We took our first shot at picking up hitchhikers this year whilst road tripping through the North of Argentina (check out my post ‘picking up hitchhikers‘). This post tells the second story of our experiences, whilst helping out our fellow budget travellers. The people we met doing this were all so unique that I felt that they really need their own stories…
Louis from Spain
Hitching to Iruya
Night rider
The journey of a hitchhiker
It transpired that Louis, unable to find our car, had assumed we’d left by the time he was looking to leave. He had hitchhiked with multiple Argentinian drivers, all of whom were only able to take him so far, before turning off for a more obscure track. In the last half hour, a good few cars had passed him in the cold, dark night. Nobody had stopped. “what would you have done, had we not come along?” I asked him. “I was going to give it another 30 minutes, and then probably try find some leaves and a tree to make shelter for the night”, he replied. It seems this was not the first time Louis had done this. He explained that he’d often had to ‘bunk down’ with nature, after not being able to score a lift. “Your body will endure more than you think it can”, he continued in a casual manner.
A new friend
I was impressed, and intrigued by Louis’s outlook on life (and travel). We took him back to the hostel, cooked him dinner and listened to him tell us “I had a feeling something good would happen, and then you guys appeared”. We shared our food, our drink, and learned more about his work-away setup/home in Spain. The next morning we hugged, and said our goodbyes as he headed back onto the road, aiming for Bolivia. Had we not opened ourselves up to picking up hitchhikers, I’d never have had this wonderful memory…. and Louis may have spent the night up a freezing cold mountain under a tree.
