The alarm went off at 2:45 am and after only three hours of sleep we were dragging. The early morning flights are a killer. The night manager was great and had coffee, tea and cookies set up for those of us that needed to be out of the hotel before the chickens woke up.
We had a new person escorting us – a young woman whose name I have forgotten – to the airport. Patrick and Kelly managed to secure exit row seats so he could be somewhat comfortable.
It was an uneventful flight of appro. 5.5 hours. The really positive thing about LAN is they actually serve a very good meal.
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people. It is a World Heritage Site (as determined by UNESCO) with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park. In recent times the island has served as a warning of the cultural and environmental dangers of overexploitation. Ethnographers and archaeologists also blame diseases carried by European colonizers and slave raiding of the 1860s for devastating the local peoples.[3]
Easter Island is claimed to be the most remote inhabited island in the world.[4]
We arrived in Easter Island and were greeted by our driver. He did not speak English so we had to use sign language. We had been driven around in very nice vehicles at the rest of our stops so were surprised to see his van was in pretty bad shape.
The ride to our hotel was different. We traveled on mostly dirt, pot holed roads. Not a lot of infrastructure on the island.
Our hotel was also different with individual cement huts. Our room had just had the floor painted a bright blue and you could still smell the paint. Unfortunately, it was still wet. Ron and I were sticking to the floor and we got blue paint on the bottom of our shoes. The smell was pretty bad so we opened the sliders for some air circulation.
The view from the sliders was spectacular helping to dull the shock of the wet paint and fumes. I went to the front desk to ask if they could change our room but no dice- the place was full. After some discussion on how to handle the wet paint I suggested putting more bamboo mats down. The people running the hotel were very nice and did give us additional mats. It worked out Ok and after two days the paint smell subsided. Kelly & Patrick had no issues. Their floor was not painted so no sticking going on there.
Keeping my feet on the mat!!!
OUR HUT
KELLY & PATRICK’s HUT
By the time we settled in it was time for lunch. Since we were unfamiliar with the area and very tired we opted to eat in the hotel restaurant. The food was delicious and well presented. After lunch we went back to our huts for a nap.
There were several cats wandering around and a lovely golden lab. Since we like dogs so much we befriended the dog. She was very mild manner and was looking for a belly rub.
She joined us at our hut and kept us company for the afternoon. In the early evening we went to watch the sunset. It was quite beautiful.
None of us were very hungry so we opted out of dinner. We decided to eat some energy bars and turn in early. Unfortunately, around 8 pm the lights in the restaurant/hotel went out. By 8:30 Ron and I were in bed and were awakened some time later when the lights came back on. I got up to shut the lights off and then fell right back to sleep.
We had an all day tour scheduled for the next day so catching up on our sleep was in order. Not sure who our tour guide would be. All have been great so we were expecting the same on Easter Island.
No comments:
Post a Comment