Saturday, May 30, 2015

There's always a first time

There is always a first time, for everything.

First kiss.
First beer.
First time having sex.
First time traveling.
First time hitchhking.

This is not the place and I won't discuss the first three. I'm going to write about my first time hitchhiking.

For most of the people (if not all) in my circle of friends it's a very known fact that Spain is one of the hardest countries to hitchhike. Ironically, the person that introduced me to hitchhiking is Spanish!

I was very active on CouchSurfing back in 2009. I saw a post in one of the Guatemala forums, it was a Spanish traveler asking a few questions about Guate. I replied. We met and after a few beers I decided to take a couple weeks off from work to travel with him.

We agreed to meet in the cute little village of Monterrico on Guatemala's Pacicif Coast. I took the bus. After a couple of days we left, destination Xela (Quetzaltenango). Not more than 230 Km but it took us the most part of the day. I was amazed of this new way of transportation. I got to Monterrico by bus btw.

Now, having hitchhiked for more than 5 years and gathered experience, I would say that that distance is easly covered anywhere... well, almost anywhere.

It was a hell lot of fun. Riding in the back of pick ups which is one of the things I miss about hitchhiking in Latin America. 

I was a newbie to traveling and specially to hitchhiking, I didn't know how and what to pack. As you can judge for yourselves: the backpack on the right is mine. I traveled two weeks with that huge backpack (now about to close my sixth year of travels, my current back pack is a third smaller than that!)

That was the beginning. I got hooked. I have been hitchhiking ever since.

I hitched new cars. Old cars. Family cars. Sports cars. Lorries. Trucks. Pick ups. Coca Cola trucks. Buses. Minibuses. Horse and cart. Taxis. Ambulances. Boat. Sailboat. Sailship. Motorbikes. Ferries. VW buses (my favourite). Tractor. I still have to hitchhike a donkey.


This last photo was just to show you some of the impressive beauty of my country.

Este post es para vos Jotikas, gracias!