Boring Planet: Four Spaniards' guide to the world beyond Barajas*

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Back on a bike the next day, we headed off to Ovahe beach early in the morning and, apart from three horses, had it all to ourselves for a couple of hours. We couldn't resist a brief second visit to nearby Anakena before returning to Hanga Roa for some rather large empanadas (savoury stuffed pastries).

We tagged along on another tour in the afternoon, this time clambering through some of the island's caves. While the sites were less obviously impressive than those of the previous day, our native Rapa Nui guide was interesting and informative... And being ruggedly good-looking never hurts.

Tour-trauma was beginning to affect us, however, as we had to endure two Spanish couples banging on about the infinite merits of their homeland. Whilst attempting to outdo each other in a 'I've-been-to-the-most-countries-in-the-world' contest, they managed to insult a whole host of nations. Nowhere on earth is as good as Spain, it seems. Amongst the critiques Japan fared particularly badly - utterly irredeemable, apparently - and even an entire continent (Australia) was succinctly rejected as 'not worth it'. Perhaps these folk could gain some benefit from considering the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: "We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open".
Raúl just cringed at his fellow-countrymen's boorish comments and vowed to write up our Japan trip.



*Barajas is the location of Madrid's international airport.

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