We love to hitchhike. Mexico and Central America are very good places to hitchhike. Two of our best experiences hitchhiking were in Mexico. The first occurred in the southern mountains of Oaxaca. While leaving San Jose Pacifico, we hitched a ride in the back of a pickup truck. This was not the most comfortable experience, since an ATV was strapped in the back of the vehicle. I was sitting on the tailgate, and Javier was nestled on the side of the four wheeler. We spent many hours riding in the back of that truck. Going down twists and turns, doing our best to hide from the pouring rain, and holding on tight when arriving to the highway. We were so grateful for this long ride.
The second occurred when we were leaving Palenque, in Chiapas. We were trying to get to a very remote Mayan ruins called Calakmul, and were having a very difficult time getting a ride. We struggled for hours to get someone to pick us up, and eventually we had to concede defeat. We hopped on a small bus to the next crossroads, to try our luck there. Much to our excitement, we were picked up almost immediately by a trucker. It was a bit of a surprise for the driver. I was standing by the side of the road, seemingly alone (Javi was bent down behind a sign trying to get something out of his backpack), and this trucker was very excited to pick up this young blonde woman. But, when Javier was the one to run to the truck, he was just as surprised to see a dark haired man. Although Javier was not the young woman he thought he was picking up, he was still pleased to help the two of us out.
This turned out to be the best hitchhiking Javi and I have ever done together. We spent hours driving with this trucker, Jaime. He was generous; he bought us coffee at a rest stop. He hosted us in his extra bed in the semi truck. He even wanted me to drive (though in the end I was too chicken to do it)! For the night, we slept above him in his extra bunk in the truck. The next morning, we took some photos, and said our goodbyes. We will never forget Jaime, and we wish we had some way to contact him.
