Santiago

We got into Santiago around 3a and I got settled in my anonymous yet free Holiday Inn room at the airport hotel. It was almost 4a before I went to sleep, I think. I was able to get a late check out at noon and had 7 hours to kill in Santiago. I stored my luggage at the airport - you can't store luggage at the airport hotel thanks to 9/11 - and grabbed a cab into town. I talked the driver down from 20K to 11K pesos. I should have taken the bus but I was short on time. I really only had 2 goals: a bowl of caldillo de congrio (soup) and a visit to the great poet Pablo Neruda's Santiago house.

The Mercado Central is an impressive Victorian building, designed & fabricated in England and shipped & reassembled in Santiago. It's a good deal smaller than St. Lawrence market in Toronto but it has a lot of intricate cast iron filigree work with the star of Chile theme running throughout.

It is mostly a fish market with equal if not more space dedicated to seafood restaurants. The restaurants are a real hard sell. One guy came and opened my cab door for me, chatted me up and practically dragged me into his restaurant. I passed and had a look around the market first. I ended up back at the pushy dudes place. There seemed to be more locals there that the other places so it seemed the right choice. I had the "Pablo Neruda Congrio" featuring a wider range of seafood than the basic sopa.

It came to the table bubbling away in a cast iron bowl; a nice lite fish broth with a touch of tomato, corriander and, I beleive, fennel, not onion. They were also some boiled potatoes, camarones, scallops, mussels and 3 big slices of eel. This is a common Chilean comfort food dish not haute cusine.

The complimentary pisco sour (sin huevo blanca) and recommended wine made me sleepy so I wandered el centro for a bit looking for interesting grafitti. A street vendor indicated that I should be more careful with my (Sherree's) camera as there were snatch thieves. In general the downtown was cleaner looking than Toronto and had less shady malingering types but I took his advice anyway and tucked it in my pocket and clipped the strap off to my knapsack.

About 4p I found my way to Chascona, Neruda's Santiago house that he shared with his mistress/3rd wife. I just caught the 4p tour in english with a dozen Americans. This is most I've encountered in one spot on my trip - I think that the recent economic unpleasantness has taken it's toll on US travellers - it used to be they were *everywhere*.

I didn't really know much about Neruda the person but I was familiar with some of his poetry. I have a fond memory of listening to a CD of poetry readings, compliments of Noreen, one night at the G.G.'s cottage weekend. And Noreen was kind enough to lend me a book of his poems in english and spanish before my trip.

Neruda served as a diplomat as a young man, was exiled for being a communist and later held a senate position in the Allende government. He was, of course, targeted by the Pinochet thugs.

This house was trashed and flooded after the coup in '73. Neruda passed away from prostrate cancer 12 days after and his funeral became the 1st public protest against the Pinochet regime. Over 2000 people attended - an overwhelming crowd at this compact little property.

A couple items of interest were a lamp designed specifically for the house by Oscar Niemeyer, the Brazilian architect who designed Brazil's planned capital city, Brazillia. As well, there was a two headed portrait of his wife Matilde Urrutia aka La Chascona (“the uncombed”) complete with wild hair by Diego Rivera.

I had a cold drink at the coffee shop and watched the variety of people who appeared. All ages, all walks of life, most in awe of being there. I can't think of anywhere else in the world where a poet would command so much respect.

Then it was time to go and 14 hours later here I am rolling down the Gardiner on the Airport Express bus in the very grey morning light will a touch of snow falling. I can't believe that my adventure is over...except for the slide show!

Rapa Nui

A bit more on the Rapa Nui. The original settlers here came from Polynesia - DNA has pretty much settled that argument. The original numbers are unknown but it was enough to be genetically viable for over a 1000 years. The population was estimated to be about 14,000 at it's peak - almost 3 times it's present day population.

The Moai were commissioned when an important chief or tribe member died. The Moai was imbued with the spirit of the departed and watched out from the Ahu looking over the village and offering protection.

When the europeans first made contact in the early 1700's the population and general health was in decline, resources were dwindling and the social order was starting to break down - the Moai were being toppled as civil unrest grew. The cult of the Birdman was on the rise.

In the 1860's Peru raided the island in search of slaves. Although slavery had been abolished in Peru, they were uncontested when they collected "agricultural workers" from the tiny unprotected Isla Pascua. About 2000 were taken and 15 returned complete with small pox. By 1877 estimates were that only 111 true Rapanui remained.

Jesuit missionaries did some intervention and alerted the outside world to the decimation here. Chile eventually picked up the reigns for strategic military, and not compasionate, reasons.

The Americans set up a cold war spy station here in the 60's and in the 70's Allende gave them the boot. The Americans were back again in the 80's and 90's and brought some improvements to the island. First in '85 by extending the airport runway sufficently to allow the space shuttle to land. In '86 when the Challenger exploded it put the brakes on the space program. The airport never received the equipment necessary to allow the shuttle to land but the new runway opened up tourism like never before.  Then in '93 Kevin Costner and co. came here to film Rapa Nui. The movie tanked but it brought a lot of money to the island and also brought a resurgance of Rapanui pride. The main road got paved and people were able to buy cars for the first time. I still haven't watched it even though I have a copy on my netbook.

So today the islanders both rely on and harbour some resentment for their colonial overlords like many other indigenous peoples around the world. Bit by bit it gets better but the recent intimidation could end up being a big set back. I told Kia that she is in a unique situation and should get involved here. She has a world view of indigenous culture, a very sympathetic eye and a personal connection. She just smiled and gave me a seashell necklace and hug.

I met up with Edgar & Co. in the airport and spent a while chatting to Gordana, one of his many acquaintances. She is Croatian married to a retired english diplomat in London. She and her family have lived in a number of African countries (the scary ones,) Israel, Indonesia, Yeman and on and on. It sounded like most of the countries they lived in had a military coup or a war going on during their stay. Gordana was not so disturbed by such things having grown up in a communist country. I told her what a shock it was for me to see my first real live machine gun when I was 25 in Thailand and that even the gun toting cops in downtown Hanga Roa made me look twice.

My guide book had an interesting story about the airport. In 1993 the island lost electrical power which was not that unusual BUT the airport back up generator was also on the fritz. The scheduled flight from Chile was enroute and had passed it's point of no return for fuel so it had to land at Isla Pascua. The radio station, which must have had a working generator, put out a call for everyone with a car to come on over to the airport to lite up the runway with headlights. Problem solved.

The island looked tiny as we took off. It's asounding that those wayward Polynesians even found this speck in the ocean so may centuries ago.

Better late...here

I had a nice breakfast at Cafe Ra'a this morning - my appetite seems to be back. They have such good juice here...and espresso drinks!

Then it was one last swim with the tortugas and back to the guest house to pack where assistant Kia told me that my flight is 6 hours late. So here I am stuck on Isla Pascua. Poor me. I dropped my bags at the airport - Kia the assistant insisted on accompanying me. There was a huge line up so I had a nice long chat with her.

While her father is Rapanui she didn't really know him until a few months ago and has spent most of her 21 years in Australia. Now she's on an 8 month break from college to be here and get to know her father and that part of the family. Instantly she went from being an only child to having 4 brothers, countless cousins and in fact is related to almost every Rapanui on the island. It's interesting that she's working on her BA with a focus on writing and indiginous studies. I told that she *has* to write about this experience and she said that that's the plan but she's still trying to wrap her head around learning Spanish and Rapu Nui at the moment and says she can't put together a proper sentence in any language.

I also asked about all the cops here - why were there so many on an island with no crime? There were many hanging out around the soccer field, they were escorting a Japanese tour, they were stopping cars and directing "traffic".  Maybe this made the north american press but I didn't see it...a group of Rapa Nui went into one of the government houses and occupied it out of protest. The Rapanui have been jerked around by various governments and have just recently started to make headway towards self determination. Curious to note that Pinochet is fondly remebered here as that particular dictator saw some strategic naval benefit in Isla Pascua and actually improved life here for the residents while wreaking havoc in the rest of Chile. So a couple weeks ago at 5a about 50 police, in swat gear, imported from the mainland, laid seige to the occupied house and shot rubber bullets at the protestors injuring a few quite seriously. Needless to say this sparked a bit of retaliation and a police vehicle had a windshield smashed in. I'm not entirely clear of the timeline but after things started heating up the government sent 150 riot cops in by private plane - it's a big deal when an unscheduled flight lands here - basically to intimidate the "trouble makers." There was another house raid that included two uncles and an auntie of Kia's who were merely peacefully occupying a building. There were more needless injuries and unnecessary ill will generated.

I asked Kia if this was just a small group or whether the protestors were representative of all the Rapanui. She said that *everyone* was in support of the protestors. So there are an extra 200 cops on a tiny island that usually has about 30. There's nothing for them to do so they've been out making work for themselves writing out traffic infractions, patrolling the sleepy streets and generally annoying the locals. One hopes that everyone just gets bored and goes home...and no, there is no danger to the touristas.

I finally got my bags checked and got a lunch coupon - at Cafe Ra'a where I'm writing this from...and look there goes Edgar. This time he's picked up a South African couple to hang out with - what a guy.

The Raw and the Cooked...ie. my dinner and me

I noticed an espresso machine in the ice cream shop next to the dive shop on Saturday. After picking up my dive CD this morning I sat down over a very nice whipped cream topped latte to watch my tortuga friends in the tiny harbour. I'm still marvelling at the clarity of the water. It's easy to see the bottom through a depth of 8 feet. The sea turtles come into the shore and feed on the green stuff growing on the rocks. They aren't put out by people so much and trundle along slowly if they feel too crowded. They tend to stick to harbour side and give the adjacent tiny beach and splashing kids a miss.

The coffee on this trip hasn't been the greatest. I had very good espresso in Ushuaia and then here but that's it. Even Bruse's Starbucks' was a bit watered down in flavour. It's a very minor disappointment though.

Apres cafe I headed up to the end of the airport runway on my bike to partake in an island past time: plane spotting. My guide book said it was popular to stand at the end of the runway while the daily plane lands. It was deafening and exhilarating it said. Well my ears must have be done in by years of city dwelling. I was off center from the runway and could only hear the odd car just until the jet was almost over the road. The tree cover here prevented any visuals in advance. There was a little buzz and a vroom and the plane was on the ground - didn't even have time to get my camera out. Oh well. I will check it out again the next time I'm here.

It was onwards up to the CONAF, the Chilean forestry ministry,  headquarters. They are trying to reintroduce native species and have set up a number of tradition Rapa Nui gardens as seen at the ruins around the island. They are enclosed with circular volcanic stone walls about 1070mm high and about 3m across - some are doubled and form a figure eight. This protects the plants from the winds and helps with humidity control. They are growing things like kumara (sweet potato,) guayaba (guava) and toromiro trees.

In my search for another cave I ended up at the bottom of a cliff on a rocky beach taking pics for a while when some A-HOLE tourista started heaving big rocks over the cliff edge. I yelled a few times but the wind direction was not in my favour. I managed to wrench my right hip scrambling out of there. The idiot was gone by the time I got myself and the bike to the cliff top. My mountain bike was very light I could lift it with one hand. The path up here took me to the stairs to Ana Kai Tangata. This cave features a few petroglyph paintings from the Birdman cult. There are painted with natural earth pigments and animal fat a bit faded but intact. There is speculation that this cave may have been a gathering point before the birdman competition. The coast is beautiful here but that's getting a bit redundant as the coast is beautiful every where on this island.

I made friends with a little dog who started following me and I gave him a couple pieces of my apple plus the core. He ate it up with so much gusto that I wondered if the many dogs like the many horses, are free range. He was sweet and cute up until we got to the road, then he started chasing cars like a raving lunatic. He left me at the turn off to the main road.

I took a little siesta just like the rest of the islanders before going for a swim with my tortuga friends. There are baby waves breaking offside to the tiny harbour that attract surfers. If I were staying longer I would have considered lessons. It's easy to spot the turtle hang out as they pop their heads up every 10 minutes or so with a little snort and a gasp as they inhale. I found a small one at first who led me to a gigantic one - bigger around than I can stretch my arms. I was wishing that I had brought my snorkel or that I could hold my breath as long as them! The gigantatron headed out to sea away from the splashing surfers and in doing so led me into a bale of about a dozen at which point I gave up on pictures and just watched.

Since it was my last nite AND this is such a pristine part of the world with healthy fish I decided to throw all caution to the wind and have ceviche for dinner. I went to Te Moana where I had such great seafood on my first night. The waiter suggested that I try a Pisco sour and assured me that it didn't have raw egg in it. It was a Pisco sour that set off 5 weeks of Túpac Amaru revenge in Peru 10 years ago but that one had raw egg and I was in a jungle.

Ceviche is "cooked" through marinading in something aciditic like lemon or lime juice and often with some chillis. Since there is no heat involved it needs to be prepared with super fresh fish. Even then, because there has been no heat used, there is no guarantee of an not having an adverse reaction. This version was mild. It was thinly sliced red onion, corriander and cucumber and various local fish along with Ecuadorean shrimp which I eyed suspiciously but ate anyway. It was delicious and so far I feel fine.

I got burnt, of course, in spite of copious quantities of sunscreen. It wasn't too bad except for my lower lip which stung like a bugger from the lemon marinade at dinner...

In the evening I headed over to Ahu Tahai for one last sunset and bumped into Edgar enroute. He spent part of the day at the beach chatting up the LAN Chile crew who will be attending on the flight back to Santiago which we are both on. It was a lovely pink and orange sunset and a lovely ending to my stay here.

Swimming with the Fishes

Picked up my dive CD this morning. Hee!

Please note that I do NOT usually let my gauges and hoses dangle like this BUT the dive shop does not have clips to restrain them. They also do not use snorkels but given the calmness of the water there if wasn't really an issue.

South Coast Trail

I couldn't get my nice cheap room for 6 nights so I have to stay in the deluxe ocean view room for 2 nights. Poor me.

Today I attempted to bike on the south coast to the other star attraction in a volcano. Given my cold and the head winds I thought that I was doing okay and decided that I would take my time, bike till 4p and then turn around and head back whereever I happened to be. When I went to take my first Moai pic of the day I discovered that there was no battery in my DSLR but fortunately I had Sherree's handi dandi waterproof camera so all was not lost. As I continued along I noticed the same car passing me a few times and so, started to wave. At about 16km into a 24k ride I stopped at an Ahu for some pics and a rest when a nice man also taking pics said "oh, I keep passing you." Anywhere else in the world I would have found this creepy but not here, even from a fellow traveller. Isla Pascua is safe - Japan safe. Everyone knows everyone else. There is virtually no violent crime and petty crime is very low.

We chatted for a bit - he pegged me as a Canadian right away and I guessed maybe German, but probably Austrian as he didn't have such a strong accent. Edgar was an Austrian who went to a Michigan college on a sports scholarship and is still teaching high school in Virgina at 73. He offered me a ride and I was so hot and sweaty that I accepted. He was a really interesting guy and we ended up spending the rest of the day together as we were heading to the same sites. I gave him some sun block and bought him an ice cream. He reminded a lot of Ross as he was so charming and gregarious and chatted up everyone.

I had a bit more time at Ranu Raku since I didn't have to pedal back. Rano Raku is the volcano that served as the main quarry for most of the moai and where roughly 390 moai have been abandoned in various stages of development. Broken Moai were merely left where they fell - their manu, or spirit was gone. Must have been a big upset to break one after a year of carving!

The Moai were carved out of rock that was hardened volcanic ash. It was softer and lighter than basalt. They were carved in situ on the side of the volcano face up and then carefully chipped out from below. They were slid forward and stood up in a hole so that the carving on the back could be completed. How they were moved to the Ahus is speculation. Some say laying down, some say standing up, on wooden rollers, on wooden sledges. How ever it was done, it took an astounding amount of energy and time no doubt to get from point A to point B which could have been up to 30 km over some pretty steep and stoney terrain.  Over time the soil has slid down and stettled in the depressions that remained around the Moai after they were abandoned. The heads comprise about 1/3 of the total heigh the so there is a huge amount still underground.

The demand for the Moai was so great at one point that they started carving them on the inside of the crater - just to add a bit more challenge to transporting them. Edgar and his knees weren't up to the climb so I went off on my own here and once again, had the whole crater to myself. It was filled with "wild" horses. Actually the horses are merely unattended. They are owned and branded but I'm not really sure why they have so many. It is estimated that horses outnumber 5500 +/- residents here. They don't eat them (very many of them,) and they certainly don't ride them all. In any case they are all free to graze and walk all over the archaeolgical sites which is a lot of wear and tear on both the vegetation and stonework.

This crater is less dramatic from a landscape point of view but more dramatic from a Moai point of view. There are 70 or so left inside the crater overlooking the crater lake ringed with totoro reeds. I spent a while wandering about shooing horses out of my way at the lower slopes.

The white sploches of lichen are causing problems with the soft stone as the acids are disolving it. The locals refer to it as "white death." Keeping the moai burried is actually good protection against it.

When I made my way back down to the exit Edgar had amassed a small audience including a descendant of a exiled Chilean president from the mid 1800's and was catching up on local history and gossip. He suggested I go and have a look at the Park ranger's sketches. The ranger was a young Rapa Nui/Chilean woman who worked the gate as a summer job. She is studying landscape architecture in Santiago and has a brother who is also a landscape architect and sister who is an architect. I told her that the architect who designed the new Bahia temple, she knew it well, was from Toronto and a client of ours. It was a small architectural world moment.   She had a sketch book full of some very nice wildlife and Moai sketches as well as a great series of Rapa Nui figures and petroglyph symbols fused with Christian iconography and pop symbols. Very impressive overall - she sells some things out of one of the artisans shops so I'm hoping I can find some more of her work.

Next was Ahu Tongariki with and astounding 15 Moai on a single Ahu situated right on the beach. In 1960 when Valdivia, Chile had that huge earthquake it triggered a tsunami in the South Pacific that crashed into Easter Island and knocked over every one of the 15 Moai. The Japanese government and a private Japanese construction company undertook and paid for the restoration. I can see where the Japanese would relate to the the ancestor worship aspect of the Rapanui with a similar focus in Shintoism.

Later Edgar dropped me off on the main street and I picked up a few things from the "supermarket" (little shop with a deli counter) for dinner and crashed back at my new ocean view room. It was a full moon last night and I not sure if this had anything to do with it but there was a family out with flaming torches, wading in the water spear fishing for something tasty.

What's Up Turtle Butt?

I woke up feeling like my cold was coming back but after I cleared my head and gargled with some salt I decided to go ahead with it. The dive master said that I had enough experience that I didn't need a whole refresher course but he would give me a review and just do a shallow-ish reef dive with one guide since my ears were also giving me trouble.

It was my first back entry over the side of a boat which was a little freaky after only doing the step in entries. It was also my first time with a steel tank - what a difference! The steel tanks weigh more so you have less weight on your belt. Much better weight distribution and no back ache at the end of the dive. It took me while to clear my ears but I managed it - it was my right ear this time. The water was 22C and clear with not so many fishies but what ones there were were extremely colourful. Saw a sea turtle and some big trumpet fish which look like long colourful pipe cleaners. It was my most comfortable dive to date for temperature, suit and equipment - no chill at all - also felt more confidence with my bouancy but I think it was all in the weighting. The divemaster just looked at me asked if I wanted a 3mm or 5mm suit and put together my weights for me. It felt pretty perfect. Every other dive I would always have to have adjustments made to the weights.

When we surfaced Kata my guide said that I dive very well which pleased me as I was a bit nervous after 3 years. Also when we surfaced my cough started which was a sign to stop for the day. The afternoon dive was going to be a deep cavern dive which I would have been up for sans cough. Instead, I spent an hour or so swimming with another woman on from the dive boat in the little harbour near the dive shop with about 6 sea turtles - they are so tranquillo!

After lunch I called a cab and got a drive up to the one of the volcanos (extinct) to visit the restored village of Orongo. In the later years of  Rapa Nui the cult of the Birdman was on the rise. Orongo was a ceremonial village, used only for a few weeks of the year and built on edge of a volcano crater next to the ocean. This culture was more about a central god related to fertilty, spring and migratory birds and less about ancestor worship through the Moai. The big annual event was the Birdman competition in which young men would scramble down a cliff, swim 2 km to Motu Nui islet off the coast and camp out until they found the first egg of a sooty petrel. The petrels come from Antarctica and nest on these motus every spring so it was a big seasonal indicator. To win the competition the dude had to tie the egg to his forhead, swim back and climb up the cliff to prove his Birdman-ship. His prize, or the prize of the chief he represented, was the title of Tangata-mau (chief) AND he got to live in "Ceremonial reclusion" for a year. Not sure how you can be a recluse and a chief at the same time but that's what the literature says. The last competition was estimated to be in 1867.

The buildings were all low and made of stacked thin pieces of limestone quarried on site. The roofs were corbelled with the stone and had sod on top - LEED platinum I would say. Many petroglyph carvings are found here . There was a central moai for this village with engravings related to the birdman culture on it's back but it has resided in the British Museum since 1868. It's a big point of contention here with overseas artifacts but as some point out they may very well not exist today if they weren't in overseas museums.

It is a very dramatic site with the ocean on one side  and the crater on the other. From a distance it looks like it's perched on a knife edge between the two. The crater below is filled with water and the same reeds grow here as in Lake Titicaca that the Uros people make their floating cities on. I spent a few hours hiking around the rim of the volcano. This may very well be may favorite landscape that I've encountered on the trip.

Ahu, Anu

I'm staying in a little guest house and have room+bath and an outdoor, yet covered, kitchette of my own. There is a nice little patio adjacent to the kitchenette and my room with hibiscus, banana palm and bamboo all around. The ocean is across the street. I can hear the waves crashing from my room. It's a short walk to everything in town.

The place is owned by a Canadian woman who has done much research in town for her guests, for instance she had inspected the kitchen of each restaurant that gets a recommendation and checked out how horses are being treated by operators who offer horse riding. Her assistant Kia met us at the airport and did a town tour the next day with us. Us being me and an Aussie couple who were on my flight. They had just done an Antarctica cruise + Patagonia tour and were heading home. They were ahead of our ship by a week and by the sounds of it our ship hit the peak time for penguin chick viewing.

Assistant Kia is half Rapa Nui and half Australian. I told her that she must be the cheeriest, most laid back person in the world with that mix. Something about her reminds me of Mik's sister Catherine.

Yesterday was just a siesta and grocery day with a short hike out to the retored Moai on the edge of town for sunset. Oh yes, I also had a fab-o dinner at one of the recommended restaurants - mixed seafood in a light garlic sauce over salad greens. What a difference it is to have truly fresh seafood.

Today I called a cab and had a nice lady take me to Ahu Akivi, a somewhat inland site, and walked back to town - only about 6.5 km but it took me all day as there were very cool things along the way. Very, very cool things.

The Ahu by the way is the stone base that the Moai statues sit on. The Ahu also include the sloped grassy bit with a geometric pattern of stones laid out. It is verboten to walk on the Ahus. You may remember that Finnish dude who chipped a piece of ear off one of the Moais for a souvenir a few years ago. Well he had three weeks house arrest and a $17,000 fine. They are really cracking down on visitors now. If you so much a set your knapsack down on the wrong thing your could be fined. The popular sites are under close surveilence.

Ahu Akivi is a hotly contested site. Some say it is the only Ahu that faces the ocean, others say that they faced their village offering protection, that same as the other sites but you can't see the village any more. The ruins are there though. It is agreed that the Ahu is aligned with the exquinox sun rise. I manage to hit this site along with all the other Ahus today at just the wrong light time - everything is back lit. Siloettes aren'y always bad though. I managed to not step on anything sacred, I think, but I did get dive bombed by some very pretty hawks. I must have been close to a nest.

Next along the trail was Anu Te Pahu, Anu meaning cave in Rapanui. There are many lava tube caves running underground through the island and the islanders put them to good use. This cave system is entered via stairs through a large natural opening to the sky. Large enough for a good stand of banana palms - no surprise that it's also known as the banana cave.

To the left is a stone arch, a walled garden, taro perhap, and a tunnel system and to the right is a tunnel system which leads to a big cooking pit area with a natural opening above. Stone bed platforms are throughout near the start of the tunnels. It was a very Indiana Jones day without the snakes and creepy things. The whole system here was about a kilometer long. The left tube was too muddy and slippery from the morning downpour to take on - I had visions of my skelton down there - so I headed right which was drier. I followed it for a good while thanks to my trusty flashlite - it was high enough to stand up and walk with room the spare. . Ocassionally there were natural opening and greenery spilling in. Amazing to think of the molten lava poring through the same space. No bats that I could see or crawlies just the odd bird near an opening. Oh, and I hadn't seen a soul since I said Adios to my taxi driver. It was like I had the island to myself.

Onward was Anu Te Pora. Just a small little cave with one chamber and a stone bed platform. Some speculate that grass was piled on top for comfort. I gave the narrow lava tube on the right a miss but there was a tiny "back door" hole that I saw on my way over to the main entry that I crawled up and out of. I popped up and scared the bejesus out of a frenchman walking by. It was rather amusing except that I dropped my flashlight and spent about half an hour looking for it - and find it I did, thank goodness, as there was another cave on the route.  But first, some ruins: Ahu Te Peu. There was fine stone work here approaching incan technique but not as skilled. The Ahu here has not been restored and the toppled Moai are still toppled on the ground. I don't think that I stepped on anything that I wasn't supposed to.

Anu Kakenga or cave with two windows was impressive. I couldn't find the entry at first. I walked right past the hole in the ground with heaps of stone about. I took in some gorgeous coastal views and waited for a group with a guide to show up. I was about to pack it in when a saw a gaggle descend into the middle of the ground closer to the car park than to the cliff. It was a claustrophobic little entry but I took the advice of my guide book and went in backwards and turned around after the chamber opened up. It was pitch black for 30 or so meters and then you could see some light. The tube branched off in two directions each leading to the face of the cliff.

(No, I didn't go right the the very end.) What a sensation and what views! The gaggle I saw go in was a family from Santiago. I took their family picture in the tube and confused them by saying "Say queso." which is cheese in spanish...I think. After they left, I stayed and listened to the ocean for about an hour.

As I was leaving I met a guide coming in with 2 russians. I couldn't believe that he was taking them in without a light. I held mine up for them until they were able to see the-end-of-the-tunnel natural light but I have not idea how they made it back..maybe by cell phone light?

The rest of the hike back to my cosy quarters had a few more Ahu with Moai but no more caves. The vendors were out at the Ahu at the edge of town and the lady told me that they are there every night till sunset. The sunset is a nice event. Some people bring a glass of wine, some bring tripods, some bring BBQs. The kids bring soccer balls. Not sure what the Ahu police do if a ball gets kicked onto the wrong surface. I passed on the sunset tonight though. By the time I grabbed a few more things at the shop for dinner and got back to my room I was too tired, dirty and burnt to consider going out again. Instead I made a tuna salad for dinner and got ready for tomorrow's dive. What a day!

Isla Pasqua

I took advantage of my Isla Pasqua flight delay to upload some more pics to my blog. Thank you Starbucks and thank you Bruse. There are a few more penguins etc. for your viewing pleasure.

In the sky now - I checked the weather before we left and it looks like rain on I.P. for the next 3 days. My cold that started as we headed into the Beagle channel is lingering - the altitude and the La Paz contamination exacerbated it and gave me a constant nose bleed in Bolivia. If it doesn't clear up by Saturday I think that diving is out. The good news is, my sun burnt lips are all better now and I finally found my spf 60 lip balm.

Landed, slept, took a day to unwind in town. Hiking Friday, trying diving on Saturday and biking the other two days here.

Sunset at the Ahu at the edge of town.

A Girl Named Bruse

I caved and got a Starbucks at the Santiago airport - enough of this instant stuff already. I had to give them my name to call out when my latte was ready...

Maybe I should start using the little llamas room?

San Pedro de Atacama in 36 hours

Up again at 4a today. The only transfer available left at 5a so I have 2 hours kill before I can even check my bags in.  I just realized that I was only in San Pedro for 36 hours but managed to see the 4 most popular attractions.

I shouldn't be surprised that it's cold but it's way cold, below zero cold and they don't have heat in the mini buses because it will be 35C in 3 hours. The airport is small and newish and unheated but sun is almost hitting the waiting area now. The security guys didn't take my orange juice away even though it NO liquids at all on board in Chile and the airline didn't charge me for my extra bag. I booked online with Sky, a cheapie Chilean domestic carrier with no english on their web site. They charged $147 for CJC-SCL, with LAN it was close to $500. I didn't want to pay an extra $350 for LAN's english web site.  I have seat 6F so there are at least 6 rows, hope the plane is heated.

Yesterday after el Taito I managed to get to the local museum which was a real treat. It was established by a rather rebellious Jesuit priest with a strong interest in archeology and respect for indigeneous cultures. Belgian by birth, he was assigned to the Congo where  he annoyed the church by incorporating local african practises into the liturgy to win over more people.

Needless to say the church relocated him far, far away - to South America. In San Pedro de Atacama in his spare time the good priest conducted numerous amateur excavations seemingly to collect fine examples of art and artifacts. But he also had a sincere interest in the Atacamenian and other local cultures and thought it was important to preserve there history. He is considered to be the father of archaeology in Chile.

Nice exhibit design and a beautiful collection of stone tools, vessels, basket weavings and many intricately carved trays and tube-y things for snorting psychotropic hallucinogens, or as they said in the english version, "snuff box" or "snuff utensil." The desert does a great job of preserving things, including bodies. Father La Paige also excavated a number of ancient tombs and cemeteries - this was a bit at odds withethe Holy Se. Mummies formerly on display in the museum have been put in protected storage or returned to communities that have requested them.

In the afternoon it was off to Death Valley and Valle de la Luna for a couple of dusty hikes through a canyon and up a sand dune. The west side of the Andes here is fairly monochromatic and the sky hazy. I find the mountains a bit disconcerting, like someone lurking in your blind spot. They almost disappear in the haze then suddenly, boom, there they are. Our guide was a very affable guy who lived in Toronto for 5 years. He said that after he returned to Chile he guided, by chance, a group of Canadian first nation leaders and Adrienne Clarkson at some indigenous sites closer to Santiago.

One of the stops in the Valle was called the 3 Marias but the iconography was such a stretch that I got bored pronto. The Jesus on the side of Tim Hortons in Nova Scotia was more believeable. Instead I tried to video the screaming people in shorts, tour guide included, when the wind blasted us with sand - even I found it a bit tingly through multiple layers.

To end the day, it was a hike up a sand dune to watch the sunset over the moonscape.

I arrived back at the hotel hair and clothes caked and shoes full of it. Glad there is a real laundry at my next stop!