Video: Urban Mountain Biking Through the Streets of Cusco, Peru

We all love a good mountain bike video. It's always fun to watch someone bombing down an amazing trail or riding along a beautiful ridge. This video is not like that, although it is a lot of fun none the less. In this case, we follow pro riders Aaron Chase and Chris Van Dan as they take to the streets of Cusco, Peru on what has to be one of the gnarliest urban rides ever put down on film. It is 3+ minutes of these two men taking their bikes to some pretty unique places. Strap yourself in for this one, it's a lot of fun.

Video: South America by Drone

Adam Humphrey, the filmmaker behind this beautiful short film, spent five weeks backpacking through South America, covering more than 19,000 km (11,800 miles) in the process. Along the way, he shot some amazing video – with the help of a drone – in Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. The results speak for themselves, as viewers are treated to fantastic shots of some of the most stunning landscapes on the continent, if not the world.

South America by drone from Adam Humphrey on Vimeo.

Video: Traveling Along La Ruta de los Gringos in Peru

Peru is a country with a surprising number of unique environments and landscapes. Ranging from the dense Amazon Rainforest to stark deserts, to the snowcapped peaks of the Andes, it is a land of startling contrasts. All of those settings, and more, are captured nicely in this video, which was shot over a three-week journey through the South American country. It is a wonderful travelogue that documents all of the fantastic things to see and do there, reminding us why Peru is a top destination with adventure travelers the world over.

Perú - La ruta de los gringos from Guillaume JUIN on Vimeo.

Video: Chasing the Inca on Mountain Bikes in Peru

A few weeks back I shared the trailer for a mountain biking documentary entitled Chasing the Inca. At the time, the full video was available online, but it couldn't be embedded on other websites. That has now changed, and you can watch the full 18+ minute film below. It follows riders Darren Berrecloth, Garrett Buehler, and Chris Van Dine as they explore remote regions of Peru in search of a lost Incan road through the Andes that was once used to escape invading Spaniards. This is a film of that combines both exploration and adventure on the back of a mountain bike, and it is definitely intriguing to watch.

Polish Explorer Planning Trans-South American Expedition via The Amazon

Polish explorer Marcin Gienieczko has announced a bold new expedition that will get underway on May 1 of this year. The adventurous photographer and journalist intends to cross South America by bike, canoe, and on foot, with his route that will take him to the very heart of the Amazon Rainforest and along the mightiest river on the planet.

Marcin is calling his expedition the Solo Amazon (site in Polish and Spanish), and he will begin the journey with a 750 km (466 mile) bike ride from Lima, Peru to the small town of San Francisco. From there, he'll begin an epic canoe journey that will eventually cover more than 6130 km (3809 miles) beginning at the Apurimac River and the very headwaters of the Amazon itself. He'll then proceed downstream to the Enge, Tambo, and Ucayali before paddling out onto the Amazon. He'll follow the river until he reaches Belem in Brazil, at which time he'll complete his journey to the Atlantic Ocean on foot, running all the way while carrying the Polish flag.

Passionate about photography and exploration, Marcin is no stranger to long distance adventures. His previous expeditions have taken him down the Yukon River in Alaska and the Lena River in Siberian Russia, as well as several other long distance floats in those locations, as well as Canada. In 2009 he even crossed Siberia on foot in temperatures that routinely plummeted to -50ºC/-58ºF. Crossing South America will be an entirely different challenge however, as the unique environments of the Amazon will create obstacles that he hasn't seen on his previous journeys.

While the expedition is called "Solo Amazon," Marcin will have a guide for part of the excursion. In the most dangerous section of the trip – when he'll be passing through a region mainly under the control of drug lords – he'll be joined by Gadiel "Cho" Sanchez Rivera, who accompanied Ed Stafford on his historic expedition to cross the Amazon on foot a few years back. Cho has become the "go-to" guide in the Amazon since those days, and he'll help lead Marcin through some perilous parts of the route.

Marcin says that he is looking forward to the start of the expedition, although he knows that it will be a physical and mental challenge. The journey will be a long and difficult one, but his past experience will help him survive in the wilds of South America. We'll see how he fares when he gets underway in a few months time.

Good luck Marcin!