N.B. This essay was written by my dear friend, Lenutza C., with whom I spent an unforgetable summer in Latvia, 2002.

Valmiera, 17th of July 2002
It was a sunny Saturday when three Moldovans decided to leave the sleeping dormitory and took the direction to the North. On their way they have taken another traveller with them, their colleague and friend, the Peruvian guy, Aldo, a guy with a very good sense of humour and a very nice person to talk to.
The exciting and risky trip included a march to the Witch Castle from Cesis, a multi-religious procession to the sacred monuments of the local cultures: Catholic, Lutheran and Orthodox. The ruins of a castle of the National Park in Sigulda were the next place of attraction in our hot and dusty journey, mostly for Aldo who never saw a Middle Age Castle. The four wild adventurers would have not felt satisfied if they would not undertake an attempt of visiting the red brick Turaida Castle. Concurrently, Aldo is criticising the article I am writing now, so please those who read it now don’t get disappointed by the following details.
Aga, back to the article: so, the options to reach the desirable Castle were: the Peruvian version – the plane, the Moldovan one – by foot, so the golden middle was to take the gondola. For fifty centimes we got an exciting view over the Latvian great ‘canyon’, the scaring and amazingly brown Gauja, but nobody knew what was to follow: the Latvian jungle! In the mean time, I cannot avoid describing the decision process among only four people (even cannot imagine what is going on in a Parliament), I mean among us. Vlad was always proposing (he had the map of the region!), Aldo and Natalie never had time to discuss, (they were discussing something more important: the preying process in Moldova, the globalisation in Peru and most of all – the bothering mosquitoes that have bitten Aldo almost to death). And, me, Helen, (the guys just told me that I was an authoritarian leader!) I was discussing every single suggestion or proposal from Vlad, because I had a map too. My loudly and almost hysteric speeches to do the contrary of what has been proposed were catastrophic!
But, we are still in the jungle! While Vlad was playing the reporter, Helen was trying to catch up some tourists ahead them, because they were the only human beings in that deserted and my God forgotten woody path. The others were hardly keeping the pace with the first too, well, you know, the globalisation issue. All this time, I was keeping my eye on Natalie, playing the role of a carrying mother. I don’t describe the road it-self, because there was no road at all, just trees on our way, the steep and abrupt path was leading to a once existing bridge and now destroyed by the rain. The two Dutch strangers and the confusing indicators, all this contributed to the endless nightmare. At my disappointment, I had to carry my bag with an extremely heavy bottle of water and two pullovers, I thought that it might rain! (Very foolish!) But this was not the most foolish detail in our trip: at least this gives me an edge on the others! The process of choosing the first best foolish action brings me the following alternatives: Aldo’s wish to fly by plane to the bloody Castle, Vlad’s strong desire to swim or Natalie picking up ‘not existing in Moldova’ flowers and leaves (for drying reason!). We passed by the singing caves, orienting all the time on the Sigulda’s Mecca, the Turaida Castle. The exhausting walk to the red brick fortress was accompanied by the national Moldovan food, the ‘covrigi’. Once the ‘covrigi’ consumed, we found our-selves on the top of the Turaida Tower. Surprisingly, the sightseeing of the museum was rather short comparative to the undertaken efforts. But, the adventures continued: the walk back was without any gondola, it consisted mainly from long bicycle roads, bridges and stairs. We were on the edge to take the bus and go home, when Vlad, Vlad proposed again something: to see the Ferris Wheel! Oh, and I proposed to have a ride! Oh, my God! This event took at least ten minutes spent on the top of the wheel, during which Aldo and me were enjoying our time as two persons afraid of the height could do. Poor Vlad and Natalie – they had to listen to so many things during those 10-min.! Neither, this was the end…
Three hours later: Valmiera, Suzanna bar! …. Midnight and four clients around the table!
8 pints of beer, 2 plates of garlic bread and a lot of laugh and noise! We were happy! The party lasted until the balsam sampling, uf! That was the peak! The first one started to sing Vlad, accompanied immediately by two female voices. And, somehow we found our-selves passing through the old cemetery. Given the high level of existing alcohol in our blood, the ghost kept at least five metres distance. Nobody remembered how we end up by drinking Moldovan wine on some freshly painted benches near to the Dorms. Ladies collapsed first, the male part was handling the situation better.
The next morning, all four gathered tried to restore the yesterday’s events piece by piece and this is how I write this story…

…. to be continued ….