This week’s #ListifyLife theme is a weird one for me, because:
I’m Canadian, so if I’m writing Canadian I automatically spell words “wrong,” like colour and theatre. I don’t spell them wrong for Canadians, and maybe not for the British (there is some confusion being Canadian because we spell some words the British way and others American), but I spell them “wrong” for Americans; and
I’m a really good speller, so I had to think extra-hard about words I spell wrong.
So we have…
Miniscule or Minuscule? The latter is the correct spelling, but the former is becoming commonplace because it means “very small” and “mini” also now means “very small.” Here’s a link that shows I’m not in the minority getting confused!
Barbeque or barbecue? No wonders folks just say BBQ. I use both spellings, depending on how I feel, and I think I can safely blame the barbeque spelling on the fact that Canada is supposedly bilingual and if “barbeque” isn’t French, well, it should be. 🙂 Link that says the barbeque spelling is likely Spanish…
License or Lisence or Licence? I spell it the first way, but I often check, because a lot of times the British spelling in certain words will have an S while the American spelling has a C, or vice versa. My auto-correct says that both license and licence are correct and lisence is all types of wrong! it looks like I’m spelling American when it comes to License.
Onomatopoeia. I always forget the last O and spell Onomoatapeia. If you look at the photo graphic, it appears I’ve also left off the i, but I haven’t. You can see the dot of the i, but my writing can get pretty messy and in this case I’ve flowed the majority of the i from that weird little E right before it. 😉
Supercalafragalisticexpealidocious. I mean, come on, who gets that right? I’m blaming my misspelling on the fact that it’s not a “real” word, but it’s certainly in the lexicon, isn’t it? By the way, the Interwebs says the real spelling is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, so I confused some As for Is, or the other way around.
I’m on Instagram now and quite enjoying it. I’m basically posting pictures of Allie McBeagle and my travel adventures. As I go on, I’ll add slice-of-life and publishing/author life photos. Wanna follow me?
Our second day with our rental vehicle began last post, during which we visited Orongo Village. But we wanted to catch one of the Tapati Festival events. Seeing as SILly and BILly are “horsey folks,” we decided to attend the horse race. Turns out it was being held on the very road we had driven the day before. So we headed back there and parked and gathered with the other tourists and Chileans. Photos:
Clint Eastwood move over.We were right at the side of the road, but you have to be on your feet so you can quickly jump outta the way (quick on your feet, one might say).I’m pretty sure this guy won.This sporting lad was also in the race! After the race was over…
“Attending a Tapati event” accomplished, we continued exploring the island. Finally, in the afternoon, there was a spot on the map we hadn’t visited yet. There was some discussion about whether we should stop to see “another” big giant head (oh, so jaded we were by then!) or head back to the cabanas for some wine. I can’t recall who was in charge that day, but it was likely SILly or myself, because we made the wise choice to visit every site we could while we had the rental vehicle. So we drove until we hit a semblance of a parking lot, for what we had no clue, but we knew it was a parking lot because there were some guys there not allowing us to drive any further on the rutted road. We were to park and walk for twenty minutes (at a brisk pace, I must say) to see whatever we were to see.
So we did that.
I recall about halfway on the walk some muttering and complaining about whether we should continue because we were not quite sure where we were going. But along the way we would encounter the odd person or couple making their way back from the spot. There was always a language barrier, but the gist of these conversations was that our journey would be worth it.
Finally, we reached a little area on the right that looked set up to sell souvenirs. There was a woman there but no souvenirs, so it was likely siesta time. On our left we could see the ocean and a chicken-scratched sign. We tried to make out the words on the sign. Now, everywhere else we went on Easter Island had matching, very-easy-to-read signs. This site, I don’t know if the signs had been removed or stolen or were simply taking a siesta, but we made out some words we eventually realized could be interpreted as “Windows to the Sea,” or the Ana Kakenga Caves, as we realized looking at our map again later.
We looked up from the chicken-scratch sign. There was a dog several feet ahead, and, wait, was that a person climbing out of the ground? We had to go find out.
This poor doggy (lots of dogs on Easter Island, sitting under the rush umbrellas on the beach, napping) was monitoring the humans climbing in and out of this hole in the ground. A human emerged, so we attempted communication with our bad Spanish. Our foursome decided to descend into this:
The first attempt was not successful. You see, we had neglected to bring a flashlight and the batteries of both cell phones we had with us were dying. BILly attempted to descend first and declared that our light might not make it. So he and I wimped out and went to look at this lovely view below:
Whilst (yes, I said whilst, showing that tiny bit of British in me bones), BILly and I were admiring the view DH and SILly decided to try the hole again. So I’m taking pictures of the sea thinking, “Crap, this is like when S and I were at Machu Picchu and I was too freaked by my fear of heights to continue on the path to the Inca Bridge! Cindy, you’re a wimp. I hope he comes back and gets you.” He did come back to get me at Machu Picchu, and he came back to get me again on Rapa Nui!
SILly and DH were excited to come back and get “BILly and me” (note Sheryl Crow reference) and lead us into the hole. After about 10 or 15 feet of squeezing and climbing down, twisting and turning to get the best foothold, the hole opened up wider, and eventually the lava tubes opened into two separate “windows” in the cliff face, the Windows to the Sea! It was incredible. No fences, no gates to keep you out, NOTHING to stop you from walking right out of a window and landing on the rocks below and splitting your skull open. Simply your own personal responsibility and sense of balance.
Yes, I’m wimp enough not to stand TOO close to the right window.
If you compare, you can see that the lava rock in the ocean behind us is the same as the landscape photo above.
Cindiana Jones had lived to see another day!
From that point, we used what meagre light we had left on the phones to crawl back out and head back to the parking lot. The doggy we had seen monitoring the hole was sleeping under our vehicle. We returned the vehicle to Jorge and spent the next day, our last full day on Easter Island, relaxing at the beach again.
We flew back to Santiago on February 4th. It was the perfect amount of time on Rapa Nui. Five nights, four full days, two with a vehicle.
I am afraid of heights and suffer from motion sickness. Traveling over the last six years has forced me to try and overcome both to some extent.
Now that you know the tunnel is only 10 – 15 feet or so, would you crawl into the hole in the ground?
Welcome to the first April edition of the #ListifyLife Spring Challenge! This week we have Little Things that Make Me Happy (as a side note, I am completely blanking on whether Me should be capitalized in a title or not…)
Blue Skies! So, so important! I am one of those folks whose moods are affected by the weather. I really do not like gray skies. Just a little bit of blue peeking through the clouds can carry me through two days of crappy weather. Blue Skies is a really little thing that goes a long way toward making me happy.
Hiking with my Husband. I guess “walking” is a more accurate description. I don’t get to walk/hike with my husband as often I would like, because we have to work around his work schedule and his golfing. 😉 But whenever we both have a weekend morning free, we get Allie McBeagle and head off to the nearest provincial park. I walk every day with Allie, but she gets to go off-lease when Steve is around. Now, she’s starting to go pretty deaf, so we have to make sure we keep an eye on her. I think my husband really enjoys these walks, as well. He warns me that when the dog goes to the Rainbow Bridge we will lose our incentive to walk. And he’s right, a dog forces you to get outdoors. But I love the walks and hikes and would participate regardless.
I especially love when my husband goes and fetches me a Surprise Latte before one of our walks! I can only have caffeine before, oh, 10:30 a.m. is probably safest. Maybe 11 a.m. if I want to push it. We often have coffee on our walks, but a surprise latte makes me very happy.
A Beagle Sleeping on My Lap. Sometimes it’s a PITN when Allie is demanding to rest with “Yap” (beagle-speak for Lap, one of her nicknames for me) and “Yap” really needs to break her brain with spreadsheets or kill her back washing floors or something. But you know what? A beagle forcing Yap to take a break is not a bad thing at all. When my dog is resting with me (on me) and snoring/snuffling away, she’s content so I’m content. One of the simple joys of life. Loving a dog.
Hugging my Kids! Anyone with kids, this pretty much goes without saying, but I only get to see Eldest Son in July and August, when he’s visiting from teaching high school overseas, so that First Hug is oh-so-wonderful! And each summer hug is so important because it needs to carry me throughout another year. And then there’s Youngest Son! He gives the greatest hugs. He only lives 90 minutes away, not a 10-hour plane ride away, but he’s over six feet, which is a lot taller than Moi, and I like to stand on this step in our mud room when I hug him. Whenever I hug him, I think of the tiny little 4 lb. 15 oz. preemie born 25 years ago. But now my preemie can squeeze and hug and lift me. I also have to get on the step to hug my DILly, so is also nearly six feet tall.
Last I left off, we were hopping in our rental vehicle and driving to Rano Raraku Quarry. We had eaten breakfast in town before leaving to enjoy the views, and we’d purchased fresh pineapple and watermelon and grapes and cheese and water and sliced meat and doughy crusty things. So we kind of had a picnic lunch that we nibbled on as we drove and explored. We called it the Two Squares a Day Plus Pisco Sours for All and Wine for the Winos/Water for Cindy Meal Plan. Because, apparently, I “had” to eat several times a day or I would “crash.” But, let me say, I drink a lot of milk back home and, honestly, I just had to make up those missing calories. Not being a wino myself, I had to ingest, you know, actual food.
At any rate, it was amazing to catch sight of the quarry out the car window:
As you approach the parking lot, you realize that those dots on the hillside are Moai! If you are on a tour bus, I don’t know, no matter how nice the guide is, how knowledgeable he or she is, they are likely to be explaining where you are heading as you are going there. There is something to be said for simply discovering where you are going as you arrive. Especially if, like our foursome, you don’t educate yourself a whole lot in advance. It’s like you’re just driving along and suddenly see this spectacular sight. It’s an adventure!Some of these statues have bodies that extend way, way into the ground. There is some argument whether all the Moai were intended to be moved from the quarry. Were some intended to remain where they were carved? There is a spot you can see a monster head lying horizontal half-carved from rock. Pictures don’t do the quarry justice. I like this one because I was able to “nip” off folks walking along the path so one might think I was there all alone, like a NatGeo photographer or something. One might fantasize about such things if one is delusional or starving from lack of nutrition/Canadian milk.It’s too bad this head isn’t facing the other way around. Then the people GETTING IN MY PICTURE could seem to be marching into the Moai’s mouth. Seriously, I like the little troupe walking into the back of his neck.
There is so much to see at the Quarry! We hiked up to a crater lake, and across the lake we could see more Moai. They are just everywhere.
After enjoying a light lunch (our snacks) near the quarry parking lot, we headed to see more Moai, the iconic rows of statues I remembered from my parents’ pictures. We could spy them way, way far away. So we drove to them.
We are worshiping the sun, or being the Moai, or something that no longer makes sense.Closeup of the two Moai on the very right, to show an example of one wearing the hat. There is also a batch of inland Moai. We bought some lovely fresh pineapple from a lady nearby.
We also explored some cave paintings and petroglyphs. There is so much to see on Easter Island!
The next day wasn’t sunny. We visited Orongo, the ancient village. It was pretty cool but we didn’t stay there long. I do believe it had started raining. We walked around and had a look, though.
The people would climb in through those little openings to sleep.Close-up of an entrance.One of several fallen/pushed over Moai we encountered during our explorations. I am pretty much sitting as close to the statue as I can without touching it (a no-no). Just to give an idea of the size of these things.
Another thing we did our second day with the vehicle was visit one of the Festival events, a horse race. I’ll cover that next post, plus we had quite an adventure exploring the Windows to the Sea, which were another surprise…
Going back to my last post about our Chilean travels, we arrived late on January 30th and settled into our cabanas, went out for a quick bite, and hung around the Tapati Festival grounds for awhile.
January 31st, our first full day on the island, was spent at the beach in town, where I got a really bad sunburn everywhere I didn’t apply sunscreen. Luckily, SILly had a long-sleeved button-up shirt to lend me as a cover-up because I only packed sleeveless cover-ups (bad idea; take a long-sleeved light blouse to avoid sunburns). I also got caught up in a riptide with DH and SILly, but they are both strong swimmers and saved me. To avoid getting slammed into the rocks in the area we were caught in, “I” (as in they partially dragged me) “swam” toward the marina and used the ropes from the boats that were out on the ocean (so no boats docked) to drag myself back to shore. Well, it was an adventure.
What the marina looks like when the boats are in and waves aren’t trying to bash me against rocks. See the ropes? When SILly and DH saved me, we made our way from a bay to the left to this bay with ropes-without-boats and, hand-over-hand, thusly and thisly and frustly and fristly we dragged ourselves to safety.We had wonderful weather for our first full day. Down at the nearest beach, after I’d avoided drowning, we walked around and saw several Moai and this lovely little swimming area where children would not be swept to sea.These Moai are walkable from town (as in you can walk to them from the beach area, not that they walked TO the beach, although legend says they might have). The Moai were carved in the Quarry (which we would visit the following day) and somehow transported to near the ocean. There is a lot of information about the Moai on the Interwebs. I’m just gonna show pictures to entice you to visit.An example of what the Moai might have looked like before the folks of Easter Island began warring with neighboring tribes, which entailed trying to smash as many of other tribes’ Moai as possible, or at least knock them down.On the morning of February 1st, we rented this cute little Crossover from Jorge for two days. We didn’t go on tours. We’d done the tour thing in wine country. We took our little map, and BILly, being a “professional driver,” took his spot behind the wheel, SILly was the “tour guide,” and DH and I got to boss everyone around or just sit back and soak it all up, depending who was “in charge” that day.Honestly, we had very little clue what we were doing. We hopped in the vehicle and drove to the first site we could pinpoint on the map (it was a knocked down Moai). But before we arrived at the first of a multitude of sites around the island (which are best explored by renting a vehicle, IMO, even if you don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going), we had to stop and simply drink in the freaking BEAUTY of the island. It was breathtaking. DH, here, is orchestrating the waves.Aside from the reconstructed Moai guy shown in a photo up top, this red chunk of rock was the first of a lot of “topknots” (representing a hairstyle) that we saw knocked off around the island.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, when visiting Rapa Nui, is whether or not to go on a guided tour. I’m pretty sure Jorge had suggestions for tour guides. It’s not like you have to book the guides in advance. You CAN book a guide in advance or just wait until you’re there. I read advice on Trip Adviser to take a tour first and THEN rent a vehicle. But what’s the fun in that? If you take a tour first, yes, you get to learn a lot more than we did. If you simply rent a vehicle and head out, though, there’s more of a sense of adventure. So take from that what you will. There’s really no wrong choice; there is just what is best for you as a traveler. The island isn’t large. In two days, we felt were able to see a ton of sites simply having a rental vehicle and then walking into town at night for dinner after a hard-earned siesta. It’s an awesome way to explore Easter Island!
More piccies next time! Because we visited the Quarry on February 1st, and because we were not on a tour, coming upon it was a bit of a surprise. Topped with lotsa Awesome Sauce.
Do you like to rent a vehicle when you travel, or go on tours, or a combination?
