This being my second year on global challenge hitchhiking has become one of those skills that I might consider putting on a CV, I've been working in the hours and can honestly say that I love the adventure of putting out my thumb and expectantly waiting to see who will pick us up.
My heart is filled with fond memories as I think back to drinking late afternoon coffee on a smallholding close to the border of Costa Rica - Panama, and then being stranded in nomansland on the same border a few hours later. Going at hair-raising speeds down a mountain pass in Ecuador with a driver that decided to stop to smoke a questionable substance which makes him "focus" or being tucked in on the back of a bakkie by an old Quecha man and his wife in their traditional wear. Waiting four hours to get a lift in desert Peru and finally getting a lift because we begged a man if we can go on the back of his pickup... Waiting in said pickup for another hour next to the restaurant where the family was eating their lunch in case they decide to leave without us...
This year our Northbound team was on a hitchhiking mission again. Day 1 30 km to Ephesus and back, day 2 200 km to Pamukkale and day 4 700 km to Goreme and again adventure was bound to find us as we stepped out in faith trusting for God appointments.
Even though I have only good memories of previous hikes, the night before our 680km hike to Göreme, Turkey I went to bed with a slight sinking of the stomach and the realisation that it is still, and will probably always be, a faith journey. Not knowing what to expect, not knowing where you will be stranded, not sure if a serial killer will stop to pick you up... Basically a lot if unknowns, hence the needed faith.
The freshness of the early morning along with our breakfast sandwiches also meant a good start for Northbound as we saw the other two teams get lifts in a relatively short period of time before a big truck stopped for us. There is nothing quite like being squished in between a backpack and a teammate, two guitars stashed behind the seats and waiting for the water to boil in a nifty device for an early morning coffee - this while the morning sun greets the peach orchards. The big trucks with their big windows afford beautiful views of the passing countryside which in the case of Turkey is the greenest of green fields with scores of springtime flowers, white snow on the mountains framed by the bluest of blue skies. Beautiful.
Nothing is worse than being dropped in the middle of a town, where most of the people are on their way to the market or work and not planning to go even a hundredth of the distance that you are hoping for. That said, some of the best lifts are often the shortest ones. Those people that stop on their way to somewhere else just to take you out of town or to the nearest highway. One of our lifts in Turkey was at most probably 3 km, but the guy helped us fit our big bags into his small car for at least ten minutes and even got out an elastic to secure his boot that was not able to close due to the load.
Hitchhiking in a foreign country is always accompanied by a great deal of randomness. The language barrier sometimes mean that you are literally just along for the ride and at the mercy of your driver. Without being able to have a proper conversation the mental state of said driver is also often questionable.
One of the lifts that I will probably remember for as long as I live was by an oldish man stopping to pick us up in what felt like the middle of nowhere. With two backpacks on our laps and establishing that the man didn't really speak English the first 50 kms were done in relative silence before he stopped at a turnoff on the road and took out a map that my dad would have been proud of. A big map of Turkey folded up in about 8 rectangular blocks - some of them falling apart so he spent some time lining them up before starting to explain (in broken English, Turkish and sign language), he's going here, and even though we want to go to Konya, it is almost the same distance to Konya we can stay in the car if we want. Little did we know that this would not be the first time where a driver convinced us to take a road that we didnt plan to take. When Viglet stopped for lunch and treated us to an amazing meal we already thought trusting him was the best thing we could have done, little did we know!
As a team we were on a pilgrimage in Turkey and a few months before I dreamt of letting us hitchhike past the four churches that Paul planted on his first missionary trip but after doing research I saw that only the one is worthwile (Psidian Antioch) and due to a constraint in time available I let the idea go. I found myself standing at the entrance of Psidian Antioch - not sure whether to laugh or cry in amazement at the way that God is always one step ahead of me - waiting for a random Turkish muslim man to buy us tickets. He decided to be our tourguide, which - due to a lack of english - basically meant that he pointed us towards the information signs all over the place and bundu bashed his way off the beaten track away from the tourist (Japan, he motioned in disgust) and pointing towards interesting things in the rocks. What a privilege!
His hospitality did not end there. After we arrived in his destination town (for business meetings) he was speaking a whole string of words and frantically searching for something in the town, while phoning various people. He dropped us off at a teashop and before we knew what hit us we were sipping ice tea and after taking stock of our posessions we realised all we had with us was one wallet, one phone and one guitar. After about an hour we jumped with joy when our driver (and our bags!) returned. More randomness and misunderstandings followed and was ended with a Google translated phrase: we hotel together tonight.
More randomness and misunderstandings later we found ourselves sitting in a strange campsite eating peanuts and drinking coke, singing worship songs to him, with every song greeted by applause and "bravo".
More randomness and misunderstandings later we stopped in front of a hotel where he treated us to amazing rooms, amazing dinner and amazing fellowship through a translation app (with some dubious sentences making us doubt either the app or the sanity of our gracious man of peace...).
After dinner we went for a walk next to the beautiful lake and sat on some rocks appreciating the stars and the God that allows us to share, for a moment, life with people from all over the world. A life like no other!
You also get your share of lifts where you are very glad when the car stops to drop you off and you can leave it all behind. One such lift was at the end of day 2 of our Goreme hike, after again being taken on a road less travelled by and then being dropped in the middle of nowhere a big truck stopped. The frustration levels swinged back and forth as the truck reached a maximum of 60km/h on the straight roads and the driver spoke to us in Turkish or at least mouthed the words because for some reason his voice kept on fading away - probably due to the constant chain of cigarettes that he has been smoking since a young age - or at least judging by the terrible sound of his lungs when he coughs. On top of this he didn't take us where we asked, and kept on driving everytime we were at a crossroad and asked to get off... We were at his (and his slow truck's) mercy. When he finally dropped us off we were so happy to be outside especially when he ended the lift (which felt like a lifetime) by asking us for money.
And so there are many more stories, like a mechanical engineer that took us for lunch, convinced us to take a different route than we planned before dropping us on the quietest road ever, and then giving us rose water cologne and rose sweets as a gift, as if that will make up for the vast expanse of emptiness around us! Or the Lebanese truck driver that could speak some english that showed us videos of Turkey in the winter, while the truck kept shaking precariously in the wind. Or the countless faces that showed their amazement at the look of us as they drove past us.
When we arrived at our destination with a torn apart map of Turkey, a bag full of rosewater delicasies and countless memories of faces and roads and cars and trucks, it was with full hearts and wonder at the great adventure that life can be and the good father that we serve. Even though it took us almost two full days to hitchhike, we never waited more than 10 minutes for a lift!
Even though hitchhiking is considered an alternative to having to pay for transport I will not exchange the experiences for any money. The shared fellowship with your teammates as you laugh at an unexpected turn of events, the wonder of hospitality shown to us all over the place, the sheer adventure of the unexpected lift and driver, the frustration in not being able to communicate, the reiteration of the destination to make sure you are driving in the right direction, the cups of tea, the laughter when we find ourselves in the middle of nowhere, the randomness, the feeling of having no control over your destiny or time, the amazing people that you get to meet and spend time with, the free roadtrips through beautiful countrysides, the beautiful journey of placing your faith in a God that provides - priceless!
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