easter island....... long overdue post

our departure from santiago was super early - some of us didnt sleep very well, while some of us could barely get up (hi.) we were happy to escape santiago{s crappy crappy rainy weather and terrible pollution.

at the airport at our gate, lo and behold, we saw a fellow walking up to us with a hello - it was none other than keith davis! despite the fact that we lost our favourite giraffe (sadness!!!!) we gained another fifth person rather quickly.

easter island so far has been wonderful. the flight here was so pleasant - LAN really does a great job in terms of service and food. also, new planes help out a lot too - the seats and inflight entertainment were spectacular. in addition to the typical reclining seat and upright tray, there was also a separate cupholder, cell phone holder and the in-flight entertainment had all sorts of movies, tv shows, games, and music (example: they even had the magnolia soundtrack!?!?! way to get a jon brion fix.)

when we arrived at the airport, we were greeted by our residencial host (oscar) with a bunch of leis - what a nice touch!!! totally the aloha spirit at work (even though that is another part of the polynesian triangle. hum.)

oscar then drove us to his house, which was a lovely small place with a huge tropical garden in the front and back (read: mangoes, guavas, bananas), as well as a nice porch with a dining room table. the rooms were basic, but had everything we needed - beds, bathrooms, a table, a bedside lamp, clean sheets. unfortunately, keith was not able to stay with us, but luckily the HI hostel was about 100 m away.

oscar recommended that we hike up to rano kau crater - the hike was completely uphill, but very scenic. cheryl, keith and bossmat completely booted it all the way up, while kavitha and i were the herbies in the back (i of course was winded in about 2 minutes.) on the way, we walked through various fields of tall grasses (almost frolicking) and saw lots of random cows and horses. the views of the pacific ocean were just surreal - water for as far as the eye could see. the ocean was just glassy and blue and there were jagged pieces of lava jutting out of the water. there were rain clouds in the distance and you could see the rain pouring down. on the way up, i found a log overlooking the ocean and it was the jelly! probably my favourite place in the world.

when we finally did make it up to rano kau crater, it was super windy. but this crater was also surreal! it was very deep, and filled with fresh water and a lot of vegetation. apparently, they found naturally grown coffee plants, mango plants, and a very rare species of tree endemic only to easter island in this crater. it is pretty much its own biosphere!

the hike back down was extremely tiring - i had worn flip flops (not my smartest idea to date!) so my feet were killing me. when we finally did make it back down, we collapsed at the table on our porch.

for dinner that night, we made some pasta with no spices. innnnnteresting. oscar{s mom watched us closely to make sure that we would not blow up her kitchen!

the next day, we had breakfast that oscar made - banana taro cake, eggs, tomato, mango juice, tea, and toast - it was so delicious. afterwards, we went to the easter island museum to get a sense of how the island was formed and how the culture evolved and how the moai came about. the most interesting thing that i learned was that there were wars between the clans, and during that time, people pushed over the moai for revenge! so sad! also, the entire island was bankrupted due to an informal war of who could make a bigger moai. so crazy!!!

after that, we decided we would rent a car for the next day - so we spent the afternoon exploring the western side of the island. it was simply amazing! we saw tongairiki, the infamous ones in the mountain and quarry, and a ton of moais that had been pushed over. it is sad to think that in a couple hundred or thousand years, these statues will be eroded into the ground, only to reenter the cycle of life again. :(

after tongariki, we had a flat tire! thankfully, keith, who had been driving us around (thank goodness he knew how to drive standard) also knew how to change a tire. MUY MANLY!!!!! as we were finishing up, a tour bus saw us and they came out to help us with the tire. super nice!!!!

we got back to the residencial in one piece.

this morning has been a bit of a crapshoot because of a torrential downpour. i cannot even explain the volume of rain that came down!! more about that later!