Final Day of an Epic trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning we went to an artisan village and looked at some beautiful pieces of Chilean art work. It was a pleasant, low key ending to my trip. We had arrived back quite late last night from Easter Island so it was nice to have nothing scheduled until 10:30 am. I am now packed, have my boarding passes and hope to be back in Oregon on United flight 740 at 12:22 pm on Sat. Feb. 28. We had a farewell lunch at a very nice restaurant. These are my final pictures form Santiago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very thankful for good health during this trip and safety in the air and on the roads. Our group leaders were aware of the airline strikes in Argentina that happened the day after we left. We learned that we were delayed flying to Iguazu Falls because of a hole in the runway. The flight that left before us had to turn around and go back to Rio de Janeiro and then they waited on the plane for several hours and it was very hot on that plane. It took that flight 8 hours and it is normally a 2 hr. 10 min. flight. Highlight of the trip for me was seeing Iguazu Falls. It is so massive and the water roars. Off to the airport now and I will post again when I'm back in Newberg.. 

Leaving Easter Island

Easter Island, Hawaii, and New Zealand make up what is called the Polynesian Triangle. The Polynesian Triangle is a region of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: Hawaii (Hawaiʻi), Easter Island (Rapa Nui) and New Zealand (Aotearoa). This is often used as a simple way to define Polynesia. My son Mark noted that this week while I was on Easter Island, my daughter was in Hawaii since she lives there and my grandson Reeve was in New Zealand because he is living there. So we had the three corners of the Polynesian Triangle covered this week. I think this was a quite unusual and interesting coincidence .

Since chickens and roosters roam freely in Hawaii it was no surprise that the waiting area of the airport on Easter Island has free range poultry. 

Notice the large plane on the runway in the background.

It was a very comfortable 4 hr. 30 min. flight from Easter Island back Santiago. The runway on Easter Island is very long and can accommodate large planes because NASA built it. This is because they wanted a location in the middle of the Pacific Ocean for a space shuttle to land in case of an emergency.

Dinner with Rapa Nui Dancing

Our group went to a traditional Rapa Nui Cultural dinner and show on our last night on Easter Island. It was like going to a Hawaiian luau. Thy opening the pit where some of the food was cooked and then there was a dance show.

 

Here are some pictures of the dancers.

Visitng the Volcano site named Oronjo

The breakfast at our boutique hotel here on Easter Island is served very meticulously. The butter is in the from of a Moai. The rolls are served warm in the cloth bag. We can order freshly made eggs served to our request. 

We had the morning free to walk around the town and then had a nice lunch right on the seaside.

Our lunch spot. 

 

 

 

 

The letter NJ is combined in the Rapa Nui language and has a guttural sound.

The inhabitants lived in these stone houses. At one time there was a competition for one member of a tribe to swim the an island a mile off shore to get an egg of a tern and bring it back unbroken. The winner was entitled to take food as needed from other inhabitants. This is all oral history. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Near to this site was the location of a volcanic crater. The crate is more than a mile across. When it erupted it blew out the side toward the ocean. The estimate is that it erupted 180 thousand years ago.

 

It was a spectacular site. There nice breeze so it was quite pleasant to walk and see the views. 

 

 

 

Our final stop was at a site called Vinapu  were the construction of the blocks suggested some Inca influence because the cuts were to precise and angular. The Moai there were all toppled but there were some parts like heads lying on the ground. 

This is a head of a Moai that is now embedded in the ground.

These are toppled Moai 

These are the blocks that are more like Inca construction that Rapa Nui. 

Sunset on Easter Island

We went to a large grassy area for views of the sunset. It has the only Moai on the island that still has the original coral eyes. 

It was a very pleasant end to a day of learning about Moai. 

Day of Moai

We started the day at a park where houses and other structures that the early Rapa Nui probably used had been reconstructed. 

 

We learned that chickens were very important in that culture and chickens were given for a dowry

When had a quick but heavy downpour while there and we all scurried back to the tour bus.

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is famous for nesarly 1,00 giant stone monoliths known as moai. They believe thye were carved by the Rapa Nui people between appoximately 1250 and 1500 AD. These statues, often weighing several tons and featuring oversized heads, represent deified ancestors. They were mostly carved from volcanic tuff in the Rano Raraku quarry and transported to coastal platforms called ahu to honor deceased chieftains. There are several theories of how the statues were moved from the quarry to the many locations on the island. I'll just post a few of the pictures I took. 

Some were lying flat and others were just pieces. 

The most famous Moai are located at Tonjariki. We could see them from a distance. There of 15 of them and they are most impressive. The Japanese, US, Chilean and Rapa Nui are worked together to restore them.

Seeing them up close is quite impressive.

 

This is Simon our local Rapa Nui guide.
 

 

 

 

 

 

After going to these sites we went to one near a beach and then went swimming. 

We are staying at a boutique hotel named Hare Nua. When we returned from a full day of exploring I took a dip in the small pool at our hotel. 

Rapa Nui, (Easter Island)

Today we flew from Santiago to Easter Island. The flight was totally full and was a wide body plane with a 3-3-3 configuration. We had extended leg room seats which was an unexpected treat. They even served a hot meal. Rapa Nui is a remote Chilean territory and is one of the most isolated inhabited locations on Earth The entire island is a UNESCO World Heritage site, This is the picture of the screen of our flight path. 

The native language is Rapa Nui and Iorana is like saying Aloha in Hawaii. The picture is the sign with this greeting when we arrived at the airport.
 

 

We were also greeted with leis made from leaves and island music.

 

We did see some of the carvings late evening before having dinner.

 

Today was not my best travel day. I was in a crappy mood when we arrived at our hotel. For the first three weeks there were 22 in our group. We had an outstanding tour leader - organized, great communication, cheerful. We are now a group of 9. They are all wonderful people but we have a new guide. Her style is much different and I haven't adjusted very well. Plus we are back to hot and humid which is not my best travel weather. The island only has 8000 permanent residents. We have a local tour guide who is Rapa Nui and he is excellent. He said last year there were 100, 050 tourists who visited the island. Tourism is almost the only industry on the island.