20 Hours in Riga: Part I

Arriving to Riga, I already felt pretty lonely. After being in an amazing country with amazing people, I felt saddened to be somewhere else other than Moscow. At the terminal I exchanged about 500 rubles, which got me 9 lats. It was definitely strange to hear such a difference, especially because 500 rubles is about $15.50 USD. At the airport parking lot, I sat waiting for the bus, watching someone struggle with the automated bus ticketing machine. He later asked me, in perfect English, if I had some spare lats (the Latvian currency) to switch with his since his for some reason wasn't being accepted. He was from Turkey, but I didn't ask why his English was so impeccably American. We chatted up a bit about our travels, and when he learned that I was coming from Russia, his expression was that of surprise (it always is, no matter who it is), and naturally he assumed I was Russian.
Trust me, I do not look Russian. I get that a lot, but when I was in Russia, I became 99.9% sure that I have zero percent of Russian physique.

photo from Cinnamon Sally. polaroid action by pushpin

When I finally came to the Cinnamon Sally Hostel in central Riga, it was about midnight, and the hostel keeper simply led me to the 6-bed dorm since I already had a reservation for the night. She came from bed, and didn't want to deal with the payment, so she said I looked trustworthy and that we could wait until the morning. I was definitely exhausted, because 3 of my luggage wheels had broken (even after I got 2 of them fixed while in Moscow), so I was basically dragging 18 kilos (about 40 lbs) for about .75 of a kilometer getting off the bus. It didn't help that the elevator was broken and I had to climb 4 flights of stairs to reach the hostel. At least somehow I felt at home at the hostel. It was bohemian looking, spacious, and not institutional-feeling. It was warm and welcoming, and I loved that. Right before I went to bed, I went to Couchsurfing.com to check on the open request that I had posted earlier while in Moscow for anyone who was in Riga that wanted to hang out with me before my flight left later in the evening, since the feeling of loneliness was actually increasing. I had one reply, but this guy had to references, and only one photo posted, so I deemed him not-so-trustworthy. I simply told him that I had already accepted to meet up with another couchsurfer (lie).
Waking up, I was intent on two things: getting a new luggage, and checking Couchsurfing for any other replies. Luckily an young Australian replied, and I shot her a message asking her to meet me in the plaza of St. Peter's square. I told her what I was wearing. Just to add to that I told her that she would find me sitting writing in a small brown notebook. After I sent the message, I arranged everything with the hostel keeper- paying my 6 Lats for the bed and having her show me a map of Old Riga. 

Shortly after, I left in search for new luggage. I remembered passing a shopping mall on the bus the night before. It was called Stockman's (later I learned it is a Finnish department store). I found my way up to the travel department, and oh-my-gosh the Latvian currency is very deceiving. It is about half the amount of the dollar. In the end, and after much reasoning with myself, I bought a $200 Samsonite. 
It better be durable. More than the Heys that I had before. I'm very disappointed in you, Heys. 
I returned to the hostel, repacked everything in my beautiful, grey, Samsonite, and left to meet the couchsurfer at noon. 
At that point I had 6 hours in Riga left before I was to take the bus back to the airport.