Northern Chile has provided me with a lot of fun things to do so far. One of the most rewarding detours off the main road south has been visiting the hamlet of Pisagua and its abundant former glory. This used to be one of Chile’s biggest ports back in the day, which one can’t imagine anymore. A lot of buildings are wooden, including the semi-abandoned theatre. The theatre now hosts a tiny library and internet café in one of the small rooms. Only a few shops provided my provisions of food and water. After walking around, I’ve spotted four restaurantsContinue reading
hitchhiking
Perú to Chile by Hitchhiking (Tacna – Arica Border Crossing)
Goodbye Perú and hello Chile! I hitchhiked from Perú to Chile by starting at Tacna’s airport. Then I caught a ride to the border with Chile and onward to the beach city of Arica. Besides the heat, it was fairly easy to stop a ride. But I can’t complain as I had a nice palm tree to provide me shadow. This is where I stood in coordinates: -18.049486297999366, -70.27823982373954 I’ve been adding all kinds of information to HitchWiki.org recently as there are not a whole bunch of articles on South America. And I’m currently here anyway 😉 What can I sayContinue reading
Boca del Río Lighthouse: Freecamping in Perú
Last night I went freecamping in Perú. I picked a spot close to the coast on a hill where both a lighthouse and a Jesus statue were located. Boca del Río (“river mouth”) is located close to the city of Tacna. I hitchhiked from Boca del Río to Tacna in a single ride with a lovely old lady going to a big church here. I plan to stick around here for the next few days before crossing to Arica, Chile. Arica formerly belonged to Perú. It’s also where the Atacama desert begins, which is the driest place on earth exceptContinue reading
Old Interview for CatchAWish: Heute Mal Hitchhiking
This old interview about my hitchhiking trips originally appeared on the German website Catch A Wish back in January 2016. Saddia’s website has since gone offline, so I took my interview and republished it on my own blog for posterity. These words were true for me at the time and don’t necessarily reflect how I think about things today. I edited the spelling and formatting a bit to make this interview a little more readable. What were the reasons for you to decide to try hitchhiking? I was on a semester abroad in Aarhus, Denmark, and quite a few ofContinue reading
The Netherlands to Berlin, Germany: Sitting, Waiting, Hitching
My backpack has been sittin’, waitin’, wishin’ for a ride to Berlin in Germany! Today I’m hitchhiking from my mom’s place in the Netherlands to Berling in one day. My folks were kind enough to give me a kickstarting ride to this great gas station along the A1 highway. They had people to visit or things to do in the east of the Netherlands, so it’s great that I could join for a short while. I made sure to snap a picture with my sweet old dog Ashley. Like a comet passing by, I used their gravitational force to launchContinue reading
Experiences of 2015, #2: The Airplane Hitch over Malta
This is part of a series on my travel experiences of 2015, read #1 about Albania too! #2: The Airplane Hitch over Malta In 2015 I hitchhiked my first airplane over the Maltese islands, which was really cool in terms of getting things off my bucket list and having seen Malta from the sea, the land, and the sky. All from people’s hospitality and generosity! What’s really awesome is to go through security, not at the main entrance, but the back, at the private jet parking. I loved hanging out in the hangars with other plane-aficionados who are painting or otherwiseContinue reading
Experiences of 2015, #1: Albania! All of it!
It’s almost the end of the year according to the calendar I grew up with. And all the bloggers seem to be doing it. So here’s a recap of my year in hitchhiking, adoring nature, and meeting people! 2015 was not the most exciting year I’ve had in travel; there were a few sad things going on personally. I stayed in Europe mostly as I was trying to hitchhike to all the missing countries I haven’t been to. But suddenly a happy change happened; now I’m in South America continuing the adventures in hitchhiking! There were so many opportunities justContinue reading
Samaipata and Bolivia’s other “Death Roads”
When hitchhiking through this amazing valley to get to Samaipata, Bolivia, football-sized rocks fell down a cliff. It’s such a strange thing to witness. They barely missed the car in front of ours. My driver told his daughter who was sitting in the roof-window of the car to come down and sit inside between Jonas and me. “We have to do this quick”, he says in Spanish. He slows down the car and waits for the dangerous stretch to clear. This doesn’t worry me at all; I grew up with the assumption that if there’s any danger, other people willContinue reading
Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Christmas Time in Bolivia
Here in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, they have the most fabulous Christmas trees I’ve ever seen! They fit the landscape and the architecture pretty well. It seems like everyone is already in the mood for Christmas, which I usually struggle with. I’ll probably spend my Christmas hitchhiking to Titicaca Lake, but before I do that I’ll make recommended stops in Samaipata (nature+history), La Paz (should be magical is what I’ve heard!), and whatever other cool things come my way. Jonas will probably join me for that route, as he’s getting into hitchhiking. So far, Bolivia hasn’t been thatContinue reading