Jan 9, 2013 - Here's a little world you can all join in with....

It's very simple and I hope it's new Make your own life up if you want to Any old life that you think will do.... Okay at this point in my South American adventure I got a little crazy. I'm going to blame it on poor impulse control brought on by too much time at high altitude in cold temperatures and under the stress of too much UPHILL! What I wanted though was an island, no not a high altitude lake island, a sea level tropical island perhaps one with some scuba diving available? So, through a momentary lapse in reason I booked a flight to...

Feb 13, 2012 - As Sea in the Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean encompasses one third of the Earth’s surface making it the largest body of water. It covers an area significantly larger that the entire Earth’s landmass. It is hard to image how large it is until one crosses it by ship. Five days were required to travel the distance between Puntas Arenas, Chile and Easter Island (2237 miles). Our next port is Papeete, Tahiti and it requires another four days (2670 miles) at sea. We cross several time zones also. Almost every night we set our clocks back one hour. We joke that we gain an...

Feb 11, 2012 - Easter Island, Chile

The Pacific storm is not our only hurdle to reach Easter Island. Upon arrival, the ship’s crew finds that we are unable to anchor in the town’s harbor of Hanga Piko. Large swells prevent safe tendering operations. This is a little disappointing as it cuts down on our shopping opportunities. But our disappointment is short lived when we realize the efforts we have to go through to even get ashore at the alternate tendering site of Anakena Cove on the north side of the island. We have to exit one tender and walk through another tender and...

Jan 10, 2011 - Easter Island

Up at 5:30 am and dark...easy trip via Metro to bus stop where we caught bus to airport...then a long, long line to check baggage. Plane left half hour late and we landed on Easter Is. about 1:30 their time. There were quite a few reps from different hostels, hotels so Bon and Jake spent considerable time chkg out several. By the time we decided on one, Chez Cecilia, we were the only ones left in the airport, ha! Cecilia drove us to her place, very near the ocean and close to everything. She had several options...an apt. w/ our own...

Oct 19, 2010 - Easter Island: Rapa Nui

I was so excited about going to Easter Island and it did not disappoint! The flight from Santiago was about 6 hours and I had time to get over the reverse culture shock of seeing modern buildings in Santiago city, no rubbish in the streets and retail chains that I recognised! Arrival on Easter Island: On landing the door opened and a warm, balmy breeze welcomed us. The airport was small and Polynesian style music and dancers greeted us and we were given flower garlands just like you see in the movies! Everyone left the airport smiling. I...

Jun 14, 2010 - Easter Island

Easter Island is probably about the most isolated place in the world, in terms of a thriving community where tourists visit. It’s about 3,500 miles from anywhere, just a small island no more than 20 km long in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It has several names. The Polynesians call it Rapu Nui (as does Hollywood), the Chileans (who own it) call it La Pacaya and everyone else calls it Easter Island. It is an awesome place for many different reasons. The isolate ruggedness of the place is incredible. It is surprisingly green and has lots...

May 3, 2010 - Easter Island, day 3

Another day looking at Moai. We saw the seven that face the sea, that everyone says are the only ones. Almost every Moai on the volcano faced the sea... But I guess that was not intended to be their final resting place. The seven were supposed to be the seven original explorers that found Rapa Nui. We visited the place where they made the topknots for the Moai, but it was not very exciting. Many of the Moai had white coral eyes with black pupils, not the typical empty-eye-socket look that I had always seen. The guide said that it was...

May 2, 2010 - Easter Island, day 2

We slept in until 8:30 and after a nice, leisurely breakfast we went to see for the first time the famed Moai, the stone heads that make the island such a tourist attraction. Our tour guide was a native Rapanuian and had a distinctive way of speaking. He had a very good accent, but stressed the wrong syllables or unimportant words sometimes. As we visited different sites looking at the Moai we came across several signs that just said "NO↑". I thought they were funny, but apparently the laws are pretty strict about touching the Moai. You can...

May 1, 2010 - Easter Island, day 1

We arrived at the small airport to a steady drizzle and a crowded baggage claim. As we headed to the buses we were given leis. We took a short bus tour of Hanga Roa, the only town on the island. Ben, Hope, Steph Healy, Geoff Box and I walked around the town looking for food and found a good meal in a small roadside restaurant. On the way to the very overpriced artisan market we ran into the man Steph met on the airplane, and they talked for a while. It always amazes me how outgoing she is. We enjoyed seeing people surfing on the large...

Apr 13, 2010 - Easter Island - April 10-13

April 10, 2010 As the alarm went off at 5am, our last two nights of drinking started to catch up with us both. Thankfully we were both quick out of bed without hitting the snooze button and our taxi was dot on time to collect us. Once at the airport we were directed to the international check-in desks despite taking a domestic flight. Once we got there we couldn’t drop our bags off yet (I’d already checked in online) because they were dealing with another flight. Most airlines and airports can deal with checking in more than one flight at...

Sep 19, 2009 - Easter Island, Chile

It was rather interesting to visit one of the most remote islands in the world. I was originally introduced to the island by the 1994 movie 'Rapa Nui', which depicted the story of the Easter island. It costs a fortune to come down here from the UK, but it was a free stop on my round the world ticket, so I could not miss it. I was greeted by a traditional Polynesian welcome with garlands of flowers! I was lucky to have an excellent guide for the three day tour visiting the Moai and the quarries from which they came. I am not going to bother...

Mar 8, 2009 - Easter Island

Easter Island - what can I say but "wow". We had a lovely time at Easter Island. We were staying at the Minohoa Campsite but were actually staying in a double room there as it was only an extra £3 a night so we decided to splurge! The campsite was fabulous - it was on a point right beside the ocean and had the best views of the sunset on the island. We decided to walk into town to get some groceries and have a look around. Unfortunately, we forgot about siesta and everything was closed until 4pm so we walked around until the shops opened....