Blogs from Easter Island, Chile, South America

A note from Merry Jo: As children we see things that leave an impact on us for life. Our imaginations can run wild after seeing a photograph or hearing a story. How we process that information depends on our creative side and the imagery created with our minds. I remember very distinctly sitting on the floor of the den in my childhood home five decades ago looking at multiple National Geographic magazines. One that stood out featured photos of the carved stones on Rapa Nui often referred to as Easter Island. I knew someday I would arrive in this mysterious land that is isolated from the world. To get there you fly to Santiago, Chile and then fly 2200 miles (5 hours) over the ocean to this remote island. As I walked down the airplane staircase ... read more

It’s our final day on Easter Island and our first nice day. Until now, our time here had combined the worst weather of our trip with the worst accommodation; outside has been wet and windy and miserable while inside has been damp and mouldy and miserable. But today the sun is shining and we ‘borrow’ (£50) the landlady’s jeep for an outing. We’re doing the south-east circuit (basically, the runway runs almost the width of the island and the road circles the island in a figure 8 around the runway). Our circuit consists of: Ana Kai Tanga (a cave with petroglyphs), Rano Kau (a crater containing a reed covered lake), Orongo (a ceremonial village), Vinapu (some fallen Moai), Puna Pau (a quarry where Moai topknots were carved), Ahu Akivi (7 Moai facing the sea) and Ana ... read more

We had a good night’s sleep, waking briefly at midnight for the firework display. Easter Island is very expensive because almost everything (apart from fish and chicken) is imported from thousands of miles away. But they certainly didn’t skimp on the fireworks. At 6.45 the resident cockerels decide it’s dawn. Today that’s fine because we haven’t adjusted to the time zone. Tomorrow, however I will probably hatch plans to murder cockerels. We plan to hire the hostel car to follow the ‘north east circuit’. This takes the island’s only paved road past various archaeological sites, finishing at a beach. The weather forecast is hideous but tomorrow a cruise ship is due at this tiny island with minimal infrastructure, so we are torn between a storm and hordes of entitled pensioners. We opt for the storm and ... read more

Despite my high hopes, the weather has not cleared enough for us to explore Oranga so I do not get to see the volcano and the launch point for the Easter Island egg hunt. We have a last wander around town exploring as far as the cemetery in the drizzle. All through the town, along the shore line yiu can see moai and other remains. In some places these have been rebuilt and a couple seem to be new, presumably for the benefit of us tourists. The cemetery is quite large and very colourful. Many of the plots have quite unique headstones and things representing the person within. There are even some small Moai type statues. There are lots of flowers everywhere and I get the feeling that people visit often, not just once a year. ... read more

Rapa Nui is nothing like the rest of South America, it is Pacifica. The people, language, plants, buildings, roads, food, weather - well, everything - are much more like being in Fiji, Vanuatu or even New Zealand than Chile or Peru. The weather is, unfortunatel, rather grey but the temperature is pleasant. We join our tour minibus at ‘about 9’ which is really 9:40 so we know we are on island time and head off the explore this amazing place and of course the renown statues. The countryside begind Hanga Roa rapidly becomes unpopulated except for cattle and horses. The coast is rocky and rugged, no golden beaches for sunbathing here. The road is a bit the same. This is not good farmland, just low grasses with few trees stretching from the coast to the distant, ... read more