11:20am Sunday 11th October 2009
How would you fancy travelling 3,000 miles from Peru to Paraguay in a vehicle best described as a cross between a sofa and a small motorbike?
It sounds mad, but that’s what brothers Christopher and David Pighills plan to do. The fun-loving pair, both in their fifties, are preparing to take part in the first Mototaxi Junket, which is expected to last between two and three weeks.
Their route will take them on a once-in-a-lifetime trip through the high Andes, the humid Amazon rainforest and a huge expanse of wilderness before finishing in Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.
And it’s all in a very good cause. Chris, 52, of Watery Lane, Airton, owns Malhamdale Motors, based in the village, and his eldest brother, 58-year-old David, is a farmer, of Club Nook Farm, Barden. They are raising funds for the charity, Operation Smile UK, which helps children suffering from facial deformities.
“It’s a ridiculous feat for a machine ill-equipped for the flat, similar to a rickshaw or a tuc-tuc, but we were looking for an adventure,” said Chris, a father of five.
“We’ll be pioneers: no-one has done it before so we don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ll face all sorts of perils, such as dangerous frogs and snakes, not to mention bandits in the hills.
“I’ll admit I had had a few drinks when I agreed to take part and I’ve never done anything like this before but David jumped at the chance. We’ll be starting in the desert hills of Peru and then we’re going to squelch right through the Amazonian rainforest.
“We’ll float across the biggest salt flats in the world, thunder through the driest desert and drive through one of the most remote wildernesses in the continent, the Chaco.
“It’s a place so vast and empty they have a prison without walls there because there is nowhere to escape to.”
Chris said he wanted to get involved after hearing of the good work of Operation Smile, which raises cash to perform operations on children born with cleft lips and palates.
“I have five children, aged between six and 19, and David has four grown-up sons and all have been born fit and well, but other children in the world are a lot less fortunate” said Chris.
“Operation Smile is a wonderful cause. In this country, if a child is born with a cleft lip or palate, they receive treatment automatically whereas children in Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay are forced to hide behind walls because of the way they look. “The operation to put it right costs about £150 and takes 45 minutes. The charity really does transform lives and allows the recipients to live a normal life. I’ve seen photos of the children and it’s wonderful to see the difference the operation can make.”
Chris and David are covering all costs of the trip themselves – including a £1,000 insurance policy on the mototaxi – to ensure all funds raised go straight to the charity. They fly to Peru later this month and are due back mid-November. A total of 60 teams are taking part from 14 countries. There is no set route, apart from the start and finish points, no back-up, no professional drivers and hardly any room for luggage.
The brothers have already raised £1,500 thanks to donations from family, friends and business contacts. A quiz night at Carleton Working Men’s Club raised an additional £640.
And next Friday the Victoria Hotel at Kirkby Malham, which is Chris’s local, is hosting a fundraising darts and dominoes knockout competition, with a pie and peas supper, starting at 7.30pm. Anyone who would like to take part can just turn up on the night.
Anyone who would like to make a donation should visit the website mototaxijunket and click on la dahlia 3, via the team’s link.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.cravenherald.co.uk