Teaser Trailer

I’ve made it back to the USA after a trek on the Inca Trail and a visit to Machu Picchu! I’m working on sorting through my thousands of photos and hours of video, but in the meantime, here’s a one minute teaser trailer of the Junket. Longer video coming…eventually…

Enjoy!

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THE FINISH LINE – I completed the Mototaxi Junket!

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Mototaxi Junket: Day 14 (Instagram)

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MOTOTAXI JUNKET: COMPLETE! I pulled into the finish line party last night well after dark, after 15 hours and 340km of driving straight. This morning, I decided to go back to get my photo at the finish line. I drove the Rubber Ducky Mobile three blocks to "El Maizal" restaurant…and right on cue, as I pulled up to the Mototaxi Junket signs, it let out a dying gasp and broke down once more, for old time's sake. Refuses to start up, who knows why this time. She got me across the entirety of Peru, and for that I'm grateful, but I'm so glad I don't have to drive this hunk-of-junk another inch ever again! I turned in the keys to the Adventurists with a skip in my step and walked off into the sunset. #mototaxijunket

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Giving a lift to one of my many Peruvian hitchhikers. Pete's gratis mototaxi service! Only problem was with the weight of this lady and her enormous bag (I believe of rocks), my mototaxi really struggled to make it up the hill to Abancay… I overheated 5 times in an hour, and the little old lady had no idea why I was stopping. I tried to explain that the motor was too caliente, but it turned out that she doesn't speak Spanish…she only speaks the Inka language of Quechua! Anyway, I eventually got her to her location and then made an extended stop to get my engine down to a workable temp. #mototaxijunket

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Just 90km from the finish line, I came upon a road closure where the traffic control lady told me that the road would be closed for 3 hours, and I had to wait to pass. That would mean I'd completely miss the finish line party…no way that was gonna happen. I pleaded my case and worked my gringo charm, then offered her a rubber ducky – and it worked! She let me through, to drive past 10km of steamrollers, gravel pits, hot asphalt and giant rumbling trucks. Patitos work wonders! #mototaxijunket

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My trusty steed at the top of the world. #mototaxijunket

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My Mototaxi Junket route, from Colán Beach to Urubamba, Sacred Valley. Every one of those gray circles is a point that I saved – places where I gave away a rubber ducky, had a breakdown, picked up a hitchhiker, had a beer, warded off sketchy "Seguridad", made a friend, stopped to enjoy an amazing view, or situations like "hit in the face by a dragonfly the size of a bird." #mototaxijunket

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Mototaxi Junket: Day 14 – Andahuaylas to THE FINISH LINE in Urubamba (340km)

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Mototaxi Junket: Completed (Unofficial Post)

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This is unofficial, because we are waiting for Pete’s post that he completed the race, but based off the spot tracker, he cross the finish line last night at 7:52PM. (local time)

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Mototaxi Junket: Day 14 (Instagram)

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Pete's complimentary Mototaxi Junket taxi service! Over the course of the junket, I gave lifts to a dozen or so people who were hitchhiking on the side of the road. Here are four of them – an 80 year old lady who only spoke Quechua; a construction worker who needed a lift to his job site; a dude who really wanted me to teach him the English word for every type of animal we passed by; and a mom with a sack of fruits she was trying to go sell in the market. I figured that I've got an extra seat in the ol' taxi, might as well use it for its intended purpose! The people are always surprised at the end when I tell them that the ride is "gratis." #mototaxijunket

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Mototaxi Junket: Day 13 – Huanta to Andahuaylas (290km)

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Mototaxi Junket: Day 13 (Instagrams)

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Last day. 319km to go. This one's for all the marbles. VAYA CON DIOS. #mototaxijunket #vayacondios

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When I lost my backpack, I lost my entire stash of about 100 rubber duckies. Luckily, with a little bit of persistence, I've been able to find them for sale in Peru. Every night, I scour the markets for the guy who sells cheap plastic toys (there's one in every town), and more often than not, he has some "patitos." The merchants all think I'm a crazy gringo who is livin' la vida loca…but they're probably right. #rubberduckies #mototaxijunket

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Night fell and I stopped for some dinner with all intentions of pushing on for a few more hours. This family of street food vendors, who made awesome donuts at the bargain price of 6 for one Sol, talked me out of night driving on to Abancay. They said with complete certainty that I would drive off a cliff and die. So if I miss the finish line party tomorrow, at least I'm still alive and full of delicious donuts! I rewarded their advice with a rubber ducky. #mototaxijunket #donuts

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Peru is gorges. #mototaxijunket

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DOGS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. I have been bitten twice by dogs since the junket started – luckily neither bite broke the skin. Peru is swarming with aggressive stray dogs that run in packs, fighting and begging. (Here's a bunch of them tearing apart some garbage in the street.) They especially hate my mototaxi – it has a loud, droning engine that is at just the right pitch to enrage dogs and make them chase after me, trying to "protect their territory." Several times per day, I have to outrun a pack of dogs chasing and biting at my ankles…and a few times I've had to kick the dogs from the mototaxi to keep them from biting me. It's scary and it's annoying. And the way dog culture works, if one dog at the beginning of a town starts barking and chasing me, every other dog in that town will do the same. Oftentimes I have to accelerate to a dangerous speed just to outrun a pack of angry dog chasing after me. One of the worst parts about the #mototaxijunket by far.

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Mototaxi Junket: Day 13 / Timelapse

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No Easy Way Out

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