B. Santiago to Quito to Lima....

---

tommy and claire offroad on Easter Island

Tommy jumps into the amazon

Lemon Ants

Jungle walk

---

tommy and claire offroad on Easter Island
Tommy jumps into the amazon
Lemon Ants
Jungle walk Dear all

Well i'. Distance from Tahiti , 4,050 kms.
There are hundreds of moai (giant statues carved out of volcanic rock) on Easter Island and it was was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.
Rapa Nui is a small island, 23km long by 11km wide, and was created by the eruption of three volcanoes that are still visible.

The island's history states that the rapa nui people belonged to different clans and competed between them to build the biggest and best moai , and different ahu - each belonging to a different clan. It was a statement of wealth strength and prosperity.

The civilisation used so much of the natural resources to build the maoi, that they soon ran out of trees , the earth was scorched and they were unable to grow crops. The crops began to fail and the clans turned on one another in a battle for the scarce resources. The symbols of the islanders' power and success, the moai, were toppled.

Their island was in shambles, and their villages and crops destroyed. There was no wood left on the island to build escape boats. The few survivors of the conflict, perhaps numbering as low as 750, began to pick up the pieces of their culture.

A dutchman landed on the island in the 1500's and named it easter island , as he landed there on easter sunday.

Since then we have flown to quito, Ecaudor and spent some time there before starting our tour. We have been to the Mitad del Mundo , ( the centre of the earth) and stood on both sides of the equator at the same time!! In fact i have a video of me doing a cartwheel over the equator, which is very cool!!!

We've stayed in a place with natural hot water, heated by the magma of the volcanoes, i couldn't believe the heat of them its like a hot bath! We spent 3 days in the jungle in equador with lots of big spiders and heaps of bugs. Especially ants they're rock hard and some of them about an inch long!! I thought i'd stood on some glass, but when i looked at my foot, an ant was biting me!!!!! It bloody hurt!!! we've licked ants that live in the bulb of a leaf and actually taste like lemon, well i licked them, Tommy point blank refused!!!!!!!! We swam in the amazon river several times, i was a little unsure about this, but when everyone got in , i thought sod it, depsite being told about the child size catfish that lived in there!!! We stayed at an american guys lodeg who worked for the peace core and has everything solar powered and is completely self sufficient, he grows all of his own friut and veg and has a fish farm that he uses!! It was fantastic!
We've rafted on crazy rivers, i nearly fell of a crazy horse that kept galloping off , i was truly sacred that i was coming off at one point, i lost my hat and after 5 hours , i couldn't walk properly for 3 days!! We've spent a week driving down the coast and camping on differetn deserted beaches and are now in Lima,
My spanish is coming on very well and i'm managing to have converstions and mostly make myself understood, but i'm still working on it!!

Tommys got a dodgy belly and so is sitting in with cable tv, we are staying in quite a posh hotel, so at least he's got som comfort! So i'll sign off to go and give him some TLC and rehydration sachets, love to everyone and take care


lots of love

claire and tommy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

---

Photos

Easter Island
The biggest Moai (giant statues carved out of volcanic rock) on Easter Island.
Pretty cool huh!!!

Easter Island
Close up of the moai (giant statues carved out of volcanic rock) on Easter Island

Easter Island
view from above the maoi

easter Island and cold beer
we needed this after a hard days rockin !!!!!

off road around the island
this was the 4x4 that we hired and drove into the ground!!! It was a rainy day and we did lots of off road driving with lots of skids, great fun !! End result brown streaked and crusty car!!

the bay of easter island
This is a shot of one of the naturally occuring swimming pools, along the coast of the Island

claire on the centre of the earth
now i'm finally the real centre of attention on the centre of the earth, one doesn't get more self centered, does one ???

tommy on the centre of the world
" Yes i'm smiling...Claire forcing me to take another bloody picture !!!!! "

Oasis OverlandTour begins
Our first dinner at a Mongolian BBQ in Qutio, Ecaudor with the group, we started off with 6 people Sam and Jo (a couple), Heln and Emma, 2 girls who came on the trip alone

Liverpool Vs Chelsea semi final Champions League, Ottavalo, Ecuador
We missed the first half running around Ottavalo who didn't have the right cable tv, so we had to get a taxi 1/2 hour to the next town. But penalties and kicking Chelseas ass made it all worth it!!!

Papallacpa, Ecuador
we stayed at a hostel that had naturally hot springs. The volcanoe heats the water and they have therapeautic properties. Even though it was chilly as we were high,the water was so warm, we stayed in there drinking cocktails all night!!

Tommy in the amazon river
There aren't too many nasties in thes tributeries of the Amazon as the loacals have blown up most of the fish with dynamite. we stayed at Arajuno Lodge in the jungle with an American guy called TOM, he is working with the local population to teach them how to use fish farms to survive, among other things.

Monkey eats Butterfly
This was at a rehabilitation and breeding centre in the jungle who look after and try to re-release animals into the wild. The monkeys bit someone whilst we were there. If they jump on you, you are supposed to gently wriggle, this guy tried to swat it off and got a big bite for his troubles!!

An Ocelot
Also known as Painted Leopard, McNenney's Wildcat. These cats are the largest of the generally dainty Leopardus wild cat

Capybaras- The Largets Rodent on earth
Translates as Water pig. This Rodent is a semi-aquatic herbivorous animal. It is the world's largest living rodent. They are about the size of a small pig

Tom and Mel at her birthday party
Tom the lodge owner with a small frog on his fingers. This was mel's birthday and so a party in the jungle was had. Including shots of the local firewater, which i cleverly avoided bt pretending to have done a shot! It was so awful that nobody even noticed, they were too busy making noises of disgust!!!

Chillin in a hammock by moonlight
This was again at Mel's brirthday, in the jungle, trying to get that perfect moonlight shot

trekking in the jungle
big spiders,lemon ants, killer ants that felt like glass in your foot if they bite when you stand on them, leaf cutter ants, green snakes to name a few of the creepy crawlies we saw

helen, emma and i on our horses in Banos, Peru
Helen and Emmas had lazy horses who couldn't stop eating and i was blessed with a runaway stallion, who only liked to run as fast as horsely possible, nearly losing me off his back several times! I lost my hat and almost my will to live, at one point i thought letting go would be easierthan hanging on!!!! I survived, but with my mental health and bottom in tatters!!!

Banos, Ecuador
a view from the top when we were off the horses, Yes i had neraly died 3 times by this point, thank god the rest of the way was down and my horse was a bit more weary about going downhill!!!