With my net worth having fallen below $900, I had become
even tighter with my money. So when I heard that hitchhiking was easy in the
Baltics, I thought I would give it a try on my journey from Tallinn to Riga,
Latvia.
The rain that was driving against the city bus window to the
edge of town, probably should have been good enough of an indicator that I
should spend the 13 Euro and take the bus, but I was resolute. I hopped off the
bus at the edge of town, held up my “Riga” sign which I had written on the
reverse of a disassembled cereal box, and stuck out my thumb. While I didn’t
much enjoy the feeling of being judged unpickupable by a steady stream of
motorists, I was pleased I only had to wait about 20 minutes before getting
picked up.
I was momentarily put off by the fact the back seats of this
man’s man were all removed, making it the perfect mobile hobo killing machine,
but he turned out to be wonderfully friendly. He knew a bit of English so we
shared a friendly conversation all the way to Parnu, Estonia which was his
destination, and about 40% on the way to mine. When we got there he even gave
me a tour of the seaside town which appeared to be made almost entirely of
spas. After a quick stop at a bowling alley, where once again I was concerned
about an ambush, he drove me to the edge of town and bid farewell
Just after he left me at a broken bus stop, the wind, rain,
and cold all increased. After an hour, I was not appreciating the worsening of
the weather especially considering the rain had disintegrated my sign. Now I
was just a sopping wet crazy person in a yellow coat jumping around a bus stop
for warmth that wanted to be let into a car. After about another 30 minutes, a
guy missing his two front teeth picked me up. I immediately clung to his
heating vents like they were water fountains and I had been stranded in the desert for 2
weeks. Unfortunately, he was only able to take me ten minutes down the street,
but it was ten minutes that brought life back to my extremities.
He dropped me off at another bus station which was
conveniently located across from a tiny supermarket. I had recently become
resolved to keep my meals between $1-$3, while also maintaining a bit of
variety. My lunch beside the highway therefore consisted of deli meat, yogurt
and chocolate cookies.
Aside from the meal and the lightening of the rain, I was to
have no inkling of pleasure for the next several hours. Except for one old man
who did not speak English pulled over and pointed to three of his fingers and
then drove off, I had to wait about 2 hours until my next pick up.
In between swearing at myself for being an idiot, and
running in place to keep my temperature up, I continued my practice of mentally
converting Euros to Dollars. The exchange rate changed depending on my mood.
Earlier, after being picked up quickly in Tallinn the exchange rate was huge.
At that point I was laughing to myself: “I’m saving 13 Euro, that’s like 30
dollars! I’m Rich!” Now, beside the highway for 120 minutes, freezing to the
core, the conversion was much different: “I went through all of this to save 13
Euro?! That’s only like $15!” When I saw the bus from Tallinn I could have
taken whoosh by me with excess interior heat waving out of the bus, I think the
value of the Euro dropped to an all-time low.
Finally, and elderly hairy woman picked me up, and drove me
10 minutes down the road. It was only 10 minutes, but it was the most relieving
ten minutes that day. When she dropped me off, she pointed up the highway and
said “big machine” to help guide me along my way. After about a kilometer I found myself at a gas station, which I assume was the big machine she was
referring to. I wandered inside for some warmth and then around back to find
some truckers, but there were none, or they were sleeping.
So, I went back out the highway, put on my best scared puppy
dog face (it was genuine) and stuck my thumb out. I began berating myself for
this stupid adventure and started to worry I’d be a major inconvenience to my
host by arriving, if I eventually did, so late. I had no phone so not only was
I extra vulnerable, but could not let my host know I would be late. Then I
started to realize that hating people is a luxury. Alone, on a freezing highway
in a foreign country with dusk approaching, I wouldn’t be able to indulge in
entertaining any prejudices even if I had wanted to. Some shelter of communal support or financial security is necessary to fall back on. If anyone were to pull
over and save me from my self-made debacle, they would be my hero.
And indeed I did find some heroes, after only 5 minutes. A
wonderful Swedish-Lithuanian couple on their way to Lithuania brought me into
their vehicle and I am now forever thankful. Thankfully, the Swede was very
nervous about meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time, so he had
been throwing back beers since leaving Helsinki that morning and needed to
relieve himself about the time I needed relief. I think he was also hoping I
could help calm him down because before I could get in the car he asked me if I
had a spliff he could borrow.
Just like has been the case along my entire
circumnavigation, the highest highs and lowest lows are never far apart. Just
moments after getting philosophically depressed, this couple was driving me
towards Riga and giving me beer as the horizon over the Baltic Sea turned
purple.
This couple then drove me all the way to the center of Riga,
helped me find some internet, let me use their phone to call my host, Janis,
and then drove me all the way to his doorstop. After thanking them profusely
for being my saviours, the Swede then asked my host if he had any “Bob Marley”
he could buy because he wanted to be sure to make the right impression with his
girl’s parents. He did not, but I think he ended up doing just fine.
Janis then went out for a party at his brother’s place which
I would have loved to join, but I was absurdly exhausted and was in desperate
need of raising my core temperature. So I spent the rest of the night drinking
hot water, taking hot showers, and going to sleep under the covers wearing
pants and a jacket.
I saved 13 Euro though, that’s like $45!
