Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...and More!

Transportation while in Peru was very interesting, for sure. My two weeks there included all these types of transportation: planes, trains, busses, automobiles, taxis, boats, my own two feet, and motortaxis. "What is a motortaxi?" you might be wondering. Allow me to elaborate!


Puerto Maldonado is a growing city on the edge of the rainforest in southeastern Peru. This was the place I had to fly into the meet the other people who were traveling in my group. Motorcycles are the most popular mode of transportation there. I saw families of four to five people all riding on one motorcycle: the dad driving, the mom sitting behind, one child in front of Dad, and the other child wedged in between the parents. Interestingly enough, the local law says that only the driver has to wear a helmet. So, the other three people on the bike (including children) were helmetless. And we worry about childseats...


Anyway, to get around town, you could catch a motortaxi. This is kind of like a motorcycle and a rickshaw combined. It seats two comfortably and three uncomfortably. So, guess how many of us were usually in a motortaxi? Yup, three. Nothing like experiencing the local culture firsthand, I always say. I didn't mind the motortaxis too much. The biggest downside (in my opinion, at least) was when we were on dirt roads. The dirt would fly up and we'd be choking it down. Many of the roads were dirt, so this was a pretty common experience for us. Otherwise, it was kind of fun to ride around in a motortaxi.


When we were ready to head deeper into the rainforest, we traveled on the river by boat. These boats were long and narrow. They were pretty low to the water, too. They were powered by a motor at the back, and the ride was actually pretty good. Because we were moving so fast, there was a great breeze, and this provided some needed relief from the heat and humidity. Our first ride was about 2.5 hours to Refugio Amazonas, one of the places we stayed. From there, the next ride was about 5 hours down to the Tambopata Research Center, our final destination. On that leg of the journey, one of the guides' job was to ride in the front of the boat and push us away from protrusions in the water with a big stick. We laughed and said that it would have been like the Jungle Cruise at Disney World except we didn't have a guide telling really bad jokes. I really liked all the boat rides. I thought they were relaxing and the scenery was great.

On the Machu Picchu part of my trip, I had some train travel. Travelers can't go all the way to Machu Picchu by train due to the landslide that happened back in February. Parts of the tracks are still not repaired. So, the train company, Peru Rail, sent us part of the way by train and part by bus. I took the VistaDome train, which had windows in the top. I was able to look out and see more of the Andes Mountains as the train traveled along. The views were spectacular! The train was as slow as molasses, but better for sightseeing, I guess. The bus ride back to Cusco was harrowing. Let's just say, driving in the USA is much more orderly than in Peru. I was grateful for my nerves of steel!!