Yi-yi, what an adventure! We set forth from Chepu Adventures EcoLodge to a completely mysterious B&B in the Ten Ten area of Castro, which is the major city on Chiloe Island. We were extremely lucky to find accommodation. Upon arriving at Castro, we took the very first opportunity to stop and gaze at the palafitos (houses on stilts) while the tide was in:
These were on our left as we drove into Castro with our horrible directions to the B&B. Our directions consisted of an address in “Ten Ten,” but we had no idea what “Ten Ten” was. Turned out it was an area on the outskirts of Castro, before you get to the palafitos.Palafitos on the right, later when the tide was out. There are restaurants on stilts in Castro, even a gym on stilts! The architectural style has existed in Castro and other Chiloean cities since the late 19th century.
We had decided that we weren’t going to book ahead for our two-night stay in Castro. Instead, we would stumble upon whatever we found once we were there. That was before we discovered we were traveling at the height of Chilean travel season (for Chileans). On the advice of our host at Chepu Adventures, we went ahead and found a B&B on Booking.com the night before leaving, and, let me tell you, the Interweb pickings were slim. When we arrived in Castro, the traffic was crazy, it was hot, and the little hotels along the main drag looked hot and sweaty and noisy. Our B&B sounded fantastic…if only we could find it.
We stopped at a gas station to ask directions. The guys were pretty sure the gas station attendant said to head back out of town and take “the second right,” but for reasons unknown to SILly and Moi, the guys took the first right, “just to see” if they could find the B&B that way, you know, not trusting that they heard “the second right.” Hey, I wasn’t driving. I had to leave things in the capable hands of our resident experts.
We drove a lot of dusty gravel road. Finally, when we began to wonder if our B&B existed, my dh, who was in charge that day, noticed a Castro police car on the side of the road. So we stopped, and he attempted to communicate in his lousy Spanish (have I mentioned we neglected to bring our handy little Latin American Spanish guide on our trip?).
My poor dh! He couldn’t understand the police officers’ Spanish well enough, and they couldn’t speak or understand English at all. So he got the bright idea to take my iPad to the police, so they could look at the address. They understood immediately where it was and attempted to communicate the information, but alas, alack, amiss, it was not to be understood. These police officers would not let a little language barrier stop them from helping us! First, they called the B&B to ask questions and let them know they had their guests. Really, they were looking for a stolen car, but I think we were more interesting. Because next thing you know, they volunteered to escort us to the B&B!
The coppers turned on the lights and drove very, very quickly toward our destination, which consisted of several twists and turns on the dusty gravel road. BILly (a “professional driver”) kept up rather well. FINALLY, we arrived at our destination, which was a one-bedroom plus loft guest house, I guess, on a larger property.
If you’ve been following my Chilean adventures, you might remember that my husband brought two gifts from Canada to give to folks who he felt went above-board. One he gave to our wine tour guide around Santiago. The next he gave to the officer who helped us, and the officer was very happy. 🙂 🙂
Too bad, so sad, we found our destination but our hosts had not finished cleaning it for our arrival. No problem, we went back into town for lunch. We parked down at the water and found a place called Nueve Galicia. It was excellent. If you’re in Castro, you have to eat here! We sat at the very back, which meant we had a view of the cooks:
“BILly and me” eyeballing the cooks.BILly had “Curanto,” a traditional southern Chile dish, which consisted of mussels and potato and dumpling-thingies and ham and pork and sausage and…you could go on!
After lunch, we visited the Church of San Francisco downtown, which is famous for being constructed entirely of wood on the interior (we would see another church like this the following day). Exterior:
The nice bright yellow begged us to enter!Pictures can’t do the interior of the Chiloe wooden churches justice. It was just breathtaking.
Finally, remembering our directions from the kind police officers, we returned to The Loft at our B&B, and discovered, to our delight, that it was practically brand new. DH and I took the bedroom, and BILly and SILly took the loft. We shared the fashionable bathroom. Everything about the place was funky and fashionable. The Loft came with a little fridge and sink and stove, and also with a wood-fired hot tub that had never been used before. It took quite a while to get going, but eventually those of us who wished were able to enjoy a soak.
Trying to get the hot tub going!Yes, I found it necessary to cackle loudly and pretend to be a witch preparing to stir her victims. Yours is not to ask why. Yours is to simply wonder…
Originally, we decided to visit Chiloe Island off the coast of Chile so we could visit the town of Castro and see the houses on stilts. That led to us discovering Puerto Varas (discussed in last post) and also a place called Chepu Adventures, where you can stay overnight and arrange to kayak at dawn amidst the dead trees and sunken forest of the Chepu River. Now, I am not athletic and have only kayaked a couple of other times in my life, but the story of the sunken forest had grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go.
In 1960, Chile suffered the most massive earthquake of the twentieth century. Magnitude 9.5, the strongest quake ever recorded. It hit the particular region we were traveling in hard, and the effect was devastating. Our host at Chepu Adventures described how the earth dropped around 10 feet in the area of the Chepu River where we were, and the resulting tsunami rushed in and swamped the forest, the salt water killing the trees and bleaching them white, which is how they remain to this day.
Now imagine getting up at 5 a.m. and heading down a path to the river to go kayaking. And the only people doing this are you and your three travel companions. It’s not the sort of opportunity I am good at missing. 🙂
There are directions to get to Chepu Adventures from the mainland on their website. Basically, you drive from Puerto Varas or Puerto Montt to Pargua, from where you can take a short ferry to Chiloe Island. They leave every 20 minutes or so, and you don’t have to reserve in advance. It’s a commuter ferry, always on the go. There is a lot of gravel road on Chiloe Island, so keep that in mind when booking a rental car. Ours was a little low to the ground (a typical sedan).
We arrived at Chepu Adventures after a bit of a confusing journey, because we felt it necessary to have lunch in Ancud first. But we finally found the place. There are two matrimonial cabins for rent (as in they have a double bed).
The view of our cabana from SILly and BILly’s cabana.
Be prepared for bugs if you travel there in Chilean summer!
Also be prepared to see tiny Chilean dear called pudu. I didn’t see any pudu myself, but everyone else in my party did. I was back in my cabana when the pudu decided to make themselves known. Sorry, no photos of the Pudu from Cindiana Jones, who is embarrassed, but such is life. I did get to see some really cute cats.
And here is the interior of our cabana:
It was quite comfortable, but one of the goals at Chepu Adventures is for the guests to use as little water as possible. Apparently, they have a way to track if you are using too much. It’s supposed to be fun, competing to use the least amount of water, but in the end I guess we didn’t use our allotment because it was never nastily turned off. But we were very good. So good that I needed to take a shower at the very next accommodation opportunity….
It was nice to have a little patio and the table and chairs, but there were too many big bee-type bugs to encourage me. I spent most of my time at the main lodge, where you have dinner (big dinners!! Way too much food. We overate trying to be accommodating to our hosts). My time at the main lodge was spent gazing out at the view. Because it was incredible, and pictures can’t do it justice. It was like looking out at a beautiful oil painting.
The stretch of river upon which we would kayak at dawn the following morning. Alack, I am not being a very good travel blogger, because I did not take a camera on the kayak trip. I figured I would be lucky not to drown. So I just enjoyed the experience.
The next morning, you get up at a time agreed-upon the night before with the host, and this fellow named Carl magically showed up. We hadn’t seen Carl before this point. There was another fellow who magically showed up when it was time to serve dinner. Otherwise, we saw our hosts. There are a lot of great photos of the kayaking experience on Trip Advisor.
We happened to have a rainy day. That’s just the way the ball bounces. So we kayaked, and it was eerie and surreal and quiet. BILly, being an experienced outdoors-man, spotted an otter, but by the time my husband and I made our way over, BILly had scared the otter away (my theory is he scared away the pudu, too). BILly and SILly got very close to a heron or crane (it was very dark when we started out, so we were guessing a lot of time where we were supposed to go, what sunken tree branches to grab and sit for a spell, etc). You guessed it, the crane/heron/bird thing disappeared as soon as my husband and I kayaked along. I am beginning not to believe BILly’s fishing stories as a result…
A close-up (with my zoom lens) of the view of the Chepu River sunken forest, taken from the main lodge. You are not allowed to kayak into any of the tributaries. There is a vague route the hosts explain, and you stick to that. These people are very passionate about the river, so I wouldn’t want to tick them off and venture out of bounds, but that’s me.
After the kayaking trip, you’re left with a whole ‘nother day. You can choose to stay only one night, but we had opted for two. And, really, even though it rained a LOT on our kayak day, it was comfortable hanging around the lodge and just soaking up the gorgeous views. Our host packed us a light lunch, and we followed directions to drive to a point where we could walk down a very steep gravel road (not suitable for our rental vehicle), and the idea was to walk to the ocean. But it was cold and rainy, and the ocean, she seemed very far away. Maybe we turned the wrong dune.
Here I am on the dunes:
We could see the ocean from this dune and we could hear the waves, but we didn’t want to walk to the two joined rivers, we specifically wanted to walk to the ocean, and after lunch we decided it was time just to return to the lodge and try to squeeze in a hot shower.
Dune foliage ready for its close-up:
Would I recommend Chepu Adventures? In the end, I would have to say, yes, it was a good experience. The one night would suffice, I believe, as long as you arrive early enough the first day to get enough of the view. We strictly didn’t need the second night, but to me in the planning stages it seemed odd to go all that way and then only stay one night.
While we were there, we saw evidence of perhaps a ferry crossing being constructed, and we also saw more construction along the river. But the spot itself felt very isolated. So you go for the kayak adventure and a hike, and then you continue on your travels.
Thanks to our host Amory, we came to realize that it was high tourist season on Chiloe. We hadn’t booked accommodations in Castro, to where we would drive the next day. She recommended that we should, and so SILly and I found online what appeared to be the only spot available in an area of Castro called Ten-Ten. We wound up with a police escort to our bed-and-breakfast.
Last we left off, we were on Easter Island. On February 4th we basically flew back to the Hilton by the Santiago Airport and crashed (as in fell into bed) for our flight the next day from Santiago to Puerto Montt, from where we would rent a car and drive to Puerto Varas. Some Travel Tips!
Remember when I said the Holiday Inn by the airport was more expensive than the Hilton Garden Inn? I guess because it’s really close and you don’t have to get a shuttle. For the Hilton by the airport you need a shuttle, and, man, did we waste a lot of time getting organized. There seemed to be no easy way, with the language barrier, for us to find which was the free shuttle that would take us to the Hilton Garden Inn. We were told a number of things and eventually we found our way. I guess I should have taken note of how to find the shuttle for other travelers reading this, but it’s out of my brain now, sorry. Maybe google “how to find shuttle for Hilton Garden Inn at Santiago Airport.” It’s one of those things that once you know (if you remember), it seems sorta easy, but at the time it seems crazy disorganized.
If you decide to rent a car at the Puerto Montt airport (recommended, and booking in advance also recommended), do not, I repeat, do NOT ask the rental car folks for their wi-fi password so you can email the supposedly non-existent front desk at your destination hotel. You might get the information you need (“Yes, of course we have a front desk, you nimrod, we don’t care what the hotel sites say about emailing or calling ahead to find out how to get in”), but you might also find yourself suddenly locked out of your email. This happened to poor Moi, who just wanted to send one simple email. My server decided it looked super suspect that I had been in Chile for two weeks, was in Easter Island two days earlier and had now–gasp!–found my way to Southern Chile. So, you know, best thing is to lock Cindy out and force her to spend an hour chatting with tech support once at the hotel instead of having a Pisco Sour.
Yes, use the rental car wi-fi at your own risk. In retrospect, a quick in-and-out check of my email might have appeared suspect, so I can’t totally blame my server.
Here’s another Travel Tip! Let your server know you are traveling and where. Just like you might do with your credit card company. Why didn’t I think of that?
By all means, rent a car at the Puerto Montt airport and head straight to Puerto Varas, which is maybe half an hour away at most via Route 5 and ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL. If I ever have the chance to visit Chile again, I think I would spend more time in the Lagos region (lakes). We had two nights in Puerto Varas before heading to Chiloe Island, and we could have easily used a few more days to drive north and view more stunning country.
Once in Puerto Varas, we stayed at the Radisson, which was right on the lake, which is stunning. Yes, if you’re Canadian you have seen stunning lakes before, especially if you live in B.C., but it’s always a thrill to find equally stunning lakes elsewhere. I admit, we are spoiled at home for our lakes in B.C.
The Radisson is a great spot. Comfy rooms, walking distance to eating and supermarkets and to the festival grounds half a block away (yes, we had somehow located another festival). Our traveling partners went to bed “early” while DH and I went and hung around with locals and listened to some fantastic bands and music.
The next morning we hopped into our rental car. I was the Secretary or Leader for the day, which meant I was in charge of the purse-strings and making final decisions (such as, yes, boys, we are going to drive around the entire lake). We headed to Petrohue Falls (which really reminded us of B.C.) and then made for our major destination of the day, a view of Lake Llanquihue (sorta say it like Lake Yankeeway) from Volcano Osorno. Volcano Calbuco blew in 2015, but Osorno is still a ski mountain, and you can ride up the chairlifts, walk around, and maybe take a zip line coming down. All recommended!
Lake Llanquihue from partway up the mountain drive to Volcano Osorno. We stopped to help some South American women with their overheating vehicle (the boys poured most of our drinking water into their radiator for them). Lake Llanquihue is big and round, the second largest lake in Chile, about 330 square miles. It takes 5 or so hours to drive around the entire lake, and we didn’t realize the road would not be paved the whole way around. There was a lot of gravel terrain, but it was an adventure.Looking back at the lake partway up one of two chairlifts to the top. You can see the little ski village. We had lunch there.After two chairlift rides, we found ourselves at 1670 meters/5478 feet at the Estacion Glacier. Remember, we were there during their summer, and that’s why there is no snow. If you want to see snow on the volcano, visit the Volcan Osorno Ski Resort website or google Volcan Osorno winter and click Images.I confess, I might have taken this photo before the one above. I might have taken it from the chairlift. Or I might have taken it from the top. Alas, alack, amiss, the memory is amuck. But I wanted to show the ash we were hiking in and a bit of the toe of the glacier (covered in snow in winter) leading to the peak.I mean, wow, isn’t this stunning? No filters were used in these photos at all. That’s just how beautiful it was. We were lucky that the clouds allowed us a wee break so I could snap this view. We also had a view of Volcano Calbuco, which blew in 2015, but the peak was always covered in cloud…or maybe just blown off. At any rate, we heard stories about the eruption from an engaging fellow who kept us entertained back at the second chairlift while we were waiting for our chance to ride the zipline.
Yes, you can zipline down Osorno! You don’t have to book in advance, just walk up to the little window where you buy the tickets to ride the chairlift. You have to tell them at that point if you want to book a zipline trip and they will sell you the appropriate tickets. First, you take two chairlifts up to view the glacier (you don’t have to take the second one if you only want to zipline; in that case, just take one chairlift), and you can do this sort of thing even if you’re afraid of heights. Just make sure the other person in your chairlift ISN’T afraid of heights. I had begun conquering my fear in Peru six years earlier, and luckily I had ziplined twice before, once at Whistler (terrifying) and once in the Okanagan Valley of B.C. (still terrifying but not as much). The Osorno zipline was my third attempt, but it’s set up differently and our group of four were the only English speakers. So the friendly Chilean guy we met, Francisco I believe was his name, interpreted for us while safety instructions were being delivered. There might have been something lost in the translation, because I was not quite clear on what to do if big winds blew up and stopped me IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LONGEST ZIPLINE. You know that idiot who winds up stopping and can’t get going again? Yup, that was me.
Part of the issue was language. The zipline is the type where you wear a thick leather glove and hold the line and use the glove as your overhead brake. I hadn’t ridden that type of zip before and like I say, I lost something in the translation. So not only did the wind stop me cold on the longest of the four ziplines, but I then had no clue what to do to get going again. I gazed in wonder at Lago Llanquihue and tried to will my heart to stop beating in my throat. I was getting quite freaked out.
Here is what it looks like if you’re doing it correctly:
That’s, um, not me. That’s SILly.
I had stopped quite a ways back…. Ahem. So my husband and the Chilean zipline guy are yelling directions, and I’m like “What? What? Frack, my heart! Frick, the height! Nice lake! I am going to die! I AM the idiot hanging on the zipline who does not know what to do!!!”
My husband and the zippy guy decided to hop off the landing platform and come to help me. My husband was giving me instructions to pull myself hand-over-hand, which, frankly, was what Francisco had mentioned but I had forgotten (in my fear). But then the Chilean guy said, “Just let go!” (Ah, so he did know some English; maybe he hand-gestured, my lungs were in my ears at that point).
“Just let go!” does not mean you will fall onto the ashy ground, it means you will grasp your hanging thingies with both hands instead of one hand on the brake and the second on the thingy. Thusly, thisly, thashly, you will zip to the platform.
How embarrassing.
After a lunch at the ski lodge, we headed back down the mountain and began our circumvention of the lake. We saw a lot of this:
The gravel road was a surprise and we weren’t quite sure if we were heading in the right direction, but eventually we realized we were, and we also got to see a lot of Chileans enjoying summer in what was, to us, a freezing cold lake. We came upon a lot of campsites with cars and families cavorting and picnicking. We also came across this nice hawk, who posed for me with the volcano in the background:Volcano Osorno with hawk who REFUSED to look at me. Hmph!
One of the things we read to do was head to a small town called Fruitilar, but if Fruitilar is your destination, head LEFT out of Puerto Varas. Believe me when I say you will get there a lot faster. Head RIGHT if you want to visit Petrohue Falls and Osorno. Coming into Fruitilar the way we did isn’t as, picturesque, shall we say, as driving from Puerto Varas to Fruitilar.
Any way you want to slice it, the Lagos Region is a site to behold. I am so grateful to folks on Trip Advisor for sharing their experiences. We flew to Puerto Montt as a way to get to Chiloe Island via ferry, but someone on TA told me Puerto Varas was not to be missed, and they were right. I would have loved a few more days in the area.
Two restaurants we chose in Puerto Varas were outstanding. The first night we wanted Italian and found a place that might have been Restaurant Tratria Di Carusso. Pity I didn’t write down the name. There was only one other table besides us while we were eating. I had minestrone soup that came in a cauldron that could have fed four and then beef gnocchi that was amazing. If the chef is a round older fellow sporting a feathered pen and wearing his chef hat, you’ve found the place. Amazeballs.
The second night we wanted steak but didn’t have a reservation, and it was festival time, remember, so it was super crowded (as in Chileans were filling the streets crowded). We were extremely lucky to get a table for four at La Marca. The folks in front of us had six in their party and could not be seated. We had to sit right in front of the grill, which was a bit hot (the back of my neck was to the grill), but it was great to see how they cooked, the coals, etc. And the food was divine!
I didn’t expect the food to be as wonderful as we found in Puerto Varas. I would have loved more time just to sample the gastronomic delights!
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?
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?
