On the Road Again...In a Motortaxi

 

My transportation adventures in Peru were unique. In the two weeks that I spent there, I experienced planes, trains, busses, automobiles, taxis, boats, my own two feet, and motortaxis. Yes, that last one was, “motortaxis.”  Allow me to explain.


It is expensive to own and fuel a car in Peru. Since roughly 36% of the population lives in poverty, alternative modes of transportation are often seen. I didn’t notice this too much in Lima, the capital, but when I got to Puerto Maldonado, I saw it in full force.

I'm ready to ride in the motortaxi!

Puerto Maldonado is a growing city on the edge of the rain forest in southeastern Peru, and this was the meeting place for the teachers in my group. Motorcycles were the most popular mode of transportation there, and all the taxis in town were either motorcycles or motortaxis.


A motortaxi is like a motorcycle and a rickshaw combined. It seats two comfortably and three uncomfortably. When my group traveled by motortaxi, of course we always had three people wedged in the seat, which was the rickshaw part. Any luggage or other large bags were bungee-corded to the back, and the driver rode on the motorcycle part.

The native people of Peru are short, with the average height being about 5 feet, 1.5 inches. So, clearly, three Peruvian people in a motortaxi was quite different from three American people in a motortaxi. Riding three to a seat was survivable when the three people were all women or were the smaller people of the group. It got interesting when the bigger men were factored into the equation. All of the people in our group were physically fit, but we did have some men who were bigger…taller, huskier, and more muscular. I found myself in a motortaxi with those guys on a few occasions, and those close quarters made the entire motortaxi experience even more memorable.

Roads in Puerto Maldonado were paved in some areas, but a lot of them were just dirt roads. When we drove on the dirt roads, the dirt flew all over us and we choked on it. It was a 25-minute motortaxi ride to get from CECCOT, the place where we stayed, into Puerto Maldonado. The roads for that entire journey were dirt and gravel. So, by the time we got to town, we had been bumped around, hip to hip in the back of a motortaxi, for 25 minutes straight.

On our last day at CECCOT, we needed to leave there and travel by bus to get to the river dock. At that point we were going to board boats that would take us to Refugio Amazonas, our next stop on the trip. The road that ran by CECCOT was a basic road, so the bus could not come down to retrieve us. Motortaxis were organized to take us to a place where we could meet the bus.

I was in a motortaxi with another gal and one of the larger men from the group, Brian. Our luggage was strapped to the back, and we were headed on our way to the rendezvous point. All was well until we came to a hill. The motortaxi groaned and strained under the combined weight of us, our luggage, and the motortaxi driver. The driver urged the motortaxi on, but to no avail. So finally, Brian got out and started running alongside the motortaxi and pushing it to help it get up the hill. We girls stayed in the seat yelling encouragement to Brian, and trying not to laugh. Brian huffed and puffed as he ran alongside the motortaxi, which was still struggling to conquer the hill. When we finally got to the top of the hill, the motortaxi took off with a burst of speed and poor Brian got left in the dust. The driver stopped and waited while Brian jogged to catch up with us. Panting and out of breath, he was not as amused by the ordeal as we were. We packed him back into the seat with us, and we were off, making the rest of the trip without incident. The whole situation was strangely hilarious to me, and I couldn’t stop giggling to myself for the rest of the journey.

Other people in the group also had interesting moments in the motortaxis. One group’s motortaxi broke down. Another person got hit in the leg by a large piece of rock that flew up from the road. One group’s driver made a wrong turn, and they were lost for awhile. As a non-Spanish speaker, I’m glad I wasn’t in the motortaxi that got lost. All of these mishaps aside, it was a novel thing to ride around in a motortaxi, and I actually looked forward to it each time. Maybe this will be the next big motor trend for the United States. Motortaxis for everyone!