Take only photographs leave only carbon footprints

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Our round the world air ticket required that we fly all the way across the pacific to Santiago before flying half way back again to our first destination Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, or Isla de Pasqua depending on your pursausion. I think i´ll go with Rapa Nui, ok so mainly to be pretentious but also due to the fact that that is its proper name.

Rapa Nui is the most remote inhabited place in the world, some 3,700km from Chile and 1,300km from Pitcairn Island - ok i may be slightly off with those distances as i don´t have the literature to hand and quite frankly can´t really be bothered to find it, but suffice to say it is a very long way from anywhere. It is quite frankly in the middle of nowhere, and quite an exeprience flying in. You literally fly for about 4 and a half hours across the ocean, then without any signs the landing speel is made and you dart down below the thick low cloud, and before you really see anything you have landed. Particularly thought the map navigation system that most planes now have was most amusing, as it really made it look like you were landing in the middle of the ocean. It really makes you wonder how anyone managed to find it before GPS, let alone a bunch of polynesian dudes on a raft 1200 years ago.

Somehow the early settlers did make it and although it is still up to much debate exactly how and why etc etc, the cultural legacy that they left is incredibly interesting. The early settlers carved these huge statues, actually called moais, from the rocks, dragged them all over the island and erected them on platforms overlooking their villages. The feat of engineering / manpower that i suppose is similar to that of the ancient Egyptians, is remarkable. It seems such a shame and waste of effort that due to infighting between tribes and the passge of time all of these statues were knocked down; various examples have however been restored to their former positions, which gives you a good idea of what it would have really looked like.

During our few days on the island we visited as many of these sites as we could, and managed to get a good mix between the restored and unrestored. In many ways those unrestored sites were the most interesting and felt more real; you could try imagine how these things were erected in the first place and subsequently toppled in tribal wars etc. We have the slight concern that in the continual drive towards development of tourism that all of them may be restored, which would be a real shame. The undoubted highlight was a quarry where all of these statues were initially carved, before being dragged to their final resting places all over the island. This quarry was on the edge of a scenic volcanic crater, and in it there were hundreds of moais in all different states of readiness - from those that were ready to be transported to those that were still being carved out of solid rock. It was really fascinating, and you could get a real sense of how the process was done and also what the first European visitors would have seen.

Before we arrived we knew something about the moais but the thing that suprised more than any was actually how beautiful the island was; in particular, the volcanic crater in the south of the island where a pretty easy hike up to the rim afforded great views. Also the rocky coastline had black cliffs, crashing waves and the ocean many vivid colours, it was gorgeous all around. We´d also not quite expected that such a poor place could cost quite so much, the US$1 toilet fee at one location lead to a long search for a suitable alternative hiding place! One of our more interesting ´cultural´experiences was with an American tour party who were on a world tour by private jet - US$50,000 for 22 days anyone? The only difference that we could see on Easter island between their trip and ours was that they got a bus up the volcano and we walked...maybe they also didn´t have to pay for the toilet!!

Back on the mainland, our carbon footprint pressing ever harder, Santiago is very much not the middle of nowhere. It is a big bustling city, there is clearly a lot of wealth in the country, but it is unmistakeably South America. There is a great mixture between old and new, rich and poor, exemplified by the main square the Plaza de Armas (as all main squares in these parts are known). In the plaza there is a huge gleaming glass tower next to the old colonial cathedral, and at the other end all the old guys spend their time playing chess whilst the suits are walking home from their office jobs. Also, the city is in a simply amazing geographical location with snowcapped mountains all around the city. We had unbelievable views on our flights into and out of the city, and also from a couple of great viewpoints in the city itself; unfortunately the views aren´t helped by the high levels of smog in the atmosphere but nonetheless it is gorgeous.

As is always the case with our travels we never have enough time in a place, and Chile is no exception. With only a few days to spare we decided to limit the extent of our travels and use the excellent bus service to explore the Chilean Lake district in the vicinicty of Puerto Montt, for those who have any knowledge of Chile, for those who don´t about half way between Santiago (which is in the middle) and the bottom.

We actually stayed in a small place called Peurto Varas, in an apparantly stunning location on a lake with a backdrop of two snowcapped volcanoes. One thing you cannot control on a trip like this is the weather, and that is certainly the case in the Chilean lake district in springtime! The cloud was low and we had incessant rain for very long periods, plans kept chópping and changing as the clouds came, looked like they were leaving and then came in harder again. The result was that we hunkered down for 4 full days in the same place hoping, ever hoping just for a glimpse of these volcanoes. We tried to make the most of the time with some short walks and taking in some pretty spectacular waterfalls, but the comfort of the hostel fires as the rain lashed down was also very compelling, so we were by no means outside the whole time. Our patience however was just about rewarded on the final day with a very brief glimpse of the summit of volcan Osorno, and some other of the nearby mountains showed themselves a little. It wasn´t exactly the picture postcard but in the end beggars can´t be choosers I guess.

Our final day in Chile actually gave us some welcome sunshine when we visited the truely gorgeous Valparaiso. This is a dirty, ramshakle, gritty port town in the middle of the country about 100km from Santiago. It was the major port on the west coast of the continent in the colonial times until the Panama Canal opened, and although large tracts have fallen into disrepair over the years it houses some amazing colonial architcture, all painted in vivid colours (ok you wouldn´t say they are all very tasteful but it certainly makes for an interesting landscape). The city is based on two levels with ridiculously short furnicular railways between the top and bottom; much of the more interesting buildings were on the hill and a great place to aimlessly wander through and absorb. The parting gift of the town as we waited for our bus was some geriatric christian rock in one of the little plazas...awesome entertainment!


That was it for a whistlestop trip to Chile, we were off to Brazil. The flight out over the Andes was absolutely superlative; you´d have been happy to pay a lot of money on a scenic flight for it.

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