Hitchhikers

Hitchhikers

There was never a hitchhiker that didn't get a ride from me while I was driving in Iceland.  I remember hitching all over Portugal, northern Spain on to Paris, my EuroRail pass forgotten (for the meantime) some 30 years ago, while I was backpacking all of Europe, and I remember that first brave go at it, outside Lisbon, Portugal, and getting pickt up in minutes, and however easy or however hard to get a ride, it was always a great way to travel.

I remember that feeling when the car or truck slowed down....I was going to pass that on, not pass on.

I must've pickt up say 20 or so, usually two, one time three, one time one.  You had to be out very early in the morning or late in the afternoon to get lucky.  (This sounds so Sweeney Todd.)  

At the drop off, I'd've forgotten their names already, but we were all best friends forever.   American, French, Swiss German, Swiss French, German, Dutch, Italian, Czech...  One Czech couple told me that they knew me, because I'd given two of their Czech friends a ride the day before.  And they knew the only three words in Czech* I admitted remembering!  (I studied it, with limited success, just school Czech.)  The Swiss women I pickt up, I insisted they tell me a story while I drove, like that was a part of the bargain.  One free ride = one story.  It was so interesting that I wish I'd played that off from the start.

Anyway, about the one time three.  I pickt up Lucas, from Berlin, parents German and Chilean.  Going to Skógar.  He had two other friends behind him with not as much success as he's having.  The three were meeting in Skógar to hike the Fimmvörðuháls trail north over the pass, into Þórsmörk and continuing on the Laugarvegur trail to Landmannalaugar, about four or five days.  I'm going into this detail, because this hike is the most popular and beautiful hike in Iceland.  I was planning on hiking the Fimmvörðuháls trail myself.  Actually, the next morning. 

I could give him a ride only as far as Seljavallalaug geothermal pool, and Skógar was not too far another hitch.  I needed to eat something, and then I was already planning to go to the outdoor pool.  He decided that he and his two friends would meet there instead, and enjoy the same hot swimming pool too.  I could give them all a ride further along to Skógar afterwards.

I meet Antton and Luigi there later, and after the swim, I drop them off at the Skógar camp, with the beautiful and famous seen-on-many-auto-commercials Skógarfoss waterfall.  They're planning on taking off while there's still light enough to hike, which is until about 23:00 or so.

You've read the Fimmvörðuháls post, so I'll skip to the part of it where we find the camping hut at the top of the pass.  There I meet up with Lucas, Antton and Luigi again!  Surprised, because they had such a head start on us.  Then not surprised when I saw how much gear they had on their backs.  And it was that rain and sleet hike too.  We parted ways again, caught up, and parted ways again, and then I lost them...

Years later I'm in Reykjavík. I'm back from all my geology treks along South Iceland, and I walk out of a kaffihús and there's Lucas, Antton and Luigi, back safe from their Laugavegurinn hike. Nice to see them again! Three times a charm.

  

Luigi, Benjamin, Antton, Lucas
?, American, Finn, German
(I think that's right.)

I never ran into any of my other friends-forever hitchhikers though, as I did with these three crazy guys.  

P.S.  Antton and I shared our online blogs, and he gave me a slip of paper with "souvvi" written on it, a collaborative blog he and friends have put together.  Lots of photographs, adventures, and reasons to still keep yourself as young as I try to, however old my passport claims.

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*My three Czech words:
Dobrýtro Morning
Až ti slůně sluníčko   When the baby elephant sun
šlapne ráno na vičko,   is stepping on your eyelids in the morning,
neplač,   don't cry,
vždyt’ to nebolí,   afterall, it doesn't hurt,
a běž honem do školy!   Hurry and go to school!