The Art of Hitchhiking

Reading: Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire

To begin with, I need to preface this post by saying that hitchhiking is strongly frowned upon by Peace Corps. However, when you are placed in a community without public transportation with a family that does not own a car, I believe that coge un carro falls under the practice of cultural integration. The good thing is that because it is so cultural acceptable here – literally, everybody does it – both the kids that I live with catch rides to and from school every day. Thus, safety is much less of a concern then in the states… and so here’s my quick guide on how to effectively hitchhike:

1. Motorcycles are strictly prohibited by Peace Corps: this makes things a little interesting seeing as motos make up about two thirds of the traffic between Chimbo and the nearest bus stop in the Parroquia. However, motos, here usually have between 2 and 6 people on them, so most of them are not viable ride options to begin with. Furthermore, some young guy is usually driving them…  
2. If you get lucky, someone who knows you will pick you up. I say this as it turns out people seem to know you when you may or may not know them. This is mostly because being the one of the only relatively tall, blonde and blue-eyed girls in the area is rather memorable. In my case, I usually don’t remember people usually because I’m horrible with names. Being picked up by someone you knows usually means a lot of chit chatting, but it also means that you probably won’t have to pay the $0.50 and they’ll more then likely take you straight to your house. 
3. Women, if you can get them to stop, are your next best option. Older men with pickup trucks are second best. If there are kids with them, you’re golden. Best-case scenario, you get picked up by a camioneta (pickup) full of school kids and there’s only room for you in the bed. In general, I prefer the bed to riding in the cab because it’s cooler and it saves me from the awkward small talk that I haven’t fully mastered in Spanish. 
4. Delivery trucks are okay, but it means riding in the cab, usually with some young guy who probably only stopped because you’re a gringa…. 
5. I avoid cars, mostly because the only people who I see driving them are sketchy guys from the Parroquia… 
6. The real art is in the proper flagging down technique: timing is key and it works best if you look like you’re actually waiting for a ride. For me, this is often the most difficult part, because I hate waiting around and would rather start walking the 10k stretch instead of standing around waiting for the right ride to pass by. My host family, on the other hand, is perfectly content sitting around for an hour to wait for a ride, which I just can’t do… Oh, and you also obviously need to be on the right side of the road for the direction you want to be going. 
7. Plan extra time: some days you find a ride right away, some days you walk half way only to get picked up by a taxi who charges you $0.50 for a bouncy ride and Panamericano played too loudly. Also, expect on having to take multiple cars. No hitching hiking experience is complete until you’ve walked a little, turned down a moto and hopped into the bed of at least two different camionetas to get where you were hoping to go.