Hitchhiking

I spent Sunday night and Monday at the Dead Sea enjoying the ultra clean filtered rays of the sun at 400 ft below sea level and the healing properties of a sea filled with far too much salt and other minerals. It was a great end to my summer seeing as the very first weekend I was here in Jordan I went to the Dead Sea, and now on my last weekend as well. It was a fitting end to the summer. As with any trip in that part of the country it is easy to get there because of the bus and taxi situations, but a little more difficult getting back without paying too much money. Our solution is to stand on the side of the highway and hitchhike. My experience with this has been completely positive, not quite what I expect each time, but positive nevertheless. This time we managed a small van with a driver, his son, and another man hauling diapers. They said they were going to Amman and since we were going there too, we climbed in. It turns out that our route to Amman wasn't very direct, but it provided us with some interesting experiences, some great scenery, and one more memory of the people and place that has been my home during the last 3 months.

We started off making a few turns that obviously weren't in the direction of Amman. When I realized this I started paying closer attention just as a precaution but they turned around and talked to us and told us what they were doing. Unfortunately, we don't actually speak Arabic, between the four of us we managed to figure out that they were telling us we had to make a detour before going to Amman. As far as what they actually said, we don't have a clue, but the message was communicated nevertheless, probably mostly by the fact that we weren't on a main road. We ended up in a smaller village and turned down an even smaller and dirtier alley to come to a stop outside a store, at which point we all got out and a few of us helped unload the few bags of diapers that were in the back and then waited for the next step of our journey. A few short conversations and after a bottle of water went around the group we loaded up and were off again. This time we headed up a canyon road to that would eventually bring us into Amman from the North.

Most of this trip was uneventful until our driver suddenly slammed on his breaks and swerved to the right of the road where he sat impatiently for 10 seconds while a half-dozen cars passed us before he put the van in reverse and haphazardly started back down the road we had just come. I looked around trying to figure out what he was doing when I noticed a crate of cucumber looking things sitting out on the side of the road by themselves. Sure, enough our driver jumped out of the car and barely paused to check for traffic as he darted across the road to get the vegetables. Now they were sitting on the ground just waiting and as he picked them up a woman came to the gate of the house, they exchanged a few words but it was obvious that they were extra and just up for grabs. As he returned we had pseudo-cucumbers for everybody, and although they were getting a little too ripe they were quite good. About 30 minutes later we pull over to the side of the road next to a stream. Our three Arab escorts immediately begin washing their hands and faces in the stream and motion for us to do the same. Being the obedient American hitchhikers we were we figured, “hell, why not?” And followed suit. It turns out the stop had another reason equally as valid besides just cooling off the face and head, but they used the stream to fill their water bottles to pour all over the radiator and parts of the engine. Something about being in the middle of a blazing hot desert while driving up a steep winding canyon road required the old van to be cooled off partway through its journey, I can understand that. I found the whole unexpected nature of the stop amusing. The stop, the stream, the washing, and then the cooling off of the car, all during which nobody attempted much conversation, neither them nor us.

In many situations I find that it is just easier to sit back and observe rather than trying to engage in conversation. Likewise, I think they assumed our Arabic wasn't good enough to warrant the effort a conversation would require in attempting to speak words that would be understood by all parties. After our refreshing pit stop, it only took us another 40 minutes and one more stop for some more vegetables, this time at a small roadside stand, before we arrived back in Amman and they dropped us off. We gave them a small amount of money, which they tried to decline, and then we thanked them graciously as we got out of the car.

All together the people in Jordan are more than willing to help out, some more than others, and some for more money than others, but more than willing. My hitchhiking experiences in Jordan have taught me a couple of things. The most important is that people are generally good and very few have ill intentions for you. Sure, they may want something out of the exchange, but since they are providing me with a service I'm more than happy to pay them some money to compensate them for the extra time, gas, and effort that was required to pick me up off the side of a highway in the middle of the desert.

Did I ever wonder if I was completely safe while I was in the car of a complete stranger? Sure, but then I realized that's ridiculous, I get in cars with complete strangers all the time, they are just usually yellow and say “Taxi.” Those experiences aren't always pleasant and they are suppose to be legitimate businesses. Hitchhiking tends to have such a negative connotation associated with it, especially among Americans, and I've realized that it isn't any different from getting in any other type of car, be it a taxi, a bus, or a person willing to pick you up off the side of the road. If you get in enough cars you are bound to have some bad experiences, regardless of whether the drivers are part of a “legitimate” business venture. Hitchhiking just happens to be a way where the interaction is more interesting, and in the end sometimes you end up with a free ride, something you'll almost never get from a taxi, especially along the lonely desert roads. So do I support hitchhiking, absolutely, but it is situational and like any aspect of life when you are about to get into a car with someone you don't know you need to judge the situation and decide if it will be safe whether that be with “public” transportation or “private.”