Hitchhiking Trips: isn’t it amazing? i never imagined being in the back seat of a massive construction truck in Chile driving along a rough road and drinking wine with people i met the moment before. And yet that is what curiously (or not so curiously) happened!
i proudly hitchhiked ( kamikazee ) along Carretera Austral, a well-known road in the Chilean Patagonia, which was my third time here in the last three years. Unless you have read my maiden voyage into hitchhiking, you may find it best to read that one first then it should all make sense. i will wait here!
Okay, ready? Let’s go!
Day Two- Hitchhiking: Rain, Rain Go Away!
On the second day of hitchhiking, the sun was rising. My friend (Ajay) and i got up at a very early time in the hope that we would get transport easily. We were living in a very primitive guesthouse and that is typical of how things get done in this area of Patagonia where building materials are difficult.
Through the window of our little room i looked. it was raining cats and dogs! We pondered over whether the rain was going to deter further hitchhikers (great news to us!) or it was just going to be a long, rainy and irritating day.
The previous day we had stopped at the edge of the town of La Junta; we now walked off. We stacked our backpacks up on top of one another with their rain coverage over them so that they would not get wet. We put on our cold ski coats (we still had them left over after our visit to Austria!): and thrust our thumbs out to see what we could get.
Austria
it was not a very busy road. The ones which did it were full or simply did not want to take two wet people. We used to engage in games such as yellow things to spend time.
When we saw a cyclist pass, we cheered for them, and they always smiled or even laughed, pleased to hear us cheering.
and the time hung heavy, and it rained all day. We began to think whether we would not be able to simply take a bus. We resorted back into the town to have lunch and to learn about bus schedules. Nope! No bus in our direction till 6 in morning. Ugh! We turned back, then, to the roadside, and the weather grew meaner still.
Ajay needed to pull me out of the blues the previous day so i would not quit. it was my turn to cheer people up on this day as i was standing in the rain, approximately half a day.
The huge truck comes along! When we were about to speak of giving up a 10-wheeler truck drove along. i did not even raise my arm up as it appeared that there was no space in the front and these huge trucks did not even stop to pick a hitchhiker.
Then, unexpectedly, i noticed how the truck stopped at a distance of 50 meters behind us and took four girls! i witnessed hands which were in the rear of the truck pulling their bags.
Back of the Truck!
Oh my god he is retrieving them! To Ajay i was whispering. Without further comment i began to run as fast as i might, hoping that the truck might not drive away before i reached it.
An ordinary individual would say to himself, “Hmm, to ride in the back of a dirty dump truck is not fun.” And i would think so, too, in general! However, now i no longer think in a normal state. i was simply in need of a ride!
Being attracted to the truck, i found the driver standing at the door. Two other ones, please? Breathless i stammered in my ragged Spanish. He was a friendly looking, easy going Chilean man. He smiled and nodded so as to say, “Naturally! You see, i passed you the first time without asking you?”
i at once scurried back to Ajay. He took two of the bags and met me halfway and took the other two. which was when those same hands stretched out of the top of the truck bed and grabbed our bags. Then Ajay put his foot up, and right after him i followed.
Party on the Back of the Truck!
i never thought that i would see what i saw inside! Doing this were a dozen or so other young people who were already seated in a circle, all being itinerant hitchhikers like us! Majority were Chileans, a few Colombians and a few youths of Spain.
They were a little wet and dirty with asphalt in the truck, but incredibly saved smiles, and opened their arms wide with welcome. This crew was it!
We sat on our backpacks. After being assured by Ajay that his special drone bag was not being squashed, we all seated ourselves in and had what was in fact a very bumpy and comic trip.
The top of the truck bed was covered with white tarp as the driver was shielding us against the rain and likely any police too! Since, according to one of the guys in the truck fluent in English, it was clearly illegal to have passengers in the back of a truck in Chile. Oops!
i glanced over to the right of me, and one of the Colombian men had a giant bottle of wine in his jacket like a baby. He removed two coffee cups covered with lids and poured wine in them and began to circulate them. i turned around, and the next moment, someone produced a hand operated speaker and was playing Chilean reggae music.
Patagonia:
The best afternoon of my whole life! And actually, when do you end up in the middle of Patagonia drinking wine with a group of strangers in a 10-wheel truck?
By the time we got to our destination, we bid farewell to our new found friends. We put on our backpacks once again trying to find a place to stay. At the same time two bicycling people passed, with a smile on their faces.
Hello! you were the bits that cheered us on! they said. Well, i am glad you managed to make it!”
i was very happy when, after reaching the town we had come to called Puyuhuapi. it was breathtakingly beautiful and encircled by the national parks which we would visit in the following days.
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This is all by the way, though, as they say!
