Blogs from Easter Island, Chile, South America - page 22

Day 52 - Sunday 26th March The facts: Santiago Artensanal at Dominican Fly to Rap Nui / Isla de Pascua/ Easter Island The longer version: A very slow and steady start to the day. After checkout we headed to the Dominican, wherein one section there is a major artist market. We were able to wander around and looked at many types of Chilean craft, selecting some easy to carry ones to come back with us. We returned to Santiago airport in an Astra and one of the safest Taxi rides we would have to say we had. So we left mainland Chile to ultimately arrive at Rapa Nui. Upon arrival at Easter Island we had hadn’t organised accommodation, but was aware that there were plenty of offers once we got off the plane. Our location ... read more

Whatever you want to call it, it is the small volcanic island in the middle of nowhere between Australia and South America. It is 3600 km west of Chile (of which it is part of) and 2075 km east of Pitcairn Island and this makes it the most isolated inhabited island in the world (you have to be famous for something). It is located at “27°09'S 109°27'W” (put that into Google earth and you shall see) and is just over 160 km2 big and has today a population of just about 3800 inhabitants. I arrived there on the 25th and found a nice and not that expensive (This one if for you Marc) accommodation in Hanga Roa, the only and therefore biggest town on the island. I shared my room with Paul and Tom and met ... read more

A few things to clear up first, no bunnies or Easter celebrations in sight but its definitely an Island. Although a part of Chile Easter Island is really a pacific island, the flight from Santiago was nearly 5 hours! its apparently one of the most remote habitable places on the planet. See the white dot -Easter Island The island is a small triangular shape with a population around 4000, famous for its Maoi statues. Most of the islands inhabitants are Rapi Nui - the native peoples of Easter Island. I went on a guided tour with an Australian guy from Taura Tours, really knew his stuff. The next paragraphs are my complete Rapa Nui knowledge, if your interested.... The Moai are large statues which can be found all over the island, rang... read more

So we flew from Rio de Janeiro to Santaigo through Sao Paulo (and a very big thunderstorm!) and checked into the backpacker's place we'd stayed at when we were here before, the miserable bloke behind the desk recognised us in a puzzed kind of way! We had 1 night there before catching the flight to Isla Pascua or Easter Island as it's more commonly know to gringos! nearly 6 hours of nothing but the blue waters of the Pacific below us we finally caught our first glimpses of one of the most isolated (inhabited) places on earth. We spend the next few days going around the (very) small island using various modes of transport, including feet, jeep, taxi and quad-bike (the quad-bike we nearly crashed a few times and Guy had great fun 'doughnuting'!!!) Easter Island ... read more

As Rich and I stood up on the edge of the extinct volcanoe, Rano Kau, and took in the 360 degree view of the island it finally dawned on us how isolated this 117 sq km land mass was from the rest of the world. Nothing but the sparkling blue Pacific Ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. Its closest populated nieghbour is the tiny island of Pitcairn, 1900km to the West and its a massive 3700km East to the South American coast!! Back in February 2004 when we sat in the travel agents planning our round the world route we were over the moon when it was confirmed that we could stop off on Easter Island. I cant imagine there are many times in a persons life that they find they're 'just ... read more