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In 10 months and tens of thousands of km covered by thumb, my only "bad" experience was between Pto Angel and Oaxaca City (a notorious drug route, as I later learned). The driver asked me to drive and once I was behind the wheel informed me that the van was full of Colombia's finest. I nearly shat myself, but the experience turned out to be quite interesting, as we were forced to make several detours to avoid police checkpoints, taking me through beautiful and remote parts of the Oaxacan mountains I otherwise never would have discovered. Be careful not to get set up. A very, very, rare occurance, but one that can happen.
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In rural parts of Mexico it's common to see whole families hitchhiking together, or for a pick-up to stop for several different groups of hitchers until the back of the truck is completely full. Because pick-up trucks are the vehicle of choice, it's quite easy to get rides just outside of any small town (knock on the back window when you're ready to get out).
Useful Spanish words are "ride" and "aventon", both meaning a lift. Near the Guatemalan border the word "jalon" is used.
== Where to hike? ==
== Warning! ==
It is not recommendable to take drugs or weapons with you, especially as of 2010 since the mexican government, backed by the US ADA who are actually present in Mexico (!!) have decides to crack down on narco and weapon trafficking. Therefor you likely will be checked by one of the numerous check points, especially in the north as you near the US border. But it's also good to know that the soldiers hardly ever search all the way through a large back-pack, unless you answer their questions really bad. If the vehicle you're riding in does get stopped just stay calm, show your passport, say the magic words "''turista''" ("tourist") and "''de passeo nada mas''" ("just passing"), and if they ask to see your stuff open you bag and show them that it's all clothes and stuff.
Also, in the south, you rides might ask you about you immigration status and advise you of immigration check points.
In some mid-sized cities like Tampico, Oaxaca, and Pachuca there are no transit roads and you have to cross the city. Taking a bus makes things easier.
== * Note on mexican peninsula Mexico ==
It may be extremely easy to hitch in mainland Mexico, but in the Baja California peninsula, it's a completely different story! In Baja California, there is only one road, the HWY 1, which isn't hell to hitchhike on but requires a lot of patience: there are often large distances in between cities (which are barely even cities, rather a few ranches and cactus farms) and even larger distances between petrol stations (example: El Rosario is the last one before Guerrero Negro, about 360 km further down in Baja California Sur). Getting stuck in the middle of the desert is NOT fun, and many people can only take you from town to town as it is local traffic or gringos doing one of the many races down in the Baja. Also, unless you are planning on staying in Baja and going back up towards the USA-Mexico border, you should hitchhike from Mexicali south.. If you plan on heading to mainland Mexico from the Baja, you must take a ferry in either La Paz or Cabo towards Mazatlan, which costs about 80$ USD.
The Yucatan Penninsula, on the other hand, outshines all Mexico for its ease and amiability of hitchhiking. You might not even fall victim to Moctezuma revenge eating old papaya slushies and bean burritos out of the trash in some of those tourist strips. Hey!
== Map==
Image:Augustas is helping to push the truck in Mexico.JPG|Sometimes hitchhikers can be of help to a driver - here [[Lithuania]]n hitchhiker [[Katja and Augustas|Augustas]] helping to push a truck somewhere in Mexico.
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== Personal experience ==
''"In 10 months and tens of thousands of km covered by thumb, my only "bad" experience was between Pto Angel and Oaxaca City (a notorious drug route, as I later learned). The driver asked me to drive and once I was behind the wheel informed me that the van was full of Colombia's finest. I nearly shat myself, but the experience turned out to be quite interesting, as we were forced to make several detours to avoid police checkpoints, taking me through beautiful and remote parts of the Oaxacan mountains I otherwise never would have discovered. Be careful not to get set up. A very, very, rare occurance, but one that can happen."''
{{States Mexico}}
