On-the-Road Tales

Headed in the 15 minute walk to check out the main and only town, Hanga Roa. Explored the extent of the town, beachside, some more ruins and the airport. Turned off onto a hiking path, ended up in a forest waiting out a rain shower and met up with a couple. They were in a sailing school and had started off in Guayaquil Equador in a 45 foot boat and had navigated from there to Galapagos, Easter island, and would be going onto Robinson Crusoe then Santiago. It had taken them something like 35 days to get from Galapagos to here! Ugh – sounds like absolute hell to me, stuck on a boat with a bunch of people and nothing to see for that long but I guess if you want to learn how to sail it is the way to do it. Unfortunetly they said while the other people were cool, the captain was a prick. One guy could not longer take it and had booked a flight instead to Santiago but there was a 2 week standby list just to get a flight! Not easy to get off Easter Island.

Anyway, I inquired where exactly the path led and found myself on the way to the volcano. what luck…At the top of the crater, you could see clear through the other side which had a collapsed wall, to the ocean. Inside the crater was a sort of lake. On the seaside of the volcano was the Orangi ceremonial centre. This was where the practices of the birdman cult were carried out. There are two islands off this cliff and each year, when the traditional bird migrates, each tribe would choose a man to represent them in the birdman competition. This consisted of scambling down the rockface, swimming out to the island through the sharks, finding the first egg of the year, and transporting it back unbroken to the main site. Whoever won would become representitive for year. There were all sorts of ceremonial dwellings and rock carvings in this area.

Scampered back down. Headed into town and had a fresh fish feast before going home for the evening.

After all sorts of years wondering about Easter Island, I was finally seated on a Lan Chile 767 ready to travel there. Too exciting. The aircraft was class. Had 30 movies to choose from in my seatback so the time flew. After 5 hours and several thousand miles, we approached one of the most remotest places on earth in the middle of the pacific, Rapa Nui the original name or Isla de Pascua in spanish. The water was a cobalt blue speckled with dark patches which were coral reefs. ( I know I keep using all these crazy colors to define water but I am trying to differentiate – they really all have a unique tint) We touched down on the 12000 foot runway built courtesy of NASA. Easter Island is an alternate landing site for the space shuttle in the event their is inclimate weather elsewhere so the runway is massive. We arrived about noon and descended down the airstairs. No jetways in most of the world. It was humid and sticky, tropical indeed. Entered the airport, no customs or immigration so I grabbed my bags and headed outside. I choose to stay with a family at Mahina Taku Taku Georgia and Lucia was waiting for me with a lovely smelling flower leia. We grabbed a taxi and headed to her home in Tahai just north of the main town.

I settled in, had some fabulous fresh fruit home grown, met some family and had a nap. In the afternoon, I headed to the museum. Absolutely fascinating collection of information. Some of the stone remnants as well as history, tools, geological developments etc. They had replicas of some tablets that have been found on the island. These contained writing in a form not seen in the rest of the world, type of heiroglyphs where the tablet had to be turned to be read on each line. No other polynesian cultures are known to have had a written language.

Walked to the Tahai Moai or statues. Awesome. The entire island is considered to be an open air museum. You pay one fee and have entrance to everything. I was so beat, I headed back to get an early night. Lucia’s house reminds me of Sally’s. There is a constant never ending stream of people that are in and out all hours of the day and night so there was always something going on. I met some friends of the family that evening and chitchatted getting accustomed to the accent. Lucias family spoke Rapa Nui’, the native tongue, but they were kind enough to address me in spanish since my polynesian is not very good!

Well - I will put Santiago on the list of cities to return to. Looked like a beautiful place but I just did not have time to explore. I had loads of errands to run like restocking supplies ... [Continue reading this entry]

Made it to French Polynesia but it is $16.00/hr to connect to email from here so see ya in New Zealand!

Here I am sitting in an internet cafe trying to catch up on my blog before I head to Easter Island tomorrow!! Yippee!! Since I just read it is 6$ an hour to connect from out there - you will ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ran some errands about town and got the airport shuttle in the afternoon. Boarded the Sky Airlines 737 for my multistop flight back north. Unfortunetly, the weather was crappy so I did not get a good aerial view ... [Continue reading this entry]

My houselady was trying in tell me something, what I thought she said was a time change to put the clock an hour back. I thought, that can not be right because I just changed the clocks in Brasil ... [Continue reading this entry]

Boarded the III de Mayo boats for a tour up the water to check out some more nature. Yep, lots of transportation on this leg. The weather got progressively worse but you could see the cattle ranches where ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well I accidentally added another country to the itinerary! In the van and across the border to Argentina to check out a super cool glacier. We piled out at the border, exited Chile and entered Argentina. The first ... [Continue reading this entry]

My van arrived 20 minutes early which translates to me still getting ready so my nice houselady invited them in for coffee while I shoved breakfast down my throat. The coffee here in Chile is awful stuff. I ... [Continue reading this entry]