Easter Island, Santiago and the Atacama Desert

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Easter Island

Some 3,600 km west of Chile mainland and 2,000 km east of Pitcairn Island, Easter Island, also known as Isla de Pascua, formerly Te Pito Te Henua (navel of the world) is called Rapa Nui by the locals and is the most isolated inhabited island in the World. The question we asked ourselves therefore was how on earth did the Polynesians find this place back in 400 or 800 AD and as we approached the tiny island we willed the captain not to miss the runway, which runs the length of one side of the island, as it was rather wet and deep at the far end!

The island is both famed and shrouded in mystery for its 827 monumental stone Moai statues which drew around 48,000 visitors in 2005. The Moai´s stand up to 20 m tall and are mostly situated on the coast of the island but can also be found at other key locations. In addition to these big fellas, the Polynesians also developed a unique, and to date undeciphered, script called Rongo Rongo (surely similar to shorthand?). And not surprisingy they are famed for their astronomical knowledge as it must have taken some severe navigating skills to find such a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific without the aid of GPS.

We planned to only spend a couple of days here as it is only 170KM sq (population of 2,000) and we had planned a rather full-on 3 month South American itinerary.

Although in the middle of the Pacific, Rapa Nui´s capital, Hanga Roa, offered all the necessary amenities. However, as we couldn´t get hold of Chilean Pesos in NZ, finding some local currency was our first challenge especially as the local ATM wouldn´t accept visa cards and we hadn´t thought to bring any US$ with us (widely accepted on the island we later found out). So, our first real conversation was not, the usual "Two beers please" but a rather more tricky "What´s the exchange rate to sterling and can I buy 100 quids worth of Pesos on my visa card please, Sir!" The success of this transaction was testiment to South American hospitality with the locals coming to our assistance helping us get to grips with both the queuing system and the translation. In no time at all we were solvent again and were able to utter one of the world's greatest phrases "Dos Cervezas por favor senor."

The weather was mild but pretty stormy during our stay. However, this meant that the bricked roads (funded by the Chilean government as part of an effort to deter the island from seeking independence) leading to the Moai statues were somewhat slippery from the mud deposited from vehicles joining it from the many unsealed roads. It seemed that vehicles were without any form of MOT and cats, dogs, horses and chickens roamed around the roads demonstrating as much right to the roads as any other vehicle or pedestrian. The pavements afterall were just an extension of the roads and our first experience of things to come in terms of the famous SA pavement (uneven, mucho dog mess, made from anything but tarmac, and as the pedestrian you have the least right of way).

We hooked up with Billy and Sarah fellow travellers from the UK and Christian a guy from Santiago on holiday to hire a jeep and check out the Moai´s be they standing, lying down, facing in and out, or buried many metres underground. As Christian was fluent in English, he was able to give us the low down FOC as we trailed behind tour groups. The Moai´s themselves were amazing to see and a wonder to us to imagine how long it must have taken to carve given the resources available on the island. Trees, vines and hair were just some of the materials that were said to have been used to haul them overland although it is still pretty much a mystery. We were given a wing wave from a government plane as the group we were trailing contained Chilean dignatories. One according to Christian with a somewhat disgraced history involving a ridiculous salary.

In no time at all, we were heading off to our next destination, Santiago, but not before La Presidente had delayed us deciding to depart Rapa Nui at the same time as us. She had just spent the proceeding day in local celebrations. With only one runway (funded by the US for the sole purpose of landing the space shuttle in an emergency (we hoped it had good brakes!) and two flights (in/out) a day this was our first indication of South American timing and organization.

A great visit and our stay was made all the more memorable by the stormy sunsets giving the Moai´s a fiery backdrop. As the plane took off the pilot gave us a final aerial tour of the island before heading off to our next destination.....

Santiago

We had planned a brief stop at Chile's capital (home to half the Country's population) and unfortunately the majority of our visit was spent trying to swap a faulty ipod purchased in NZ duty free for a replacement one. Despite assurances from Apple US that the local store would be happy to swap it over, this was not achieved although it provided a great opportunity to kick start the Spanish and check out Santiago's transportation systems whilst visiting the various shopping malls.

The two things of note that we did manage to enjoy was firstly Chile's fabulous red wine which accompanied the delicious and very reasonably priced steaks. We made sure that any weight lost through hiking in NZ was regained through good square meals. 6 weeks worth of effort was erradicated (and then some) in only one week. We also enjoyed the famous smog which hurts the eyes and is best appreciated from the top of the local hill overlooking the city and affords glimpses of the Andes which like the Gorillas is hiding in the mist (or in this case smog).

Atacama Desert (or Northern Chile to you and us!)

Our final port of call in Chile was to visit the Northern Chilean desert which is equivalent in size to two thirds of Italy. It stretches from the highlands of the Andean Altiplano over the sands of the Atacama Desert and to the shores of the Pacific. It's diverse, and for the most, untouched with breathtaking salt flats, geysers and Andean volcanos, vast expanses of land and very occasionally the odd sign of life... Llamas, Vicunas, Flamingos and Alpacas, all unperturbed by the presence of man, until you want to take their picture that is!

This trip was by far and away our favourite part of our Chilean visit as it offered such a divese variety of natural beauty and thank god was (mostly) unspoilt by man and pollution. That said, the air was as thin as the hair on Andrew's head and we felt like we'd been on a pack of twenty a day for most of our lives as we explored nature's playground with the pace of a pair of geriatric pensioners on day release.....

Whilst it was possible to hire a car and do it yourself, we felt that to give the National Lauca Park and Las Vicunas National Reserve justice the services of a guide would be needed and so we enlisted Mario and Fernando from American Tours to host us for the jaunt. After strict diet instructions to avoid altitude sickness for the ascent the following day (no milk or anything that produces gas!) we left the coastal town of Arica with the guys on our own private tour.

The first day was spent reaching the area but we also managed to stop to admire and enjoy Petroglyphs (carvings or line drawings on rock), hot springs (whilst listening to France V Portugal World Cup Semi Finals), canyons and a Chilean roadside cafe lunch. The strangest part of the day however, was not watching Grace utter jibberish before calling for Huey after one glass of wine (apparently struggling to acclimatise), but was the Star Wars like tractor beam of the magnetic zone. This phenomenon was a stretch of the road that was going down hill, but when we stopped the car we slowly rolled backwards uphill. The force was strong in this one.....

The second day was a long drive through the countryside into the altiplano to check out Vizcachas (a rather cute looking half rabbit half rat rodent) and the flamingos and Vizcunas living on the Surire salt lake (close to the Bolivian border). Despite our best efforts to sneak up on these blighters (or most of Chile's wildlife) they scarpered every time we got close to a good shot. National Geographic won't be calling soon..... Apart from our footsteps, the silence here was amazing as we were left to wander around the salt lake on our own for a couple of hours before being treated to a very nice picnic lunch served on volcanic rock in our outdoor dining room with a view. After a quick dip (more like boil) in the hot springs we took the long journey back to the hotel with frequent stops for wildlife and landscape photos.

Our final day took us to 4500m to check out volcano Parinacota and the nearby lakes which gave a brilliant reflection of the volcano. We were again left to trek around the lakes on our own to enjoy the sights and sounds in the peace and quiet and if we were lucky we might spot a condor or rarer still a puma. Unfortuantely lady luck was not with us but we enjoyed a great, albeit slow, stroll none the less. However, the highlight of the day had to be feeding 'Lolly' the llama who as it happens is a bit partial to the odd cookie, or should that be packet or three. She was soon joined by her pals the Alpacas who helped her polish off our supplies. A strange but unique experience......

A great time and fitting way to end our visit to Chile, a lovely (but very long) Country with friendly people, bizarre animals and a lot of fog during its mild winter.

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Photos

Help Quicksand!
Erosion at Rano Raraku quarry has left many Maoi buried....

Atten Shun!
Jones, take that thing off your head.