1836 – FIRST DAY OF THE SEVENTH EXPEDITION

Well, life goes on: I decide to follow buddhist monk traditions and go searching for breakfast to the nearest household. We are in Latgale after all! Soon, I return with hands full of fresh countryside goodies. Eggs, butter and cottage cheese. Hallelujah! The fun continues!

After breakfast, we walk to the centre of Līdumnieki, where the local enthusiasts have made an exposition of war relics. Ēriks Pavlovs, who is in charge of Cibla district’s tourism infrastructure, guides us through the three-part exposition. The central room is dedicated to artefacts of the Second World War, but the other two hold items dated up until 1941 and some that depict life in ‘Līdumnieki’ kolkhoz. The beautifully renovated wooden house is full of war attributes, relics, projectiles, firearms, propaganda posters and other things. 

Ēriks advises us to visit the nearby border guard’s post at Gorki. In the forest, on the way to the border, we spot a border guards hut, a beautiful testimony of it’s time. A kind border guard stops us at the post and asks for the aim of our journey after checking our permits. We agree not to publish her real name and face anywhere, because that would be against the rules. 

Let’s suppose her name is Zane. She tells us about service on the Russian border, about everyday life and the mission of the border guards, considering the difficult geopolitical situation. It turns out a bear cub has been spotted nearby. That means the mother will turn up soon as well. There are many animals in the area- recently, in the winter, the patrolling border guards had to climb a tree after coming across a pack of wolves. Zane has been in duty for 15 years, doesn’t regret her decision and is happy about every day she spends here. When saying goodbye, she sings us the border guards anthem. 

“The border- my life, The fatherland I must guard, And a sunny morning may adorn you, Honour to serve Latvia, forever it sounds!”

Not far from here, in Berezovka, Valfrēds Miezītis, a character from Rimants Ziedonis’ book ‘Eastern Border’ still lives and works. Just like 10 years ago, Alfrēds continues to breed pigeons and he could tell stories about them from morning to night. He doesn’t stop to think about his decision to move here, to the deep Latgale, from Pārdaugava 25 years ago. He doesn’t think about the chance to return to Šampēteris either.

From Rimants Ziedonis’ ‘Austrumu Robeža’: ‘Before the war, the Latvian army bred pigeons for its technical division to carry secret messages. Pigeons were also used by the border guards. There were special classes where people were trained to work with pigeons. By the way, before the war, there were many agents, spies and agitators who actively used pigeons in the border regions.’

Valfrēds breeds them for fun, and makes a living from breeding sheep and dairy. The time has come for us to go back to Riga to edit and mount the filmed material for the episode of ‘1836 enduro kilometres’ that should appear on Re:TV in the beginning of June. On the way home, we remember the events and conclude that people from Latgale have big hearts.