5 minute read
3 TIMES POSTPONED TRIP AT LAST
3 TIMES POSTPONED TRIP AT LAST
Robert Adams (Solicitor and Partner at Wace Morgan Shrewsbury) and his wife Debbie have just returned from Peru and Easter Island after waiting from the best part of 5 years to go. Robert explained that the trip had been planned in 2018 and booked in 2019 and schedule for summer 2020. The pandemic intervened preventing then trip taking place until this year.
Robert and Debbie are passionate about their travels and this trip incorporated 2 distinct bucket list destinations. Robert had always wanted to do the 4 day Inca Trail walk through the Andes to end at Machu Picchu and Debbie had always wanted to go to Easter Island to see the Moai statues. “It made sense to do both together in view of the distances from the UK and the relative position of each to the other” said Robert, “although its all relative as Easter Island is actually 2,500 miles from Peru/ Chile coast which is the nearest point to it in the South Pacific”.
“It was unbelievable experience in all respects – the itinerary was relentless but the scenery and spectacle was unforgettable”
“We started in Peru and had a few days acclimatisation at high altitude in Cusco before starting the Inca Trail, which is a 4 day trek to Machu Picchu covering over 30 miles in all. We are both keen walkers and we knew the trail was going to be hard and we trained hard beforehand (we included Snowden twice in the month before went). The trail is physically hard – the climb through the Andes made more difficult by the high altitude effect on your ever gasping lungs. However the physical trial is more than balanced by the majestic scenery throughout the whole route – huge mountains, interspersed by Inca sites (how did they manage to build this stuff up there?) eventually leading down through the cloud forest to Machu Picchu. When we arrived at the Sun Gate above Machu Picchu looking down on it at dawn as the sun crept over the mountains and onto the site I cannot deny it was not quite an emotional moment. A sense of beauty but satisfaction in the personal achievement of having done the trail. In short to any one interested – if you ever get the chance to go - do it.”
“After the trail and a very short rest (1 day) we were off to Easter Island – a place of huge mystery and considered to be one of the remotest inhabited places on earth. It is famous for the Moai statues, which most of us will have seen photographs of. The island itself is idyllic – not in a desert island way as it doesn’t have many palm trees and white sand beaches. Its green and rolling – there were times when you could think you were in the UK (apart from the lovely temperature which was a comfortable and totally constant 20-25C degrees). The island is quite small (bit smaller than the Isle of Wight) and easily driveable around in a couple of hours. We tried to see as much of it as we could and visited most of the Moai sites including the quarry where the statues were carved out and where there dozens of incomplete heads and bodies. Until you get close to them the scale of them is something you have no idea of. The full size ones we saw were 10 metres plus tall and weighing 80 tons and ones incomplete in the quarry double that size. They are impressive to say the least and there is still no agreed version of how they were moved from the quarry where they were produced to their final resting place across the island (up to 9-10 miles away).”
“All very different from Peru and much less tiring! As memorable as Peru though but in a completely and mysterious way. “
All in all everything we hoped it would be and more – we will never forget it and it has whetted our appetite for a return visit to South America.
