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Thanksgiving on Easter Island

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Thanksgiving on Easter Island 

Across the Pacific, a 5 hour and 40 minute flight from South America…Rapa Nui. Easter Island is only about 9 miles wide. And thousands of miles from other land. Moai statues haunt the land in an open-air museum.

We’re Thankful to see it!

Sunday, November 25, 2007:  Easter Island, Chile

Easter Island is only 64 square miles, and is miles from everywhere. We landed on this tiny spot in the Pacific Ocean, 2,500 miles from Santiago in the late evening. We were met by Josie and Alex–our guides who both have personal connections to the island–who greeted us with pink leis and Pisco Sours. We are here on a National Geographic extension with 3 other passengers from the Endeavor-Antarctica cruise.

Our shadows go to breakfast at our hotel
Our shadows go to breakfast at our hotel, Hanga Roa
Bryan and Carol
Bryan and Carol

We saw moai, moai, moai (Pronounced “MO-eye”). Enormous carved stone statues-many restored to their Ahu platforms over the past 40 years and hundreds more abandoned before they ever made it to ahus. It’s really quite surreal to see them scattered about–some face down where they fell and others standing proud, most with backs to the ocean.

Ahu Tongariki
Ahu Tongariki

Funny how they kind of looked like penguins. Guess it’s all about perspective ?

(In all seriousness, we learned a lot about the island’s history. Our guides were phenomenal and the experience excellent.)

Moai perspective
Moai perspective
Bryan and Moai
Bryan and Moai
Moai at Rano Raraku
Moai at Rano Raraku

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Rano Raraku…a picnic BBQ after hiking through the partially carved stone statues and seeing the volcano lake at the top.

Moai - Don't walk on the Moai
Moai – Don’t walk on the Moai sign

On Friday, we turned on the TV-getting the one channel. On the news we saw photos of icebergs, Zodiacs, and heard something about a rescue and National Geographic. We couldn’t make it out. Later in the day, we heard that the Endeavor was sinking–having hit a submerged iceberg. We were devastated. I can’t describe how stunned we were thinking that our beautiful ship with all those fantastic people was in distress. For a painful 3 hours, we walked in a daze through the moai sites. And then, we drove into the Hanga Roa hotel parking lot so I could log on to CNN for any news. Turns out, the sinking ship was actually GAP Adventures’ Explorer. All passengers were rescued–safely aboard Nord Norge after a few hours in lifeboats on open water. The poor red ship went over on her side, and sank some 15 hours after the accident. All the emotions: relief for the Endeavor, thankfulness that we were safe, sadness for those travelers/crew…it was a strange, emotional day. And I’ve never felt more Thankful for our safety, warmth and luck.

Crater
Crater

So, what else can I say about Easter Island? There are more horses than people. 4,000 horses run pretty much free. There are at least as many dogs–most of german shepherd ancestry. Are they strays? Free range? I ended up carrying bits of food around to feed the skinny dogs.

Waiting
Waiting

The island smells of maple syrup and curry. The seed pods of a wild grass that grows in clumps sound like wooden chimes in the wind. Rain comes and goes–fast. Rainbows. And we ate well–the cerviche at La Taverne du Pecheur, the Chilean wines, Bryan liked the Escudo beer. Great coffee too.

2 new Moai
2 new Moai
Carol on Easter Island
Carol on Easter Island

It was a fantastic place. And now, we’re on our way home. Looking forward to fresh clothes, our own bed and-of course-hugging our pups.

See you all soon!
Love,
Carol and Bryan

Anakena
Anakena

Plane and Santiago

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Thursday, November 8, 2007 in Santiago, Chile 

We made it to Santiago, our luggage made it too and all is well!

The plane flew over Cuba around 8:30 central time last night…you could see the small town lights from the sky. Very cool. A little while later, we flew over Panama at the skinniest part. Couldn’t see much below, so not sure if we were over the Canal. And then another little while later, I woke Bryan up when I thought we were nearing/over the equator. No one rings a bell or anything exciting…though I do think the ride got a little bumpier.

Flying over Cuba. Saw the small town lights from the plane. Will this be the closest we ever get?
Flying over Cuba. Saw the small town lights from the plane. Will this be the closest we ever get?
Flying over Panama
Flying over Panama
Does the air circulate differently at the equator? The ride got bumpier for a bit...
Over the Equator? Does the air circulate differently at the equator? The ride got bumpier for a bit…

The plane landed at 6:45 a.m. here…3:45 a.m. Central time. About 8 hours in the air. We were stiff and tired, yet amused by the folks going on this journey with us. I’m sure we’ll get to all that later. Stay tuned…we meet them all officially tonight at the “welcome dinner”! Oh, yes. We had “dignitaries” on the plane with us last night. Escorted onto the plane by Miami police and TSA. And guess what…many of them are also staying at this hotel for the Latin America Presidents gathering. The hotel is a bit posh…we’ve got an amazing view of the San Cristobal foothills and Andes mountains (snow-capped). The room is sweet too…amazing king-sized bed with organic white sheets, down comforter and Andean tapestry throw. Bryan’s loving the robe and slippers too. We even have a little sitting room to gaze out onto those mountains.

Grand Hyatt Santiago - Beautiful room, fantastic view of the Andes
Grand Hyatt Santiago – Beautiful room #1211, fantastic view of the Andes
Can you SEE the snow covered Andes back there?
Room with a view! Can you SEE the snow covered Andes back there?

So, today–we’re groggy from sitting up all night in cramped quarters–we thought the best way to handle it was another day in the sun. We put on our swimsuits and hit the pool shortly after checking in. Sunny, breezy, high 70s. It’s Spring here in Santiago. We napped poolside. Had some lunch. Bryan jumped in to the pool, describing it as “like jumping into a glass of ice water”. Soon we discovered our skin was baking despite 30 sunblock. Yikes. Came in to nap and clean up before a quick city tour at 3 p.m.

The view from our lounge chairs :) Bluest blue pool of ice water...
The view from our lounge chairs 🙂 Bluest blue pool of ice water...

Drove into town on a tour bus for 26. Not exactly our way of traveling. We saw several places we’d like to have jumped out to experience. But it is a nice way to get quickly familiar with areas without walking your legs off. In a couple of weeks when we’re back, we’ll hit the places we most liked for a few hours.

And that’s about it for the moment. Got to get dressed for dinner.

Off to Ushuaia in the morning, boarding the boat tomorrow at 5:30 p.m…not sure which time zone though!
Carol and Bryan

The trip route
The trip route
Chile Flag
Chile Flag