Stats

Hitchhiked distance: 964 kilometer

Number of lifts: 21

Average waiting time: 14 minutes 31 seconds

Waiting time total: 5 hours 05 minutes

The complete log you can find here.

My Route

Through Tumbes/Peru I crossed the border in the South, hitchhiked a night bus to Guayaquil and from there I went through Quite up to the Colombian Border in the North. Short route, straight through.

People

I perceived the Ecuadorian people as a bit weird. I met the people with the best Spanish here, but maybe they also put the most effort in their communication, that I could understand them. I had the feeling they are very good in making connections with strangers, which is also connected to the „US-Feeling“ I had there. The cars, the attitude, all not very South American. Also I had some really strange rides. People sometimes were a bit scared. Because of the growing wealth? Can tell.

Roads

Road where fantastic, but, as in Chile, there was not enough keeping area. Especially in the jungly area in the South everything was kinda tight. Sometimes it was difficult to find a good position. Same like in Chile, the mixture of narrow roads and fast traffic is not very positive for our hitchhiking, cause both qualities support their synergies with each other. Beside this Guayaquil remembered me of an US-Highway, but with the difference, that it ended up in a network of narrow jungle roads.

One more comment to Quite: I had a lot of worries, before I entered this city, which turned out to be not legitimated at all. Quito is in a valley and along the mountains around it, there is a beautiful highway leading through which is perfect for hitchhiking. Positioning works well, if you walk a little and find your place. Not comparable to other big cities in South America. Very convenient for transit. And also beautiful place. I was positively surprised.

Tactics

I did not do anything special in Ecuador. Most of the time take position at the end of the city or at an roundabout traffic. Good positioning is quite important, as the keeping areas are rare. But the Ecuadorians are very friendly towards hitchhikers. In general not the best but also not the worst country to hitchhike in. Just look that you find a position with enough keeping area and slow traffic. Stick you thumb out and you should get a ride relatively fast. Enjoy!

Pictures

Unfortunatley I did not do pictures in Ecuador.

Specifics

Ecuador is much more expensive as the neighbor countries Colombia or Peru.

There are a bunch of volcanoes around Quito which might be worth to visit. I by myself was not there, but everyone recommended it to me. In general the nature around the high plateau in Quito is very beautiful and remembered me a bit about the Alps.

Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in… (13) Ecuador erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.

General

Since 20th October 2014 i hitchhiked more than 36968,2 km. I had more than 405 Lifts, had to wait in average 23 minutes and 34 seconds and waited in total 182 hours and 39 minutes (which is about 7,5 days). I don´t wanna miss any of those minutes.

The Best

Is…Tenerife. 21 lifts i catched together with Hanna on this beautiful island. 8 minutes and 12 seconds we had to wait in average. I think Lanzarote was even better, but it was before i started with my documentation.
For South America the country with the best statistics is Ecudaor. 14 minutes and 30 seconds in average, till a car stopped and picked me up. 21 lifts in total and nearly 1000 km might not be that representative. But anyway.

The Positive Suprise

Brazil felt like Spain and Italy together. Totally shit. But the numbers speak another message. 15 minutes and 15 seconds average waiting time are close to the values of Ecuador. I catched 44 Lifts and did 6550 km through Brazil, which has definitely a higher represantation than Ecuador. Feelings might be wrong, numbers aren´t in this case. I don´t know how this can be so good, but during my Brazil crossing i felt like i had to walk at least one hour for every lift. Seems like i didn´t.

Mistaken

Totally overrated was Argentina on the other hand. For me one of the best country for hitchhiking in South America. Probably because of the Free WiFi in the gas stations and the comftable mix of warm roads, acceptable food, long ways and Internet. But the numbers are quite sobering. 34 minutes and 50 seconds average waiting time is the second worst for all my countries so far. I have to add, that i did alot of night hitchhiking in Argentina and this might have affected this value. With 8045 km it is also the country which i hitchhiked the biggest distance in. Also 84 lifts represent a big part of my catched cars so far.

The Worst

Definitely Colombia. Not even in the stats, but also how it felt. Don´t get me wrong, Colombia is a beautiful country, nice people, stunning landscape but moving here is just a pain in the ass. 48 minutes average waiting time. Can´t get worser. Allthough i had only in Venezuela less lifts than in Colombia. 943 km is the least distance i did from all countries in South America. But honestly, i doubt that this stast would get better if i make more distance here. Just a feeling. The reasons for this „hitchhiking-disaster“ im going to discuss in my „Hitchhiking in… – Colombia“ article.

My Secret Favourite…

…for hitchhiking in South America is not Chile…..but Uruguay. 88 Lifts: Its the country where i had the most cars and with 2689 km we find it in the upper midfield of the distances. The average waiting time was with 19 minutes and 42 seconds quite good. Even better if we take in account, that most of the time i was with Ralf together as a men/men team. Fucking good time, good job buddy. Also the country where i hitchhiked my first Cargo Train (hitchhiked and not hopped) and beside Syria the place where i got the most of my lovely Pick-Up rides. Unfortunately riding with Pick-Ups is freshly banned by the government, but let´s hope, that the Uruguayans take this law with the same „We don´t give a shit“-attitude as they take the rest of their lifes and still stop to pick up hitchhikers. Just so much fun there.

This table is fucking nice, isnt it?

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Der Beitrag Hitchhiking in South America – Statistically conclusions of my South America crossing erschien zuerst auf Warm Roads.