Easter Island !!!

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Welcome to the south pacific and quite possibly the greatest place on earth!! Easter island is not only known to be the most isolated place in the world, as it is farther from another "mainland" than any other place in the world!!!!!!! So when we are talking south pacific...we´re definitely talking south..and definitely talking pacific! On the island one feels the most isolated that one ever could being in an inhabited area!

Weds- Lauren, Sarah, Elsie, Laura and I headed out from Santiago to Isla de Pascua! We arrived at 8pm, its two hours behind Chile. We were greeted with "leis" and were taken to our hostel. We walked around town a bit but most everything was closed so we just went back and hit the sack.

Thurs- We woke up early, only to see an amazing sunrise and since it was dark when we had arrived, we got our first glance of the island and god it was unbelievable. So we ate breakfast, packed up our stuff and headed into town..two blocks away. Almost everyone lives in the town, only town on the island, of Hanga Roa...and it is barely that of a town! There are about 3,500 residents and is such a tight-knit community. We rented a jeep and went to the tourism info center to find out about the camping..turns out its only 2 blocks in another direction......right on the coast! We set up camp, put on our bathing suits and went to the beach. We stopped along the way to see some of the Moais (the famous statues that surround the island) before arriving at Anakena beach...a site outta the travel channel! It was amazing, as you enter its a forrest of palm trees with a bunch of moais and then white sand and clear blue water! We spent the afternoon swimming and soaking up sun before heading out to watch the sunset and check out some more moais. That night we went out for drinks at a bar called Aloha and listened to Rapa Nui music by a local band!

Fri- We went up to the volcano which was great! We had a view of the whole island. The volcano erupted thousands of years ago and was the site of a Rapa Nui village. We checked out the village, which included lots of petroglyphs, and is still in pretty good shape and protected by the National Park, which is the whole island except the town! We also saw the two lil islands that the Rapa Nui men would swim for special ceremonies every year. The men had to swim to the island, get an egg from a bird on the island and then swim back. The first to make it back successfully with a whole egg won and became the Hombre Pajaro (Birdman) for the year and was prized with seven virgins!!! It definitely was a lot harder than it sounds as they would have had to jump off cliffs into some rough waters! We then ate lunch before hitting up the museum and checking out some other Moai sites. We also went to some caves which was great and a lil scary! We had to climb down holes in the ground and slither our way into the crevaces of the cave before reaching the end that was a cliff overlooking the water!

Sat- We woke up to drive along the coast and check out the Moais and then ended up at the quarry which is where the Rapa Nui people carved the statues out of! This place was definitely my favorite out of the whole island as there are still moai statues in the rocks, half carved out and the rest are still waiting..........to be moved to their respected parts of the island. Of course saturday was gorgeoUs and so we spent the latter part of the afternoon at the beach. I definitely walked away with a great tan this day! We started the evening off with some vodka drinks and somehow ended up going out..walking of course..to Aloha for food, music and some more drinks!!!!

Sun- Our last full day on the island! We checked out the remaining Moai sites on the island, hit up the artesanal market, elsie got a tattoo (dont worry mom i didnt, though i was going too but didnt find anything that appealed!). We then spent the remainder of the afternoon soaking up some last minute sun, as we knew we wouldnt be getting any for a while here in Chile!

We got back today after having the best trip ever! This trip has definitely been the highlight and if anyone gets the chance should most definitely come to this island! The Moais are even more incredible and mysterious than I could have ever imagined! There are just noo words to explain them, nor the sense one feels on this island! We had a blast and camping was fantastic! Nothing can beat drifting to sleep by the sounds of the waves! We met some fantastic people from Europe and some Chileans from Santiago! The Pascuense people are sooooo nice and helpful! Though I definitely recommend bringing as much food for your stay as possible....as being El Ombligo del Mundo (Bellybutton of the world!)..they have limited supplies of food and so it is all super expensive!

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