Lithuania, 1st part: Ecofestival, and an adventurous week in Kaunas.

Trakai's Castle

We met Tuchkus, Paulius and Edvinas late in the dark night, and headed in the car straight to the festival. Some girls with angelic voices were singing Lithuanian folk music and people watched the show at the starlight. We put the tents, all baggage and went to check the field. While it was an eco-festival where no alcohol or meat was allowed, we went with Tuchki and the people to a far corner eating a salami washed down with a good bottle of wine. Always like the salmon, swimming against the current... The sky that day was special: it was going to be the largest meteor shower in few years, and although the sky was partially covered and we didn't stay until the proper time, we saw a good number of them performing their igneous dances through the skies.
We spent the weekend at the festival, meeting local people and learning a little of their culture. Paulius's (Ponulis, for friends) girlfriend, Vaida, organized the event. There was not many people (about 200), but it was the right people, all very cool. I learned some phrases in Lithuanian, to weave typical bracelets and belts in the traditional local style, went to workshops on various topics (although I didn't understand much since they were in Lithuanian), and learned to sing some 'sutartinės', one of the oldest and most outstanding examples of traditional music, considered Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. 

The great Tuchkus and Jovita

We passed Trakai's Castle, a beautiful construction from the early XV century and symbol of Lithuania, and went to Tuchkus' house in Kaunas, to try to organize a little some activities to do on the week. The next day we went all around Kaunas by bike, passed the Yacht Club and the beautiful Pazaislis, Lithuania's largest monastery and best example of Italian Baroque architecture in the country.

Later we met Giedrius for a bit of history in a place sacred to the ancient pagans, the confluence of the two largest rivers in Lithuania: Niemunas and Neris. Giedrius is the Kaunas' ambassador for the CouchSurfing website, and knows a lot of history and traditional legends, so it was very interesting for me to hear a bit of their world. From there we went to try some local beers with Knut from Germany and Gintare and her friend. The next day we meet again with Giedrius, Ponulis, Vaida, Knut and a couple of guys to go to the VI Fort of Kaunas, one of the many forts of the city (now abandoned), built in the late XIX century by the Russians to protect the western border of the Empire, and during World War II (with the invasion of Lithuania by Germany) served as a prison and death camp for 35,000 Jews and prisoners of war from the Red Army. The place was overgrown by nature and in ruins, and we had to walk amongst wild plants to enter the hidden places armed with flashlights to explore the broken fragments of forgotten stories beneath the sands of time. The rooms where the bodies were burned were still covered by a cloud of black ash that made breathing almost impossible. 

Giedrius, great storyteller and CS City Ambassador

We ended up covered in soot and mud, and with those looks we went to a remarkable 'bar'. In Lithuania it is forbidden to sell alcohol after 10 pm, so what the ingenious local businessmen did was simply to put a table and two chairs inside and pretend to be a bar, and sell alcohol 24 hours to thirsty throats. This particular one was full of curious specimens of local wildlife that came to socialize and enjoy 50 cents pints of beer ('alus', in Lithuanian). So we were for some time enjoying the holy malt brew and chatting with the locals. Our looks should not have been the best because one of them, far from dressing elegant, asked: "So you are gypsies, eh?". Paroxysms of laughter.
Another day Tuchkus had the idea to go rowing on the Nemunas River. The boat in question was an inflatable one that had passed its best days and was patched on all sides. As you may imagine, we arrived late on the scene, we set the boat in the wrong way, so when we finally got into the water it was nine o'clock. So we started rowing. Well, James began to row. Because Tuchkus spent over an hour on the phone and I was wedged between the seats unable to move, so it was him who had to do the effort, sweating and mumbling swearwords a good part of the15 kms we had to cover. The current was extremely slow, so we had to rush over the last hour and paddle all the time because we had to meet Indre, Jovita and Thomas for a few beers. 

We also did a dinner with friends for some 15 people in Tuchkus' house that week. I prepared a few litres of delicious Sangria and James cooked and incredible double baked pork belly with chimichurri sauce and God knows what else, maybe the tastiest food I've ever tasted. He finished his Chef studies and apprenticeship in New Zealand, and now wants to travel around Europe (especially Italy) to learn more about the different culinary traditions. And I, of course, was delighted to be his companion... 

We organized that weekend an event on the small local group of CouchSurfing. The idea was to get together in Tuchkus' parents' summer house, playing guitar around the campfire and perhaps a dip in the river at night. We arrived with James after cycling 15 kms. between wooded dirt roads and small towns. The place and the house were beautiful, and soon came Indre, her younger sister Julija and two CouchSurfers, Dave from Australia and Andre from Brazil. Then Tuchki came, and later Ponulis, Vaida, Giedrius and Dovile (Tuchki's girlfriend) completed the cast. The warm beer, snacks and music flowed, and the rain did not stop a good time. Late at night Ponulis, Vaida and Giedrius returned to the city and we stayed overnight. The next day we woke up and ate something, watched a good movie, Andre returned to the city and the other guys decided to go shopping and picking mushrooms in the forest despite the rain. I'm not a friend of bad weather, so decided to stay at home taking a nap under a beautiful blanket and the heat of the fire. Indre's later tonsillitis proved that mine was the best choice. Later James, with the help of the boys, cooked a really good pasta with mushrooms and white wine sauce that we quickly devoured. We spent another night together in the house, and the next day we returned to Kaunas.
As Tuchkus parents were staying in his apartment, me and James decided to stay with Indre and Julija, with Dave and cats Panda and Salomas as great company. We played the 'chancho' (a classic Argentinian card game. Very simple, but a good excuse for drinking and having fun). Julija was the first to lose, and as punishment we throwed 20 liters of cold water and over 2 kgs of flour, which took her like an hour to take off her hair. James was next to lose, and he had to drink a fair amount of '999 '(a green herb liqueur typical of Lithuania) and run naked around the block ...
The next day was James' last day in Lithuania, and now he had to hitchhike about 2000 kms in three days to be on time at the farm in northern Italy where he was going to spend some time doing wwoofing volunteering. So we parted ways with some sadness after all the miles and the stories together, but with the certainty of seeing each other again soon down on the road ...