Hitching to Silifke

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Trip Start Apr 01, 2008 Previous
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  Silifke, Turkish Mediterranean Coast, Turkey
Monday, June 9, 2008

Having packed up our possessions in the languid fashion that has become customary and grabbed a bite to eat, we sat in the midday sun, bouncing imaginary basketballs (the Turkish gesture for hitchhiking) at clapped out cars - already full to bursting with several generations of the same family.  After an hour or so, we had been offered two lifts, but neither in the right direction.  We were close to contemplating the bus when we managed to flag down a pickup truck and using fairly basic sign language made it clear that we were more than happy to sit in the back with the four large car tyres.  This clearly tickled the three men in the front and they happily obliged.  We then caught three lifts in quick succession, as we edged our way to the main highway.

Once on the main route to the coast, we had barely put our bags down when a lorry pulled up and the driver insisted he could take us all the way to Mersin - the next town along from our destination.  The bags and I sat in the back of the truck's cab (where the driver would normally sleep) and Anna-Rose sat in the front.  The driver was a sinewy Turk with bad teeth, wearing a wife-beater (vest top), displaying tattoos on both arms.   On his left - according to AR although it was far from obvious - was a snake entwined dagger, while his right arm displayed the words 'I LOWE YOU FATOS'.  Luckily for us, Fatos turned out to be a lucky lady.  Despite his speaking no English and us no Turkish, we got on famously.  

Halfway through the five hour journey he pulled over and motioned for us to follow him to the back of his truck.  Thoughts of shotguns and bunny rabbits flashed through my head, but thankfully the length of carpet he produced was simply spread on the floor for us to sit on and before we knew what was going on, he had opened a compartment at the rear of the truck, lit a gas burner and set about making tea.  Five glasses of sugary tea and a stomach full of bread, cheese and tomatoes later and we were back on the road.  He made two further stops, firstly to pick up five cans of beer - something he had ascertained we enjoyed during one of our more succesful conversations/game of charades, and secondly at the bus terminal in Mersin, where he ran in to find out whether there were any buses leaving to Silifke at that late hour.  He had already offered for us to sleep in his truck in a bunk above his, but as it turned out the last bus was just leaving, so with a rushed but heartfelt goodbye we jumped from one vehicle to another.

Hitching...you've gotta love it!

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AR in the back of the truck	Our Fatos lowing truck driver friend	Always remember the green cross code	Refreshments
Inside the cab	Truck pose	Truck pose

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