Life in Caracas

Why I Pick Up Hitchhikers in One of the World’s Deadliest Cities

Even lawyers bum rides in Venezuela’s capital, where options other than walking are scarce.

Caraquenos hitching rides.

Photographer: Adriana Loureiro Fernandez/Bloomberg

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Editor’s Note: There are few places as chaotic or dangerous as Venezuela. “Life in Caracas” is a series of short stories that seeks to capture the surreal quality of living in a land in total disarray.

Thumb out, eyes squinting against the morning sun, Octavio Gomez looked more than a little forlorn, an old man in his two-sizes-too-big brown suit, as he stood on the curb. I pulled over and he climbed into my Chevrolet Cruze.