The Andean Motorycle Travesía
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An invitation to reimagine the motorcycle experience
Samai is the Quechua interpretation of Slow Travel – regaining breath after exertion, allowing energy to unfold naturally.
A journey where the thrill of the road finds balance with profound cultural storytelling. Echoing the spirit of The Motorcycle Diaries, Samai elevates the experience and draws on the philosophical principles of the Andean cosmovision to reveal Peru at its most pristine.
Universal principles – harmony with the environment or the value of being present, resonate with contemporary life.
Samai is an experience with its own identity and purpose, far from clichés of cinematic tourism that are closer to a behind the scenes narrative of adaptations like 007 or Agatha Christie.
Act I: The Hedonistic Journey
Arequipa welcomes the guest as a refuge of indulgence, a city defined by the austerity of its religious tradition.
The Convent of Santa Catalina, conceived for the mestizo elites of Latin America, intertwines two opposing Western realities: the cloistered life and the life of privilege, an invitation to open the gaze to the duality of the Andean world.
Yanantin – Where opposites complement each other in harmony.
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Act II: The Andean Life
The Altiplano shapes pre-Inca cultures. The Collaguas – altiplano people, elongated their skulls in the image of their sacred mountains, the Apus.
The Colca Valley preserve their legacy, pioneers of terraced agriculture. Then commercial and cultural exchange flourished with the Cabanas – herders of llamas and alpacas from the mountains.
Ayni – The sacred reciprocity of mutual help.
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On the floating islands of Lake Titicaca, the Uros sustain a way of life anchored not to the land but to the pulse of the water – a covenant of survival against the next universal flood.
Qhipa – A tribute to the present that awaits what is yet to come.
The sandstone walls of Tinajani Canyon, carved by the fluvial erosion of glacial melt, bear witness to the myth of the great flood – and with it, Andean folklore.
Pacha – The sacred union of time and space.
Machu Picchu – pinnacle of astronomical architecture, embodies the summit of cultural mestizaje between the highlands and the mountains. A piece of “living culture”.
Kawsay – The vital energy that gives life to the world.
Act III: The Living Present
Cusco, the navel of the world, nourishes Andean reality both past and present. A reality visibly influenced by the Spanish colonial era, living in harmony with inca traditions and contemporary dynamism.
The author
Jaime Aritio, born in Madrid – Spain, has lived in Lima since 2019. Devoted to private banking, his interest in Hispanic-American cultures is part of his family heritage.
He is a descendant of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés – founder of La Florida, and of Juan Vicente de Güemes – 52nd Viceroy of New Spain.
The Andean cosmovision was an unexpected discovery revealed to him during his motorcycle journeys across Peru – a gift intertwined with intense experiences and unforgettable friendships.
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