One of my dreams is to be able to tell tales as well as the main character in ?Out of Africa? does and for the stories to be as surprising as those written by Roald Dahl; however I am not great at the former nor do I have the imagination to do the latter. So, I will do my best in the following paragraphs to tell you about my recent experience.

That morning my plan was to depart early in the morning to visit my parents; however it had gotten rather late by the time I finished some urgent tasks. On top of that, I decided to stop for a coffee at the beginning of the journey. But, due to the fact that I felt quite distracted, I took the wrong turn and ended up at a roundabout where there was a guy who appeared to be hitchhiking. Without thinking I stopped my car, and without thinking, started a conversation in English; perhaps because he was blonde or maybe because I was listening to an English podcast. As a result, he got in my car and we started our trip.

The Lithuanian wanted to go to Vigo, where his girlfriend was living, but he had no money because he had been mugged in Morocco. Talking over a cup of coffee he mentioned that he could speak at least four different languages, that he had a job in a hotel in Germany and he would like to find a job in Galicia which would allow him to live with his girlfriend. We spoke about our lives, places we had visited, our families and so on. He explained to me that it had been very difficult to come from Morocco to Almeria, and from there to Monesterio as a hitchhiker and that nobody had wanted to stop and give him a lift.

With this in mind, I thought it might be very difficult for him to reach his destination simply by trusting in drivers. Then, after looking for different options, we found that there was a bus that travelled all night which connected M?rida and Vigo. So, I left him at the bus station with a sandwich and a bus ticket to his destination. Of course, you couldn?t not take a selfie.

This is my story, not surprising, but interesting I think. Nonetheless, dear readers, tell me with complete honesty, what came to your mind while reading my anecdote? Did you think about how dangerous it is to pick up a stranger on the road? Would you do the same as I did?

This page is also available in: Espa?ol