A big day, but it went well. I have just been to the local shop at Cirava to get water for tomorrow. A sign at the crossroads says 43km to Liepaja. My 39km is a guesstimate and it could be more, though I used some very minor roads to get here.
Ilgvars walked with me to the main Riga road. He had warned me about the reconstruction work going on, but there was little activity and I walked straight through. I had 10–15km on main roads, which is never pleasant as the verge is usually so narrow.
After the discussion last night, I had decided to go through Kapsēde and Bebe. However, the road to Talsi looked so inviting I decided to walk through Talsi and Dunalka. One reason was to make sure I had somewhere to buy more water.
The roads were mainly country lanes and the traffic was minimal off the main roads.
The most surprising traffic was two young mums with prams who I saw on my way out of Dunalka. There were even rolling pastures and a couple of 20m hills to climb. Very similar walking to where I was a little further south in Kurzeme two years ago. I got into a good rhythm and virtually didn't stop till Dunalka where I got some supplies and had a picnic lunch.
My accommodation is not too bad – no stars but 4 lats, or about $A10, for the night. My instructions were to phone "Gunta" as I got near Cirava. After all my Latvian conversational practice last night with Velta and Ilgvars, I phoned her and we met at the building. 
The "hotel" is a few rooms at the right hand end of the building. The rest seems to be occupied as apartments. I have an en-suite with a curtain covering the doorway; apparently as the room was "built for invalids". I was given keys and told to lock myself in. I am on my own though a chauffeur from Riga might arrive late tonight to occupy the next-door room.I spoke to Anita who has meetings today with Tango sin quinto and our friend, Ilga Reizniece. Anita has been advancing her Festival programme over the last few days by speaking to people here in Latvia whilst keeping in touch with the Committee in Melbourne. The Festival is run by volunteers from the local community, and there are more than a hundred who have offered to help.
Anita and I have had countless discussions over the last two years about the Festival, and as there is not much more to write about today's walking, I thought I might write a little about the Festival.
The Arts Festivals started in 1951 and were held every year in a different capital city until about six years ago when it was decided to hold the festival every second year, mainly because the host cities were reduced to Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne and the demands of hosting every six years were regarded as manageable.
Most Latvian migration to Australia followed the Second World War although in recent years there has been a steady flow of migrants, perhaps matching the number of Australian Latvians who returned to Latvia after independence in 1991.
The original post-war migrants were refugees and included children who fled with their parents or were born in the DP (displaced persons) camps, mainly in Germany, before Australia started accepting the "Balts" in about 1949.
Even the youngest migrant Latvian born say, in Germany in 1945, must now be 65. Those who migrated as adults are now in their mid–80s at least. The second generation were born in Australia in the 1950s to 70s. This is Anita's generation. The third generation includes Jāna and Lija. Their generation is very active and now in the "spare" year between Arts Festivals, the Australian Latvian youth organisation holds a Youth Festival, which is similar to the Arts Festival and usually throws up new ideas and is carried off with tremendous enthusiasm and professionalism. We attended the Youth Festival at the end of 2009 in Adelaide and planning is underway for the 2011 Youth Festival in Sydney. Jāna is the current head of the youth organisation.
Anita is certainly not the youngest person to organise the Festival; in fact, Anita's father Ziedonis was younger than Anita is now when he organised the Festival in 1971. But Anita is one of only 3 or 4 second generation Australian Latvians to have been given the job of organising the festival – Anita's good friend, Viktorija Macēna was the latest before her, in Sydney, in 2008.
The Festival at the end of the year will be the 53rd since 1951. It will be known as AL53KD – Australian Latvians’ 53rd C(K)ultural Days. Australia’s Latvians refer to the Festival as KDs and the Youth Festival as JDs.
These were only intended to be a few introductory remarks (principally for the non-Latvian readers of the blog to put into context Anita's guiding principles or fundamental ideas behind the Festival. There are basically four:
1. To ensure the longer term survival of the Festival (and the celebration of Latvian culture in Australia) by having the second generation accept responsibility as organisers of events and be participants in them.
2. To maximise the participation of Australian Latvians in the Festival, including all the generations, those who have moved away from the Latvian community or have had little contact in the past but wish to reconnect, the more recent arrivals from Latvia and finally, Australian friends of Latvians who wish to share the experience.
3. To centralise the Festival events, so far as possible, in the area around Latvian House in Elwood, to connect with the local community in the City of Port Philip and to make Latvian House a hub for social contact and other activity during the Festival.
4. Whilst not underrating the importance of dance, theatre and the visual arts, to recognise the special significance of singing as the cornerstone of Latvian culture by a major "Celebration of Song" event.
If I have time over the next few days, I will try to describe the Festival programme and how these four principles have guided the planning for the Festival by Anita and her committee.
But I must get some sleep. My host for tomorrow night has phoned to give me final directions. It is possible also that Anita might come down from Riga. So much to look forward to, apart from about 35km of pleasant Kurzeme country walking.
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