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Mountain biker Finn Iles travels on the back of a horse in Quilindaña during filming of the series Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador.
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
MTB
See the stunning photos from Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador
When Rob Warner and Finn Iles visited Ecuador, they experienced volcanos, shaman rituals and playing cowboy. Hear from the photographer who captured the shots from their trip to the Andean country.
Written by Marcelo Maragni and Oisin O Cathain
5 min readPublished on
In the latest Rob Warner's Wild Rides episode, Warner travels to Ecuador with rising downhill star Finn Iles to take on Cotopaxi volcano high in the Andes. On the way, the two go through some unusual preparation to be able to take on the high altitude terrain. Watch the episode below and then scroll down to hear more about the trip from photographer Marcelo Maragni.
24 minEcuadorRob Warner travels to Ecuador with rising mountain biking star Finn Iles to take on the Cotopaxi in the Andes.
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English +9
I'm Marcelo Maragni, a sports photographer from Brazil and father of two. My passion is to travel and visit places people don't usually go to do my photography. This job gives me the opportunity to meet new people, explore new cultures and beautiful landscapes.
I just came back from an adventure through Ecuador on an amazing trip around Quito and the area north of the country's capital city, as well as Cotopaxi volcano in the south with Rob Warner and Finn Iles. We found really unique locations and different cultures everywhere.
Ecuador is full of unique and beautiful locations© Marcelo Maragni
My goal on this trip was to photograph Rob and Finn as they visited this country and explored all the beautiful landscapes and cultures, and to get to know the colourful, friendly people here.
Getting into the festival mood
The first thing we did on this trip was to travel north of Quito to a small city where different cultural groups were meeting for a festival of traditional cultures. Each group displayed their own traditions, music and dance all together in the same place and it was really colourful and vibrant. It was an amazing thing to see.
Rob Warner joins in with a festival procession during filming of the series Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador.
Rob getting into the festival spirit© Marcelo Maragni
What I love about being an adventure photographer is that I can experience unique ways of living that are so colourful, energetic and happy. Most people may have not seen, or be aware about these different cultures, but through my photography I can share these experiences with the world.
Meeting the shaman
Finn and Rob were really open to experiencing these new cultures. They found a local shaman who blessed us on this journey. She performed some rituals with eggs and guinea pigs.
The guinea pig ritual in full flow© Marcelo Maragni
It was so funny photographing Rob, because he reacts without any filter. Real emotions like this is something that I try to capture in my photography.
Rob Warner seen topless with his tattoos in a Shaman's house during filming of the series Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador.
Rob being cleansed© Marcelo Maragni
At the same time, it's really important to know when you should just watch and appreciate the culture from a safe distance. We heard about a local bull chasing event, which is traditional in this part of Ecuador. Rob wanted to participate in the event, but we convinced him just to watch. The local people don't try to hurt the bulls, just try to doge and run away. Sometimes the people win, sometimes the bull wins.
Rob Warner leans on a fence watching a bull event during filming of the series Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador.
Rob watching the bullring action from a safe distance© Marcelo Maragni
High above the city
We travelled to Quito to find some mountain bike trails and found some amazing trails at 4,000m, high above the city. The views were beautiful.
Finn Illes hits the trails high above Quito© Marcelo Maragni
It was here that I realised that despite being a world class athlete, Finn still makes very funny faces when he rides his bike, We had to leave the trails after a few runs, though, as Rob began to suffer from altitude sickness.
Rob capturing Finn pulling his riding face© Marcelo Maragni
Playing cowboy
We left the city and travelled to El Tambo to experience the life of the Chagras – Ecuadorian cowboys. It was really like the Wild West being with them, riding horses and trying to catch bulls with a lasso.
A Chagra cowboy with horses carrying mountain bikes during filming of the series Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador.
Experiencing the life of the Chagras© Marcelo Maragni
Finn's competitive nature translates into other aspects of his life and he adopted the cowboy lifestyle with all his heart, determined to be a better cowboy than Rob.
Finn Iles playing cowboy© Marcelo Maragni
Riding Cotopaxi
After the lessons, we were given traditional clothing and rode on horseback through the wilderness and mountains to find our next bike trail, which was the famed Cotopaxi volcano.
2 minRAW in EcuadorRob Warner and Finn Iles took on the Andes, and this is what it looked and sounded like.
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Riding on horseback and capturing photos was a new experience for me and guiding the horse whilst framing the photos was very challenging.
The horse is the travel option of choice in Quilindaña© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
We were welcomed to the volcano by two Condors. These birds are an important symbol to the people of the Andes and are thought to be bringers of good health.
Finn Iles gets in the volcanic flow© Marcelo Maragni
Being exposed to the elements
When the landscape is wide open like it is high in the Andes, you can see so far. There's nothing but nature. This is what adventure photography is about, going to places where there are more animals than people and being exposed to the elements of the world. It was close to 0°C, wet, windy and raining up there and I was wearing three jackets to try and stay warm, but it looked like Finn was in his natural habitat.
Swamped by nature© Marcelo Maragni
He wore only thin clothing, but looked so alive. As a photographer it was really interesting to capture the stillness of the landscape high in the mountains and to contrast it to the speed of the riders. Adventures like this show how small we are and how powerful the world around us is.
Rob Warner rides in barren landscapes high in the Andes during filming of the series Rob Warner's Wild Rides in Ecuador.
Rob can keep up with the best of them© Marcelo Maragni
Rob has such an adventurous spirit. To be older and keep up with a young professional athlete like Finn was amazing to see. I think this was possible because of the connection they made with each other along the journey through Ecuador.
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