Hitchhiking to Ecuador Part Five: The Final Run

On the final day Amilkar lets us ride in the front cab with him. He explains that the police are "tranquillo" in the south and so will not pull us over.  The cabin is pimped out. I am talking disco pimped. The seats and dash are covered with thick white fur as is the floor, and the walls are studded with jewels. After a long day of Spanish, Jenga and discargar Amilkar puts his 1990s mix CD on. This confirms once and for all that Colombia truly is in 1994 - think mullets, track suits leisurewear and Friends. At 7pm we arrive in Amilkar's home town, Ipiales. Amilkar then gives us an alpaca hat and fleece blanket as he is worried we will be cold in Ecuador and Peru and then takes us to our couchsurf host by taxi. Amilkar is truly one of the most selfless and genuine people I have ever been lucky enough to meet. We both agree we must find Jenga and get it to him on our way back up to Colombia.

Hitchhiking to Ecuador Part Four: Busted

Usually when we saw police at military checkpoints we would dive into the back of the truck to hide. Amilkar had warned us that is was illegal to carry people in the back of his truck and he only had one seat in the front.



This time, though, in our tired state we just laid still. As the truck slowed over a speed bump I looked straight at the Po-Po through our small flap of folded-back tarp. We felt the truck slow further and then pull in.
Immediately grabbed what we could and dived over several rows of salt to lie as flat and quiet as we could in the darkness.