Hitchhiking Brazil - Freedom, Danger and Defying Society HH Series Part 1

The guy began touching my hair, then he started saying “you’re beautiful” in Portuguese. I understand it's a compliment but sometimes it makes me feel uncomfortable. He started acting differently after driving for a few kms. I was nervous but I tried to stay calm. I needed to get off his car soon even though he was going straight to where I was going. I calmly told him that I needed to get off. He dropped me in the middle of the highway. It was already late in the afternoon and I was very tired.

I found myself yet in another unknown highway of Brazil. Cars speeding, some people were shouting words at me that I couldn’t understand. It was hot and humid, that typical Brazilian climate. I just wanted to retire, sit on the warm pavement like it is my home, and not think... Not to feel scared, not to feel tired. Just to feel nothing.

This was my road to freedom.

Why was I doing this? I thought. People told me I’m crazy, brave, stupid, out of my mind, reckless etc., maybe these are all true... but I didn’t care. This was my own spiritual journey, a new lifestyle I chose. My road, my rules, my life, and no one else could travel it for me. I was going through discomfort no one could have ever imagined, but I had gone through it. I didn't give up no matter what. I traveled the road I chose. Now I was here, waiting for a ride by the side of the road, with my whole life packed in a bag. One random traveler waiting by the side of the road, shocking those people driving by. They all looked at me with curiosity, some cars would stop even If I didn’t raise my thumb, and I would say, “Não, obrigada”, or no thank you in my terrible Portuguese. At some point, I just wanted to cry, I wanted to punch myself for leaving the comfort of having my own place, a nice job, money to spend, the company of good friends. But instead, I chose to travel into the unknown, relying on the universe to protect me, hungry for experiences that will teach me about life, perhaps... something I could write about someday.

Some people would stop to give me a ride because they told me that they couldn't imagine their daughters doing what I was doing. Most of the time people would really just wanted to help. With most of my hitchhiking experiences, I experienced the kindness of people. My faith in humanity was restored.

I tramp the perpetual journey - Walt Whitman

The roads in Brazil just go on and on, one big highway to another, one huge city to another, one massive land in the continent. Some people are afraid to travel here due to media’s love for exaggerating stories. But Brazil can be the safest country to travel to, depending on where you are. A big country with more to offer than just Rio de Janeiro, from stunning beaches, lush mountains, massive Amazonian rainforest, rich marine life to the amazing people who are generally open, all-around friendly and hospitable. And this is the reason Brazil is my top country in South America.

Sometimes I found myself crossing big highways and witnessing the erratic ways of motorists. Braving the wide Brazilian roads that seem to go everywhere. Sky's the limit here and I have the freedom to choose wherever I want to go. It was intimidating for me at first but I had gotten used to it. Sometimes I waited in gas stations in some unknown part of Brazil, scanning the plate numbers and reading which part of Brazil those vehicles are from, hoping that I could get that one ride that would take me straight away to my destination. I get lucky most of the time, a car or a truck to drive me 500+km. But sometimes I would have to get off, again and again, hitching one ride to another. This was my life on the road.

Those times when I felt lost in another city, wondering how I would be able to get in to find my host's place. Then coming out of a Brazilian city to get to the main highway was always a nightmare for me. But I've conquered it all....

because he had no place he could stay in without getting tired of it and because there was nowhere to go but everywhere, keep rolling under the stars ― Jack Kerouac

The first part is just part of the 5% of my bad experiences with hitchhiking. I was perfectly aware that if my instinct failed to calculate the right decision, I could be dead in no time. But who knows really? Raped, decapitated, thrown somewhere where nobody could find me. But when I’m out there thumbing, I didn’t think of anything like this. I was always positive and cheerful, like seeing the world through the eyes of a child. I was free and happy that I attracted good things. I thought about meeting another amazing, curious person who was willing to show the real Brazilian side, someone who was going to give me some travel advice. People who will share their own stories, their lives. Most of my hitchhiking experiences in Brazil was like this, a series of unforgettable moments when a long boring drive turned into a cultural exchange, fun and laughter.

Seeing the face of the driver as he opened the window, my guts were telling me not to get in, but my physical exhaustion allowed me to take the ride and risk it anyway. I was not making any rational decision at this point. Most of the time I could smell a possible danger straight away, as I looked into his eyes when he opened the car door. If I took it, it only meant for him that I was up for anything.

A short flashback:

6 years ago, a friend from Russia was introducing me to this way of how some Russians travel - hitchhiking. That time I was traveling for the first time in my life, and I was in Thailand. I didn’t know anything and it felt weird being there on the road side, running across the highway like what the fuck. Even though I was open to learning anything new in my life, it was just pure madness for me. I told him that I had money to pay for the bus. Until one night as we reached the border to Laos, I was already tired from this craziness I got myself into. He told me that we would stop and camp, and being new to camping, I panicked. I heard the river flowing in the darkness. There was nothing but just the spray of stars in the night sky. That time when I was only controlled by fear, I couldn’t appreciate moments like this. I told him that I would go because I was scared to be out there in the wild, with all the snakes, some animals by the river and God knows what... I cried in the darkness and quickly walked away in panic. I went up to the road side, trying to get a ride on my own, a truck stopped full of Lao men, then I looked at my friend and the trail back to the river. He was waiting for me to make a decision and I was very scared, crying like a child. In the end, I didn’t take the ride and I camped by the river, accepting the darkness and the reality. I've conquered my fear.

6 years later, here I was in Brazil, hitchhiking alone. From where I took the courage to go here on my own? It was one turning point in my life when I just had enough. Enough of everything, the normality of everyday life - consumption, and materialism. People who didn’t understand what I was going through, working the jobs that didn’t fulfill me, the same pattern and the society’s demand to conform. I was tired of the rules, of those things I have to follow, people telling me what I needed to do, the media dictating the things I should need, the things that I should have, the things I should do in life. So I woke up every day feeling the same. I didn’t find meaning in everything else, with unanswered questions go on and on in my head.

The courage to seek for the answers that will give meaning to life lead me here.

I woke up and saw my Brazilian friends were all around my bed. What’s happening here? I felt like a patient in a hospital being visited. “We are going”. Go where? I asked. It was just past 8 pm and I wondered why I was sleeping so early. The mother of my host prepared a really delicious caipirinha which I really loved, the best I had ever tasted. Earlier that evening we tried to gulp one glass of caipirinha to another as we choked with our own waves of laughter. There was always a party going on in this house, and she was always inviting almost the whole neighborhood to come. And she introduced me to everyone that I couldn't remember their names anymore. I was even told that suddenly I could converse in Portuguese through my own drunkenness. I died of caipirinha that night and was resurrected by my friends. They told me “Get up, we are going to the beach”.

In Brazil, you will be invited to a lot of house parties, the famous one is the barbecue party usually held at a rooftop of someone’s house. It means lots of booze, caipirinha, and crazy dancing to the tune of the famous “La Favela Funk” music. All those sexy dancing, booty shaking and out of this world moves will just make you laugh and just enjoy the show.

My friends knew that I had to go at some point. I saw my Brazilian mother too drunk that time, and crying. It broke my heart. I hugged her and said goodbye.

Things were happening so fast, and the next thing I knew, I was with my friends on a road trip. They said we were going to this beautiful beach town, and it is close to where I was headed next. It was just the beginning of my trip in Brazil, starting from Rio de Janeiro and I told them about my plan to hitchhike up to the south of the country. But after Rio, I was going to volunteer first in a spiritual community in Cunha for two weeks. They couldn’t believe what I was telling them, they bombarded me with how dangerous to travel like this in Brazil, and that I’m crazy and all. So they planned this road trip to somehow help me with the first 251km of my trip. We stopped by the beach, and there I was enjoying the company of my Brazilian friends I dearly love. I was happy for all those memories, good times, fun, laughter, and kindness that made all the difference in this trip.

They dropped me off in a town called Paraty, and here I said goodbye to them. It was sad that good things had to end. I saw their faces filled worry, but I just gave them a smile in return. A sign that everything is going to be alright, that I promised. I am used to this, I assured them. I trust the universe will protect me.

To see people as they drove away was such a heavy feeling for me, and I was still not used to it. I didn’t want to get used to goodbyes but instead, I tried to feel my own heavy heart that makes me human. Feel that I would be missing good people who became close to my heart for a certain period of time. Feel that it could be my last chance to share those wonderful times... and now I have nothing but good memories to remember.

I lead myself to a road full of joy, uncertainties, and pain, but it was also up to me to be grateful that I was strong enough to survive it.

What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's goodbye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies. ― Jack Kerouac