Andra is writing:
The day starts in Santiago with a brisk walk to car rental place. We are accompanied by a dog, that switches with another one halfway to our destination. We have to wait for half an hour while our Suzuki and Brilliance are getting washed. Agnese explains to Anders that it’s better to talk in Latvian in case the other people around understand English, to which Anders tells all the Latvian words he knows: sūds pa kreisi zilonis burkāns (shit to the left elephant carrot).
Today in Latvia everyone’s going away to celebrate Midsummer’s eve. For some it’s closer, for some it’s further away. To our celebration place Salto del Laja we have 500 km to go. But that is worth it. When we arrive we see a wooden house which we will now call Midsummer cabin. Here there is everything needed for celebrating. Somebody already starts to bustle around the beautiful kitchen part, someone else manages the fire in the fireplace, someone else laying the big feasting table. Outside there’s winter so the big room will be useful as it will be possible to dance there.
Soon after our arrival the dusk is setting in. Nevertheless, Agnese is going out to look for some flowers. The chances are small, as we didn’t see any on our way. Meanwhile, the rest who are staying at the cabin are preparing beef steaks. Turns out the roadside commercials were telling the truth. Chilean meat IS the best meat in the world.
After sating our hunger, we venture outside to look at the stars. Most of us has never seen the Southern Cross before. We’re getting worried about Agnese, as it darkened a good while ago. Suddenly we hear Agnese’s happy voice and she appears with John’s day flowers, that she picked in the torchlight. The bouquet is divided in four even parts, so that there’s a clover in each wreath.
John’s fire is lit in the fireplace, wreaths are on the heads, there’s beer in the glasses and John’s cheese and rye bread on the table: we are celebrating John’s day, the Midsummer’s eve. At first only Agnese and Dora are dancing, then Ilgonis as well joins in for the wild Krakovjaks dance with both girls, Anders and Andra join in as well and soon everyone awake is dancing. At around half past ten Agnese says, that the Sun has risen in Latvia and we can go to sleep. We have whiled away the shortest night in Latvia during the longest night in Chile. Tomorrow it’s Christmas celebration, but that’s a story for tomorrow.