Rafting on the Daugava Riv

In mid-September, we were invited on a rafting and "kempings" weekend on the Daugava River.  We had no idea what to expect but Sonny convinced me that we should go for it.

Which way should we go?

Yum!  A cheese (siers) shop. 

We left Riga on the Friday night and headed eastwards towards Daugavpils, approx 200 kms away.  On a funny note, we only made it 10 minutes from home and stopped at an average pizza joint for dinner.  However, had we continued further, we would have come across this beautiful bakery, restaurant and cheese store pit stop.  We did stop there for a stretching break and only looked at the tasty morsels that they were selling.

Twilight at the pit stop along the Daugava River

We arrived fairly late and found out we were the last to arrive and got the furthest cabin from the kitchen and bathrooms.  We had no idea what surrounded us and we also got quite a shock to find out that another family had a run in with an elk driving to the campsite.  It never occurred to me that there would be wildlife on the roads (silly, isn't it?!)

In the morning, I opened my door to some breathtaking beauty.  We looked out onto the Daugava River and with the morning dew/fog, it was astounding.  The air was crisp, a really beautiful Fall day with the shining sun to greet me.

The cabin was very modest:  two beds, a bar fridge, small table and chair.  Done.

Mid-morning, we drove to the put-in point on the river.  The raft had a covering and about 5 picnic tables (you can see that in the picture).  It also had a charcoal barbecue which some people used for the potluck lunch.  We "sailed" or floated down the river for a better part of the day, arriving at our cabins late afternoon.

There were rudders (?) on both ends of the raft

We made stops along the way.  At one stop, we climbed a tall tower which gave us some amazing views.  For me, the countryside really reminds me of home.  There is so much beauty with towns and cities scattered amongst the wilderness.

After the day on the water, before our campfire and catered dinner (no one was really interested in cooking so someone brilliantly arranged our dinner to be delivered to the site), I enjoyed a few moments with a Canadian magazine and a cider.

One of the most interesting things about the weekend was who we shared it with.  The five Latvian families were connected by the husbands.  The men were all born outside of Latvia but as adults, returned "home".  They met in school or upon arrival to Latvia and then married Latvian women.  We were very fortunate that they all spoke English and even moreso, that they shared their weekend with us.  We never would have taken a raft down the Daugava, let alone finding this cabin camping spot, which we shared with bikers on the Saturday night.

Side note:  on the Friday night, we scoured the site for more blankets because of the very cool September nights and we "borrowed" many blankets from above the kitchen/cookhouse.  These bikers ended up sleeping above the kitchen but I think after they spent the Saturday night in the sauna (yep, there was a sauna onsite) and having a few drinks, they didn't notice the cold!

Driving and Parking

Driving in Riga is surprisingly easy, I find.  On the plus side, the speed limits are fairly low, people seem to respect the limits (perhaps thanks to the speed cameras posted), merging is quite easy and there is not a lot of honking.  That being said, I would not say that people practise defensive driving here so I have already witnessed an accident (fender bender in a parking lot) and I have seen multiple car accidents with the occupants awaiting the police to arrive.

I have raised my eyebrows a few times at what I have seen on the road.  Just the other day, a car followed me on the sidewalk.  I don't know why he didn't choose to drive on the road. On another day, while I was waiting to cross at an intersection, a car drove around me, over the curb to drive into a park - there was no road, it was a large walking path into the park.  I scratched my head on that one  as well.

Parking sometimes has me stumped.  I have been startled when driving down a street and thought, "Is this a one way?" but no, on many streets, cars can park in either direction so you will find one car's front end facing the trunk end of another car.  In the middle of a very large intersection, I once saw a car stopped for at least 5 minutes.  Cars happily drove around with the occasional car honking its horn as if to remind the driver that he wasn't in a parking spot.

Another thing that still makes me chuckle is the normalcy of parking on a sidewalk.  There are usually signs indicating this and as the pictures show, the parking does not have to be parallel type parking.

Lastly, there is one thing that I think every country should adopt.  Haven't you ever wanted to thank the driver behind you, particularly after having had to cut in (aka merge)?  Here, they use the hazard light for 2 seconds or so.  It is brilliant.  Not only is it lovely being able to thank the driver behind you but it is also wonderful to be thanked after letting in another car in front of you.  What a simple and effective gesture.