After a two-hour drive from Cēsis we're finally in Rīga. Time to go to the first hitchhiking spot - the T junction to Baloži. Our first goal is reaching Bauska.
The day in numbers:
375km in six cars
120km by train
€27.5 spent (€4.15 times two for bus tickets from Cēsis; €9.20 on food, coffee, water; €5-7zl times two - train from Suwalki)
After less than five minutes we're in a car with Renārs, who will take us a bit further before he turns to Vecumnieki. Renārs asks us if we're not afraid of going on such an adventure and whether we're not scared of the spade in the trunk of his car.
We're at a bus stop again, looking for a driver going to Bauska or better yet through Bauska into Lithuania. Our goal for the first day is getting to Warsaw, which we have to reach no matter what.
This time we almost get to Bauska - the driver is going to Skaistkalne. After doing some quick shopping we meet our first foreign driver - Lithuanian Renatas and his girlfriend who will take us to Panevėžys. Renatas is an intellectual, a many-sided man who has an opinion about everything.
As we're driving he discusses the origins of the Baltic folk, the problems of capitalism, conservative matters, education and much more, weaving all of it together in a single story that shifts our minds towards existential matters.
Without us asking for it, Renatas switches lanes to take us to the south of Panevėžys via a bypass. While I'm trying to stop the next car, holding a sign saying 'Kaunas' in my hands, Elvijs is helping a Lithuanian family whose car has broken down on the side of the road.
After we've boosted our karma, a lady in a Subaru smiles and stops for us. We're asked where we're from, where we want to get to, what are our occupations, and how on earth we're thinking to survive in such cold weather, spending nights in a tent. We step out of the car before the turn to Suwalki - the first town in Poland.
This is the first time we're staying put for a longer time. We don our gloves. It's sunny but very cold.
After some 20 minutes we walk ahead hoping that there'll be a better hitchhiking spot up ahead. We see a museum behind a corner and as we need internet we go right inside looking for a Wi-Fi connection.
Elvijs has the wonderful idea of going inside the exhibition without buying a ticket. During our previous journey we discovered how to do stuff without paying. You just have to speak Latvian if someone wants your money. This time we're not successful though and we're out of the museum in no time. A huge monument attracts our attention.
From 1941 to 1944 the Nazis killed around 50,000 Jews, Red Army soldiers and Lithuanians here. We go to a nearby gas station where Daumantas stops his truck, saying he's going to the border.
We cross the border between Lithuania and Poland on foot.
A Lithuanian border guard wants to see our IDs and checks our cards by tapping them. That's supposedly how you detect a fake.
After waiting for a little while we hitchhike a man who's going to Suwalki to buy dishes and construction supplies. It's cheaper than in Lithuania.
We're on the main street of Suwalki leading through the city to Warsaw. The clock is turned one hour back, and soon it gets dark.
We've spent more than an hour on the side of the road, waving our flag desperately upon seeing cars with Latvian plates - and swearing when they pass us by. Devoid of all hope, we go to the train station thinking of boarding the next train to Warsaw.
However no more trains are going there today. The station employees tell us that the only train departing today leads to Białystok, which is not on our route. Nonetheless we wait for the train and now we're on our way as the city is bigger and we can find a place to stay using Couchsurfing.
We have no tickets of course, and when the inspector approaches we address her in Latvian following our time-tested scheme.
We try using Google Translate to say we have no zloty. That's okay, she'll take euros but for a price. We're not ready for that and tell her we'll disembark in the next stop. While we're waiting the ticket inspector asks us to show our euro notes. I produce a €20 note which she quickly grabs, giving €10 and 7zl as change. Our budget is ruined but at least we have local currency. After a two-hour train ride we're in Białystok.
At 23.45 we dine at a McDonald's - a noodle soup with canned food and toast. We have no place to stay as Couchsurfing hasn't rescued us. We're planning on catching public transportation to get out of the city to a gas station where we can rest for a few hours or, in the worst scenario, hide somewhere and set up a tent.
P.S. If someone in Poland is reading this, please take us to Krakow!
