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If you are a tourist be sure to show it with your backpack, flags attached to your backpack, etc. The locals love chatting with foreign travellers. However, many people don't like U.S. Americans.
The best places in Chile for hitchhiking are easily in the extreme south, in the Region of Magallanes. From [[Punta Arenas]], one can easily find a semi truck all the way to Santiago; while in Punta Arenas,[[User:Themodernnomad|themodernnomad]] was offered a ride all the way to Arica (on the border of Peru), but, sadly, had to turn it down due to the fact that he was trying to lose himself in Isla Riesco.
==Sleeping==
Chile is a very safe and easy country to camp or squat. Hostals are rather expensive, so camping is a better method. The local gas stations (usually COPEC) are almost always hitchhiker friendly, and will be happy to let you crash behind the place for the night. In large cities like Santiago or Valparaìso, use caution if you're sleeping on the streets, as those towns tend to attract the frightening Chileans.
==Toll Booths==
These are only on the Ruta 5 (or Panamericana Sur), but, as usual, are a very good place to hitch rides.
==Rural Routes==
Be aware that many roads in Chile are very remote and made of dirt; any road that starts with a 'Y' classifies as a rural route, (known locally as a ''reten''). Some of these roads do not recieve ''any'' traffic for days, sometimes weeks at a time. Use caution when hitchhiking on one of these. You may think you can hike it for fifteen or twenty kilometres and then hitch a ride, but sometimes the cars won't pass until it's too late. [[User:Themodernnomad|themodernnomad]]once nearly died of thirst in the Altiplano near the northern border of Argentina and Bolivia because he started walking towards [[Salta]] from a Chilean iron mine and went almost three days without seeing a car.
[[File:12326_10150150686580517_883880516_11613816_3268024_n.jpg|300px|thumb|left|[[User:Themodernnomad|themodernnomad]] on Reten Y-368, northern Chile, after being rescued by a rogue Dutch cyclist with water. ]]
