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Published: March 6th 2007
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Five in a Row
A selection of Moai with various bits missing. I hope these aren't meant to be fertility symbols! Blimey O'Reilly - you'll never guess where we are? Only on one of the most remote spots in the entire world, that's where. Welcome, friends, to the mysterious Easter Island.
Our flight from Santiago left at 9.10 am meaning that we had to check out of the hostel nice and early. Neither of us slept well again at the Casa Roja due to all the traffic noise and general thumpiness of our fellow residents. We thought we had booked a private taxi for 7,500 pesos (about £7.50) through the hostel but we ended up with a minibus choc full of other travellers heading to the bus station or other parts of the city. We were the last to be dropped off which wasn't ideal but thankfully made it to the airport in plenty of time for our flight.
Easter Island really is slap bang in the middle of the ocean and it takes 5 hours to fly there. Once we left the Santiago coastline, there was no land below us again until we reached this tiny island. Stepping out of the plane directly onto the tarmac we were hit by a tropical, humid heat that we haven't felt since
Mini Maoi
I swear the eyes move when you're not looking... Asia. It was a good feeling :-)
After collecting our bags, we made our way out to the front of the teeny tiny airport to find our guesthouse owner who had promised to pick us up. People around us were being greeted with garlands of flowers to wear around their necks Haiwaiian style and slowly everyone drifted away until we were the only people left and our hostess was nowhere to be found. Without a map of the island to guide us, we had no choice but to get a taxi. Five minutes later we were at the Cabanas Viannay with a confused looking Theresa, the owner, ushering us inside. The reason for all the confusion was that she had mistakenly booked us in for the last 2 days of February but of course it's not a leap year this year. When we saw that she had pencilled us in for the 28th & 29th February, it was obvious what had happened. Not the best start to our brief stay but thankfully our very nice ensuite room was available anyhow.
As we are only here for one and a half days, we quickly got ourselves ready and headed
Odd One Out
Could one of these statues be an imposter? out to explore the island, pleased to have a bonus couple of extra hours due to the time difference. We made our way along the main streets of Hanga Roa, the island's only town, and thanked our lucky stars that we had brought food with us for our whole stay as everything available in the shops was at least 2 or 3 times the price of mainland Chile. The locals on Easter Island are certainly friendlier than in Chile although the driving is as crazy as ever. We were surprised to see so many cars on the road and tickled to see just how bad a condition some of them were in. Still, I guess there's no real reason to seriously police the island when it has so few inhabitants!
Heading to the coast, we followed the rugged shoreline until we reached the first of the ancient Maoi, the giant head statues that the island is famous for. There's a line of 5 statues on a platform not too far away from Hanga Roa and it's very picturesque to look at them with the ocean stretching to the horizon beyond. There's another couple of single statues nearby, one of
Hanga Roa
View along the coast towards Hanga Roa, the only town on the island. which has had eyes painted on it making it look a bit freaky! The sacred statues are protected by a couple of rangers who ride around on horseback and yell at anyone getting too close to the statues. While we were there, we picked up our own little ranger in the form of a stray dog whom we nicknamed Gomez. He padded behind us the whole way round and it felt nice having such a friendly guide, even if he couldn't speak a word of English.
We spent a long time wandering around the area appreciating the unexpectedly beautiful scenery. I had honestly thought it would be pretty barren here but it was lush and green with black rocks along the shore and deep blue sea as far as the eye could see. We took a stroll along the seafront back towards town where we found the smallest sandy beach ever with a cluster of keen surfers riding the waves just off shore. There were more statues dotted along the coast although some looked suspiciously like reproductions.
After taking a break back at the hostel to cool down, we made it out just in time to catch the
Guide Dog
There are loads of stray dogs on the island but they're mostly friendly like this chap whom we christened Gomez. He kept us company around the island for over 3 hours and didn't ask for anything in return. Sweet. sun setting behind the row of 5 statues we had visited earlier in the day. The sunset was absolutely spectacular and it was no surprise that most of the island's tourist contingent turned up to enjoy the light show too. Wow, I still can't believe we're really here!
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