Spoiler alert re Easter Island – Expectations met! (of course, the new header picture probably gave it away!)

You may remember in a previous post my mentioning that when Eleanor Roosevelt first saw Iguazu Falls she uttered “Poor Niagara”. Well, with the update to the header picture, I’m now saying “Poor Iguazu”!

Monday, March 18 – transit from Santiago to Easter Island

My departure to Easter Island was at 9:30am. I noticed, however, on my last trip out of Santiago that there was a huge queue waiting to check-in for the Easter Island flight. So, I figured I should consider it similar to an international trip and get to the airport 3 hours early (didn’t want to miss this flight!). But then I was told by the hotel staff that construction at the airport could cause traffic delays, so I should tack on another hour to be safe. Adding in the 30 minute drive to get there, I’m departing the hotel at 5am for my 9:30am flight! (Cost of taxi: $35. Ugh! But it’s my own fault because I knew what it would be, since I stayed at this hotel previously) And yeah, I got there way too early! Oh well…

The airline booking for the trip is not something that benefited from the last-minute attitude I’ve had throughout this journey. I made the reservation about 6 weeks ago and paid $1,200 for the round trip (more than my round trip fare from the States). Booked well in advance, the fare would be about half what I paid. One redeeming factor though was the fact that I had a premium economy seat for the five hour flight (economy was sold out!).

All flights to Easter Island from Santiago are via a Boeing Dreamliner, and ours was completely full! It’s pretty amazing that this type of plane flies into the little one runway airport of the island. But then, you’re told that the airport has also welcomed planes such as the Concorde, 747 and A380. This is all due to the fact that the runway was upgraded by NASA so that it could be used as a provisional landing site for the space shuttle. Pretty cool!

I booked a B&B for three nights. The total cost was $548, which included airport transfers, breakfast, a full-day tour, rental car for one day, and the $80 national park pass. Seems like a good deal, right?

Some quick Easter Island background: The native Rapa Nui are believed to have settled on the island (Isla de Pascua in spanish) as early as the 10th century. Europeans first arrived in the early 18th century. The famous statues of the island are called moai, and approximately 900 have been inventoried. They represent the living faces of deified ancestors. The stone platforms on which the Moai sit are called Ahu. The current population of the island is around 8,000, with the majority located near the only town, Hanga Roa.

I spent the afternoon walking around the area near the B&B and in town. A short walk from the B&B is the site called Tahai.

Step Count Update: After much walking over the weekend in Santiago, and more today on the island, I have passed the one million mark for the trip. Cool!

Tuesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 20 – Easter Island

Tuesday was set aside for the full day tour with the owner of the B&B, Paul. He is from the States, but first traveled to the island in the early ’60s to assist with the restoration of the archaeological sites and the moai. So, obviously he has a vast knowledge of the Rapa Nui and was an excellent guide. Joining us on the tour was another guest at the B&B, Sophie, an optometrist from New Zealand. She was fun to hang out with and it turned out to be a great day!

The next stop was Anakena. Located here are a white coral sand beach and two ahus; Ahu-Ature has a single moai and Ahu Nao-Nao has seven, two of which have deteriorated. Anakena is unusual for Easter Island in that it is one of only two small sandy beaches in an otherwise rocky coastline.

Our next stop was at a site that turned out to be one of my two favorite places on the island – Rano Raraku. It was a quarry that for about 500 years supplied the stone from which about 95% of the island’s moai were carved.

We went back to Tahai this evening to check out the sunset, but unfortunately clouds on the horizon spoiled it. The same thing happened last night too. Tomorrow’s my last night, I’m desperate!

I had one of the B&B’s rental cars reserved for Wednesday and Sophie had it reserved for Thursday, so we decided to team up and share it for both days. I’m happy we did that because it was another fun day roaming the island with her. We started the day early, returning to the previously mentioned Ahu Tongariki to catch the sunrise…

And what a beautiful sunrise it was! We will be returning to this amazing site again later in the day.

Finally, it was back to Tahai for the sunset. Tonight is my last night; will my luck turn positive?

We departed the B&B at 7am to catch the sunrise, returned 14 hours later after watching the sunset – it was a wonderful day!

Thursday, March 21 – transit from Easter Island to Santiago

My flight didn’t depart until 2pm today, so I took advantage and made a return to Tongariki for the sunrise (Sophie felt like yesterday couldn’t be topped and decided to sleep in. Was she right?)

On the way back to the B&B I needed to fill the tank on the rental, so this was a good opportunity for one final fuel price check: $4.74/gal

Sadly, it was then time to say goodbye to Easter Island. An amazing place!

I’m traveling to Mendoza, Argentina tomorrow, so I just booked a hotel near the Santiago airport ($76, incl breakfast and free shuttle service (yes!)).