's really great. Some thing are typically soviet, such as the big block buildings, but others just look so great. The old town is amazing to walk through. Amazing architecture, and the colours are just great. It would look so tacky anywhere else, with all the bright colours, but this city can somehow pull it off, giving it a very cheerful vibe.

Another great thing is just how late it stays light out here. It's 11:30pm right now, and it's not even completely dark yet. We were walking around this evening, and it felt like it should have been about 7ish, but in reality, it was about 9:30. I love it.

It's also so much cheaper here. Although the Lat (Latvian currency) is worth about the same as the pound, everything is so much cheaper. It feels so good to not have to shell out so much money for every little thing.

Tomorrow we head out for the West coast. We'll be camping right by the Baltic sea, and then relaxing at the beach and jumping into the (I'm assuming) freezing water.

Until next time, take it easy,

Eric