The Secret Silver Screen

Riga. Capital of Latvia. Cute little old town filled with art nouveaux buildings. And home to roving hordes of British stag parties. These guys are the WORST! Obsessed with getting pissed out of their minds they couldn't give a shit about the country itself. Only that the beer is cheaper than back home. Hate that.

But besides the stag crowds, Riga is pretty nice. Not a whole lot to do in the old town. Could probably see everything you need to in about half a day. But it's fun to wander around and get lost in the twisty streets.

Went to the Central Markets yesterday. My God! This is like the Vancouver night market on steroids. They literally have everything imaginable on sale. Here's a sample of what I saw: shoes, sunglasses, fur coats, fur hats, fishing hooks, zippers, brand name plastic bags, knock off hand bags, sewing needles, thread (not found at the same stall as the needles), soap, underwear, power cables, brooms, cooking pots, kettles, microwaves, old tvs, bottle openers, pocket knives, jeans, hoodies, belts, cooked meat, smoked meat, raw meat, rotten meat (no lie, apparently there's a market for it), fruits and vegetables of every kind, millions of cut flowers (smelt soooo good!), and of course the mandatory collection of pirated DVDs and CDs. So fun!

But the highlight yesterday wasn't scoping out the weird Latvian market stalls. While hanging out at the hostel I met a British guy who's working here as a 3d modeller (go fig) and he took me to a local short film festival. It's put on by an international group so the films were either in english or had english subtitles. It was SO awesome! The festival was pretty short, but it was housed in a collection of warehouses that have been turned over to a bunch of young local artists. So they've covered the walls with graffiti, modified commerical posters and logos (eg: US Mail becomes US Female), strung army camoflage netting over some of the building sides, hung huge mirrors at odd angles from the ceiling along with what looked like paper mache "rocks". Some of the rooms had arty knick knacks for sale, while others were like a mini dance party. (Apparently Latvians really love Dead Can Dance.) And the best part? No tourists. And definitely no British stag parties. Was neat to hang with the locals for awhile.