As soon as I crossed the border from Ecuador to Perú, I noticed them. The mototaxis. They're everywhere, roaring, buzzing, screeching, teeming! They are a true menace in the cities, their assymetrical shape lending itself to fearsomely chaotic traffic patterns. At the major ports in the Amazon Basin they jockey for position in a great horde atop the bank, anticipating the disembarking passengers; in Nauta one driver got too close to the edge and jumped clear as his machine toppled down the steep 30-foot bank with a little girl inside. She appeared to be okay, and a group of bystanders hauled the thing out of the drink in no time.
During my time in Pucallpa waiting to confirm plans to move farther south, I much of the day scoping the brands of these terrible machines, as emblazoned on their gas tanks. I ended up with quite a respectable collection:
Honda
Suzuki
RTM
Lifan
Boxer
Arlo
Velorex
Skymoto
Italika
Motokar
Sama
Loncin
Haojin
Zongshen
Junesun
Qinqi
Wanxin
Hongyi
Jialing
...and, as if to summarize the main idea, Asia Hero.
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