Hitchiking in Chile

I've been in Valparaiso for about a week.  I dedided to head in to Santiago (1 1/2 hours away) to see a couple of shows, part of a huge international theater festival going on the month of January.  I was with a new friend, Jackie, a contortionist from Portland, and her friend Morgan.  It didnt take long for a car to pull over and give us a ride into the city.  The driver, a very nice clean cut man about 30, turned out to be a prison guard returning from work.  We kept a good converstaion going and when we got to the city he invited us to join him for lunch.  We stopped at his house for a drink, then drove around the corner to the Police Officer's Social Club.  In the restaurant, we had to rearange our seating arrangements so that those of us with sandals (not allowed in the restaurant) would not be visable to those entering.   After our lunch, our guide continued to drive us around the city, to the museum, to the internet cafe, to the park.  Finally he got tired (he had worked the night shift the night before) and dropped us off and went home.

Our return trip was not as unexpected, but quite friendly.  After being passed by a funeral procession (the hearse driver gave us a huge goofy grin and hand signals something like "normally i´d pick you up, but i got this guy in the back..."), we got a ride in a vegetable truck, straight to the market in downton Valpo.