A quick entry here to let you know all is well... it's a bit hard to get fast internet, being in the middle of the Pacific, 2000km from the nearest population centre, so bear with me and I'll upload all pics/stories when I get back.
Needless to say, Easter Island has been everything I thought it would, and indeed much more and I'm suffering from pleasure overload!
I've even come up with a new word for the feeling: moiagasm!
Truly one of the best places on my trip... and I'm really glad I decided to go after all!
Will update once back on the Chile mainland in a few days...
Incidentally, my flight up from the south of Chile was like an aerial tour of the earthquake zones as we had 2 stop offs, one of which was right at the epicentre, and the hardest hit city: Concepcion
more on that later too...
Oh.. and the starry sky here is unbelievable. I've never seen so many planets or so many stars at once. In fact, the milky way is so bright that it's obstructing the view of some of the planets... be sure to visit Easter Island during a new moon.. like now... to get the full effect!
WRITTEN POST-TRIP .... SUMMARY POINTS ...
- Got passport stamped in the post office... obligatory!
- Northern loop today. A little bit rainy too... it seems that every day on Easter Island had at least about 1-2 hours of rain.. but then it would stop as quickly as it began. Apparently the rains can get very bad here at certain times of the year so that's something to bear in mind when booking a trip.
- Ahu Tahai got a proper revisiting
- I spent a good while at Ahu Tepeu, the largest village remains. I was quite tired today so this was a lovely place to relax and sit looking out at the endless Pacific ocean for about 2 hours in the (now) sunny weather.
- Ahu Akivi with it's Moai looking out to the sea was really quite something. Represents the original men who found Easter Island after setting off from Polynesia.
- Lots of caves to explore, but I didn't have my torch with me so I put those on the long finger and would have to revisit them on another day.
- On the loop back into town I went to investigate dives for the next day. Booked one provisionally which was leaving at 11.30am (wasn't too confident in diving as it's been about 3 years since my last dive!)
- Went to see the "Rapu Nui" movie in the (**insert name here**) hotel bar-cinema which was directed by Kevin Costner. It's a totally fictional story that's wrapped with elements of truth about life on the island before Europeans arrived and gives a fairly good simulation of how the people were ruled, partook of the birdman rituals and eventually broke out into warfare, destroying the Moai in the process. Apparently during the making of the movie, some now-protected areas were badly damaged, but it has to be said it's a damn good little flick, if only to give you a sense of how life on this island must have been for the 9,000 people that lived here at the height of their civilisation.