Saturday, August 25, 2012

Poverty in Riga

One quick walk around Old Town, and you are bound to notice the prevalent poverty which exists in Riga. Latvia doesn't seem overly concerned about the issue, and from what I've gathered takes the position of, "Not our problem!" This poverty is in extreme contrast to the also prevalent upper class of Riga.

During that same walk around Old Town, you'll also notice plenty of extremely expensive luxury vehicles, and well dressed locals frequenting expensive cafes, bars, and mall boutiques. It seems in Riga there are two classes: The rich and the poor! No middle class appears to exist here. The poor struggle to survive, while the rich ponder which Range Rover model they want to upgrade to!

The locals don't seem to disagree with the government, and the ones I've talked to find beggars and even street musicians annoying and lazy. They think these individuals should go looking for a job instead of acting helpless. The big prevailing theme in Riga seems to be, "Find a way to survive like the rest of us do!" Weakness is frowned upon. This isn't a society for the unfortunate and untalented. This is survival of the fittest!

There are different types of beggars in Old Town. The worst kind are the "wandering beggars", who walk around looking for tourist targets. After finding a target, the wandering beggar confronts them and usually has some kind of "sad story" to tell. Ignoring them sometimes works, but at other times you must tell the beggars to go away. Even then the most persistent beggars will stick around to curse or continue their act.

Other beggars are more passive, and simply sit around with a cup or bowl. They collect less than their active counterparts, but don't put out any kind of effort. I often notice old ladies standing in the same places every day. One lady stands at the end of a walking bridge. Another masquerades as a street musician near the Freedom Monument, but has absolutely no talent.

I suppose as long as there are rich and friendly tourists to feast upon, the beggar situation will continue in Riga and Old Town. I decided early in my trip that I wasn't going to encourage the beggars. Besides, I have a hard time feeling sorry for them, when so many of their fellow countrymen are driving around cars worth more than a flat!

Riga Population: Don't Ask Us!

As I've pointed out various times on the blog, one thing you learn quickly in Latvia is to avoid asking the Riga population for help! There are exactly two answers you will get from the locals in Riga: "no" and "I don't know". I haven't seen this strange phenomenon back in my country, so I have to assume it's related to Latvia's culture and/or eastern European tendencies. You can ask some incredibly simple questions and get blown off consistently in Riga.

It's as if the Riga population is only programmed to complete one specific task at a time. Anything else is disregarded with prejudice. When I ask the waitress at a restaurant where a popular bar is in Riga, I get a look from her as if to say, "My job is to serve you drinks and food, why the hell are you asking me for directions?".

Similarly, the Riga population gets quite agitated when anything out of the ordinary takes place. Latvian cashiers throw a fit when you give them coins that they don't prefer. Latvian women huff and puff when you get into their path while walking. Rude Latvian servers roll their eyes and pout when you attempt to talk to them in English. Locals even seem annoyed when you feed ducks at the river!

After three weeks in Riga, it's clear to me that Latvians are not an accepting and embracing people. They have rigid expectations for how every process is supposed to operate, and anything different or out of the ordinary sets them off. For a country that depends so much on tourism, you'd think Latvia would learn to appreciate tourists and foreigners. Instead you get a sense that they dislike everyone from outside the country.

Currency in Riga

Currency in Riga, Latvia is fairly easy to use. This is good news for tourists and travelers, who probably have enough to learn in Riga! The currency consists of Latvian lats and santīms.

Latvian Lats (also abbreviated as Ls) are currently worth almost 2 USD each. As you can see the Latvian currency is quite strong. There are 100 santīms in one lats. One of the best ways to get Latvian lats, is to pull them directly out of an ATM in Riga. Be sure to use common sense and find an ATM in a popular and safe area. I prefer the indoor ATMs. There are some pretty sophisticated scams run on ATMs in eastern Europe, so be careful!

I like to pull 50 lats out of the ATM at once, which is around $90 USD. This is a good balance between safety and convenience. With my preference for good bargains at restaurants, 50 lats has commonly lasted me around 4 or 5 days on my trip. The ATM typically spits out one 20 lats bill, and three 10 lats bills. In Latvia cashiers can be sticklers for what sort of bills they receive, so use your best judgement. Giving a 10 or 20 lats bill to a cashier for a 1 lats item is probably going to make them angry. You will notice change shortages all around Riga. Don't be surprised if you end up with tons of change from a cashier! The good news is, the cashiers are honest in Riga and give you the correct change!

After breaking the 10 and 20 lats bills, I typically receive a 5 lats bill or plenty of 1 and 2 lats coins. The 2 lats coins are a bit heavy, but remember they represent almost $4 USD! The 1 lats coins are perfect in size, and great for spending at convenience stores or cafes. Finally, my favorite coin is probably the 50 santīms coin. This is worth about 90 cents USD, and is great as a tip at restaurants, or enough to buy a bottle of water. Note that all of these coins are silver in color.

Finally we have the copper coins, which are less useful and will build a collection in your pocket! The 20 santīms coin is a must-have coin for using the public restrooms equipped with a coin slot. Keep at least one of these for emergencies! Many of the public restrooms do not take any other coin! There are then 10, 5, 2, and 1 santīms coins. I find most of these just take up space in my pocket. However they are good to give to talented street musicians who are trying to make a living.

Riga Bike Rental: BalticBike

Tonight while I was watching hilarity ensue with the Religious Fanatic Man in Old Town, I came across a BalticBike rental station. Since arriving in Riga, I've witnessed many people riding around on bikes. For some reason I did not rent one myself, and I should have sooner! BalticBike is probably the easiest and most convenient way to rent a bike in Riga. You simply need to login to their website and register with your phone number (my USA number worked!), personal details, and credit card. The system will automatically debit your card by 5 lats, and use this as credit for your rentals. Then you just approach a BalticBike station, and put the number of the bike you want into the website. It will give you the code to the lock, and you now have the bike!

I rented my first BalticBike and noticed some interesting features. It had a white light on the front and a red light on the back for after dark. The BalticBike also had a bell that you could use to warn pedestrians ahead. It had three gears and a basket to put your items in. I found that it was a nice bike to cruise around on. Also, since you have the lock which comes with it, you can go to any bike station and lock the BalticBike while you are visiting a store or just resting!

Unfortunately the BalticBike website doesn't have much information. The rate is listed at the stations as 1 lat per hour. I suppose it's a flat rate, no matter how long you keep the bike? Essentially it seems that BalticBike has simplified their website, to the point where it's only a checkin/checkout system. There is no additional information. I found this a little annoying.

After renting my BalticBike, I had a blast riding around Riga! First I zoomed through Old Town. The cobblestone was definitely harder to ride on, and made me wonder how long the bike tires could possibly last! The area around Freedom Monument was very smooth and fun to ride on. I wanted to see more of Riga, and rode towards the city center. Although I rarely had a clue as to where I was, it was quite an experience. Sometimes many pedestrians would be on the sidewalk, and I would simply slow down, following them for a distance. However, the pedestrians were not fond of the bright white light on the front and became angry with me for following them! Getting onto the sidewalk is a challenge, because there's not always a dip where you can drive your bike. Sometimes you must "jump up" to get onto a curb, and this was hard for me to do.

Since I haven't ridden a bike in almost 10 years, and I'm not familiar with Riga traffic flow, I wanted to be cautious. The locals made it clear that they weren't happy with my lack of bike skills, and often gave me nasty looks. Ah, what would a day in Riga be like without some nasty locals? After some time I decided to head towards the river. I discovered a local "secret" which led to more fun..

After approaching the Daugava River from Old Town, I found the nice walkway next to the river that Christine and I had walked on days earlier. I wanted to see how far this sidewalk went, towards the suspension bridge. It was completely dark at this point, and probably close to 11pm. As I drove down the sidewalk next to the river, I saw couples engaged in.. "romantic activities" at nearly every single park bench! It seemed that I had discovered a popular romantic destination in Riga! However, these couples were not thrilled with me disturbing the dark and romantic area with my BalticBike featuring a bright white light. Unfortunately there was no way to turn this light off either. One man cursed at me loudly in Russian as I passed.

At around 12pm, I finally decided it was time to return the bike. I had cruised for almost 3 hours across many miles. I returned to a BalticBike rental station and locked the bike up. After finding wifi I logged into the BalticBike website and checked the bike in. The total cost was 3 lats, which wasn't too bad. The website wanted to know which station I had returned the bike to, but I wasn't sure! At this point I was far from the station. I guessed the station name using a map, and hoped I wouldn't be charged extra!

Biking in Riga is an AWESOME experience, and I highly recommend it to any visitors. Biking after dark is a more unique experience, and you can see many parts of the nightlife in Riga. Either way, it's a refreshing change from walking around everywhere.

Prieka Vests Invitation and Duck Feeding in Riga

When visiting Riga, one thing you will quickly notice is that the locals rely heavily on SMS to communicate. That's essentially THE way to communicate in Riga. Being the brilliant individual that I am, I decided to bring an old phone to Latvia, which isn't compatible with their networks. To make matters worse, there are about 50 different kinds of SIM cards you can buy, under various "nicknames" representing a few large telecom companies. It's all very confusing for a foreigner, and the not-so-helpful locals only make matters worse.

Today I had the opportunity to meet with another local, but thanks to my phone issues we never managed to connect. I wasn't very happy about the situation, so I headed to a pizza place and gorged out, as I've been doing frequently the last week or so. At this point many of the days just blend together, since my experiences have been limited. I really should have gone to the beach today, but I waited around to see if this meeting would pan out.

Not all was lost however. After lunch I headed to a small stream to feed the ducks! This has become a favorite activity of mine. Of course I spent more time feeding the few injured ducks who stray a bit from the main pack! While feeding the ducks, a miraculous thing happened: A Latvian person actually talked to me! She didn't appear to be a beggar or scammer either! What sort of scammer approaches somebody feeding ducks by a stream after all?!

The Latvian girl's name was Elina. She small talked with me for a bit, and even wanted to feed the ducks! Of course I knew there was something hidden behind the conversation, and there was.. Elina was representing a Christian church in Riga, called "Prieka Vests". She gave me a pamphlet in Latvian, but also directed me towards the church website, where I could find information in English. Elina and her friend wanted me to attend a service on Sunday at Prieka Vests. They were kind enough to offer to meet me first, so that I wouldn't get lost! After a few minutes of talking, they said bye and went on their way.

I later researched Prieka Vests online, and it looked completely legitimate to me. Nothing shady about it. After a month in Riga, I tend to view every situation with great caution! That's just how it is in this city. I'm thinking about attending the service, and why not? Although I'm not particularly religious, it could be an interesting experience. Also, I complain almost daily on this blog about how the locals are rude and completely ignore tourists. Well I think Elina and Prieka Vests deserve a chance, just as I wish Riga would give me a chance!

After my interesting encounter with Elina, I walked back to Old Town. I saw there was quite a scene going on with the "Religious Fanatic Man". I know I haven't previously brought this individual up in the blog, but he frequents the area around McDonalds in Old Town. The Religious Fanatic Man stands on top of a toolbox, and yells some kind of religious sermon out to the people of Old Town. It's very frantic and aggressive in nature. Sometimes this "sermon" is in English, and other times it's in a different language. As far as I can tell, it's an extreme brand of Christianity. You know, the whole, "Save yourself before you go to hell!" theme..

The Religious Fanatic Man makes quite a few enemies on the street, as people passing by often glare or even yell back at him! Clearly people do not appreciate his aggressive talks. Even the police seem wary of this individual, and keep an eye on him. Although it's annoying and offensive to many people walking Old Town, in a way it's nice to see that somebody can express their free speech in Riga. This is an important freedom in the United States. No, you don't have to like or agree with somebody's opinion, but they still have the right to express it! At least he stays away from the more tranquil parts of Old Town!