Beggars in Riga Old Town: Curiosity and Kindness Aren't Allies

This blog post continues with the story of my first night in Riga, wandering around Old Town. After my "McCafe" cappuccino, I was about to call it a night when I noticed even more people coming to Old Town. It was getting very crowded and I didn't intend on missing out on the fun. It was getting closer to midnight, and I continued wandering around.

While I was walking around beggars approached me from time to time. I probably didn't make the situation better by being curious and making eye contact with too many people. At this point I really felt like connecting with somebody, and having a real conversation. Easier said than done.. Riga doesn't strike me as the kind of place where you can just start talking to strangers. Probably because like in America, everyone seems to want something from you. It's a sad situation, but just reality. When somebody approaches you, they generally want something from you, and it's not your company! What really sucks about the whole thing, is it keeps strangers from connecting. People stay closed up, and won't make eye contact or start a conversation. In a perfect world I guess..

I noticed a younger lady of around 30 years who approached me looking for money. The first time I ignored her and she quickly moved on, begging others for money. At this point I was starting to feel pretty depressed. Here I was all alone, with so many people around me having a great time. Of course most people were with their friends. I decided to go sit on a bench and ponder the situation while resting my feet. As I sat on the bench I noticed beggar girl approaching and she sat next to me.. Of course I knew what was coming. She started a conversation with me, and quickly realized I was foreign. I decided that I would essentially entertain this girl in return for what I hoped was a decent conversation (in English of course). She was very fluent. So I played along with her little game and we decided to go back to McCafe for a tea. At the counter she ordered a tea then some kind of pastry. I let the extra item go since it was a total of only $3.

We sat down and I learned that her name was "Natalia". However when she showed me her ID it said "Olga". She claimed one was a nickname and another a family name. In any case we had a great 2-hour long conversation about everything from politics to culture to the Latvian language itself. She gave me information on the trams and busses and talked about her son (although she didn't mention his name). I have no idea what parts of the story were true or not, but didn't really care. I just wanted some company at the time. Natalie told me that the busses stopped service at 1am, and it was now around 3am. Her plan was to stay in Old City until 5am when bus service resumed. She also claimed to live outside the city which required a $10 bus ticket. I called BS but again.. I knew what was going on.

In the end we left McCafe, and I gave her $20 which I considered a "conversation fee" and figured she seemed pretty desperate for whatever reason. The way I look at it: It's not a scam if you know it's a scam. I knew what she was up to and chose to play along. After giving her the $20 though, she still wanted more money! Very bold indeed.. I told her I wasn't a money dispenser and that she wouldn't get any more. The conversation basically ended at that point. She gave me a handshake to say bye and went back to McCafe where she planned to stay until 5am.

At this point part of me felt a lot better to talk to somebody (Natalie actually was a great conversationalist), and part of me felt worse because I knew all she wanted was money. So I resumed my adventure around Old Town. The crowd was definitely thinning out by 2am, and at 3am I knew it was time to leave. Unfortunately, I had another problem: No way to get to the hotel except walk!

I wasn't particularly fond of the idea of walking to the hotel, since it was a 1.5 mile walk at 3am. From what I've read about Riga, this isn't generally a bright idea. The possibility of getting mugged exists and who knows what hoodlums are wandering around. Furthermore it was only my first day in the city! The walk was uneventful, and very quiet. I saw a few other pedestrians who didn't seem particularly concerned about their environment. I arrived back at the hotel and it was finally time to crash. I decided in the future to take a taxi or bus home instead of walking, if it was ever that late.