shankar2k's Journal: Memories of Latvia

Before I embark on my next great journey, I want to pause and reflect on the neat little things I want to remember from my trip to Latvia. In no particular order ...

• Jumping over the fire during Ligo to prove my virility.
• Learning random Latvian polkas and other dances.
• Beer being sold in 2-liter bottles and costing about a quarter.
• Teaching a Spaniard how to salsa (because you remember 90% of what you teach).
• Getting drunk in a bar in Lithuania called "Play Club" that is the size of my closet.
• Swimming in an ice-cold lake during Ligo, and actually enjoying it.
• Drinking a beer while on a ride from Vaive to Riga (you can't do that in America).
• Being made fun of because I brought a Pullman suitcase to the Ligo festival.
• Having a conversation with a German girl of Vietnamese descent (who now lives in Scotland) about the proper term for a person whose nationality differs from their ethnicity (2nd generation doesn't quite seem right).
• Trying to mack on this random Latvian girl by being "nice", all the while oblivious that she had a reputation for mooching off "nice" guys.
• Being the only brown person for at least two hundred miles in every direction.
• Witnessing a big van receiving it's 18th birthday gift: A nice wash and a new paint job, given by girls in bikinis (Wouldn't any guy love that gift?)
• Sleeping in a barn full of hay.
• Being told that I was "the sketchiest person they ever met", by the clerk at the Argonaut hostel.
• Waking up at seven in the evening, and seeing the blue sky bright as day (It only gets dark after 11:30pm in Latvia).
• Meeting an actual sales rep for Marlboro in Lithuania, who when asked if I should be smoking, shook his head and smiled.
• Babbling incoherently to myself as I walked the streets of Riga, by myself and completely lost.
• Discussing the strengths of the post-medieval Swedish military while I was panicking in the Argonaut Hostel.
• Hearing Perry's sweet voice on the cell phone in the midst of my nervous breakdown.
• Finding myself on a bus filled with smiling Lithuanians, none of whom spoke a word of English (They were very helpful in finding the hotel in Lithuania).
• Spending an extra four days in Essex, UK, with my uncle Raj and his family because of my misadventures in the Baltics.