Ride Report

Throughout the production of RIDE REPORT: 10,000 Miles to Rio, Matt and I were often faced with dilemmas that pit our desire to produce great footage versus our sense of self-preservation. On day 58, we headed north through Argentina during the peak of summer. In a small farming town, we left the pavement and entered an unmarked dirt road with the belief it was a shortcut to the Iguazu Falls. Immediately Matt raised concern about the riding conditions of the rough road, but we pushed forward anyhow with a sense of adventurous optimism. Since I was a little more comfortable riding, I decided to shoot Matt as he headed into the strange landscape, which started to look more and more like a marsh. While only passing a couple of vehicles, we were excited to film an alligator, an armadillo, wild horses, and giant guinea pigs. A few hours in, we arrived at a clearing where a handful of tourists were present. We entered a building whose sign read "Informacion Turistica" (Tourist Information). At the information desk, we learned that we were navigating an infamous portion of Ruta 40 (route 40), a wetland that garnishes worldwide attention because of its remote nature. Everyone there was quite surprised to see us roll up the road on our motorcycles since they had all arrived by boat. We then learned that another 60 miles of rougher road lay ahead before we might again see civilization. We headed out, Matt low on fuel, and I out of water in the humid and hundred degree climate. Within twenty minutes of leaving the information desk, Matt had already crashed several times. I felt reluctant to film his broken spirit as we looked ahead at an 8-inch deep sand road, and behind at an approaching thunderstorm. We gathered what was left of our spirits, feigned stoicism, and again pushed forward as night fell upon us. I wanted to put away the camera to make better time, but Matt was adamant that we needed to capture the struggle, so I filmed on. By the time the road returned to solid dirt, we were haggard; both fuel tanks were running low on reserve, all water had been consumed, and both of us as well as all of our possessions were covered in sand. At the end of the day, we captured a great deal of footage, and Ruta 40 is one of our favorite scenes in the movie. Throughout the trip, this dynamic recurred: the most interesting moments were always the hardest to capture. – Tiernan Turner, Director