Be careful when hitchhiking!
Last week I read shocking news in the newspaper. A young Danish woman asked for a ride and was raped. It happened in Rio Maior maybe 80km from my town. Although not able to speak Portuguese she asked for help in English at the gas station. She came to Portugal with a group of friends and settled in Oporto. Then the 24-year-old woman decided to leave her friends and discover the country by herself. She wanted to get to Lisbon. At Leiria, she asked for a ride from a truck driver. Not far from Leiria the truck driver stopped the truck in a desert place and threatened her with a screwdriver and then raped her. In resisting him she was attacked on the head, forehead, and neck. The attacker then dropped her on the roadside. She was clever and took the license plate number so the police were able to identify and arrest him. The man lives in Rio Maior and is married. He will be presented to a judge soon and punished. These situations are infrequent but do happen in Portugal. From time to t...