Easter Island - A Gem in the Middle of Nowhere!

We didn't know what to expect on Easter Island, which is primarily and almost exclusively known for its enigmatic statues.  The guidebooks and Trip Advisor didn't have much to say about the island, other than the statues, and even suggested you could visit the island in one day.  Luckily, we had planned to spend 3 1/2 days exploring the island and its surprising sites. 

Easter Island, although part of Chile, is a 5-hour flight and 2,200 miles from the mainland.  Tahiti is the next closest civilization, another 5 hour flight west.  You have to really want to get here - it isn't an accidental destination!   It's not on the way to anywhere... unless you happen to be traveling on an "around the world" ticket and trying to get from South America to Asia.  Which, luckily for us, we were!  Easter Island and Tahiti were definitely not on our radar screen when we made our initial destination list.  How fortunate for us that the OneWorld network made this the most interesting way to cross the Pacific!

With our big stone friend and little dog friends!

We were welcomed to Easter Island with flower leis, sunshine, crashing waves, and 900 stoic stone figures.  At 63 sq. miles, and with only a few roads, it is possible to drive everywhere on the island in a single day.   Wild horses and their colts roam everywhere and outnumber the 5,000 human inhabitants.  Domestic pets appear to breed unchecked and we were compelled to save two starving, abandoned puppies at one of the Moai sites.   We were also adopted by an insistent (and now well-fed) neighborhood cat.   

Sitting on the belly button of the world

With a guide, we set off in our little red rental jeep on the island's bumpy roads to explore the extensive underground volcanic caves, abandoned towns and many Moai sites.  Easter Island has a mysterious past, but historians believe people from Polynesia first inhabited the island around 800 AD.  The indigenous culture traces its origins back to a famous king who led 200 people in two canoes from their sinking island (Hiva) in search of a new home. The famous Moai statues were created to honor their deceased kings and keep the mana (power) of their ancestors alive to protect their tribes.  It is mind-blowing to visit the quarry, where over 400 Moais are permanently frozen in mid-production, and contemplate how the stone age islanders transported these 35-foot tall statues to the coast and erected them.  Unfortunately, lack of resources caused tribal warfare and all of the 500 standing Moai were knocked down centuries ago.  About 30 have been restored to their previous positions.  The ancestor-worshipping beliefs were replaced by the "birdman" cult at some point, but that's another story!  We also visited the "belly button of the world"!

We fell in love with Easter Island’s remoteness and laid-back culture.  Small beachside restaurants cling to the shore and tiny shops line the Main Street of Mauna Roa, the only settlement on the island.  We stayed in Eco Cabanas (with our cat) and peddled mountain bikes into town in search of groceries at the sparsely stocked supermarkets.  We hiked the sloping volcanoes, explored the expansive caves via cell phone flashlight and played in the waves on the beach.  Our flight plan and the mysterious stone statues drew us to Easter Island, but it was all the things the island had to offer that made it an “over the top” experience.  

Chile Part 3 - Peaks of Patagonia!

We spent our final 10 days in South America surrounded by Patagonia’s towering mountains, calving glaciers, rushing waterfalls and endless beauty. There is much debate over which wilderness area is more spectacular, Argentina’s Glaciers National Park with its Fitz Roy mountain range or Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park with its multicolored towers.  We decided we needed to visit both to decide for ourselves. 

We started in Argentina’s mountain town of El Chalten, a frontier town founded in the 1980’s that sits at the base of the awe-inspiring Fitz Roy range.  We felt at home with El Chalten’s laid-back, outdoorsy atmosphere and its quaint breweries and restaurants.  Two famous hikes start in town and climb to breathtaking views of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre.  For two days, Jay and Christy pushed their out-of-shape bodies up 50km of trail while the boys went hiking, rock climbing and exploring with a guide. 

After two long days hiking and a 4 am wake-up call, our tired bodies welcomed the day off transfer to Chile’s Torres del Paine national park.  We stayed at a “camp” actually inside the National Park, and we had the unique experience of staying in our own 2-story domed tent and dining with other guests in large community domes.   The highlights of our visit were Luke and Ryan’s amazing hiking feats.  With the promised incentive of “no homework days” plus $5 for app purchases (21^st century currency!), they hiked about 20 km per day on challenging terrain. 

On the debate of which park is better, our guide Alejandro summed it up best by saying Fitz Roy is more beautiful, but Torres del Paine is more dramatic.  Both parks boast stunning scenery in virtually untouched environments.  They also both have very cold running streams, perfect for numbing your feet after a long hike! 

In addition to hiking amongst the two parks’ high peaks, we also witnessed huge chunks of ice calving off of the massive Perito Moreno Glacier near El Calafate and cruised alongside a beautiful blue glacier on Lago Gray in Torres del Paine. 

In our opinion, the far South of both Chile and Argentina represent the best of their respective countries’ tourism options.  The next time we get that far South, we’ll focus our time in Patagonia and hope to make the jump to Antarctica. 

Chile Part 2 - Bending the Cape

We only had one day in Chile's southern-most town, Punta Arenas, before sailing around Cape Horn at the bottom of South America ("bending the Cape"), but we made the most of it, exploring the town and getting some new "waterproof" clothes for the upcoming boat trip.  It's hard to bring all the right clothes when you pack for a five month trip!

Punta Arenas has a slightly lawless, "anything can happen here," frontier feel to it.  It was a great vibe, lots of wheeling and dealing and the impression that people were there waiting for the next big opportunity.  We expected to see some of the craggy peaks that we associate with Patagonia, but instead found a low lying peninsula that felt like it was hunkering down, trying to stay out of the serious winds blowing up from the South - it really did feel like the end of the earth.

We found a great place to stay, Ilaia Hotel, with a decidedly new age attitude.  The staff wore hotel shirts with sayings like "Be the change you want to see in the world" and similar sayings were painted on the walls.  They arranged a yoga class for Christy and Jay and greeted all their guests with a big smile and a bear hug in the morning for breakfast.  It was a very different from a typical hotel, and its calm, "we are all one" attitude contrasted so sharply with the unbridled capitalism and caveat emptor feel of the rest of Punta Arenas.

With another 100 people, we boarded the Via Australis for our four night expedition from Punta Arenas to Ushuaia, Argentina.  After the MV Explorer on Semester at Sea, the Australis seemed pretty posh. We chose a special humpback whale watching voyage where we could experience the whales and interact with the scientists that studied them.   With more than a little excitement, we donned our waterproof gear and life jackets and stepped down into our Zodiac.  Little more than an inflatable raft, the Zodiac somehow didn't seem adequate in the event a (much larger) humpback whale decided to get too interested in us.  And with chunks of ice floating in the water around us, a swim didn't seem like a good idea!

The area was teaming with life and in short order we saw whales, dolphins, sea lions and penguins.  We had a phenomenal day, cruising alongside several different whales and some calves before reboarding the ship.  Back on board is where we actually ended up with the best view of both the whales and dolphins - see the video clip below.

The next couple of days were spectacular - the crew kept us busy with films and presentations in between trips in the Zodiacs to hike up crazy, steep trails to waterfalls or to incredible views of glaciers.  It was impossible to put the camera down - we were mesmerized by the loud cracks and pops the glaciers make as they slowly flow down from the towering peaks and by the splashes that ensued as huge chunks of ice calved off into the ocean.  We were blown away by the sheer magnitude of the landscape as we glided through "Glacier Alley", a fjord filled with chunks of ice generated by the unending flow of the glaciers into the sea.  Every time you looked up, there was an even more incredible view - first, an impossibly deep blue glacier, next time it would be the stark white of the ice against the blue sky or a thin ribbon of water falling hundred of yards from a hidden lake high up on the cliff.  And if the views weren't enough, magical sounds like the blowing of a whale or the slap of dolphins splashing down will stick with us forever.  To top it all off, we had phenomenal weather - almost no clouds, warm temperatures, calm seas and low winds every day.  Our guides told us they had only had three or four days this good all season, and definitely not all in a row!

A final highlight of the trip before arriving in Ushuaia was our stop at Cape Horn and our navigation around it.  Our trip was only the 3rd or 4th time that Australis' ships had been able to  "bend the Cape" in the hundred voyages during that season and, because the seas were exceptionally calm, we were able to come much closer to the Cape than on their previous "bendings".  The captain was grinning ear to ear and as giddy as a schoolboy as we made the turn.




We also got to spend one day in Ushuaia, getting in a great hike up through a ski resort and enjoying our time in the Southern-most city in the world.  After that final day of perfect weather and the chance to see the spectacular scenery around the area, we woke to fog that completely obscured the mountain views and delayed our departure to Calafate.

Our entire experience was phenomenal and we decided in the end that we had to recommend it to others.  However, it does come with a underlined, bold faced, italicized caveat, we take no responsibility for the weather or how it may adversely affect your opinion of this trip!

Dolphin video is here!
Whale video is here!

Chile Part 1 - Travel Like a Chilean

Our first two weeks in Chile were a little frantic as we stayed in 6 different places.  The big surprise was that we suddenly couldn't speak Spanish!  Right away, we wondered if we had taken a flight to Brazil by mistake - the people might as well have been speaking Portuguese!  We learned that Chileans speak very quickly, use a lot of slang and don't finish their words.  Numbers were even a problem - "vente-ocho-mil" (28,000) becomes “venochmil” in Chilean.  So, we scrapped our plans to study Spanish in Chile!

We rented a car that allowed us to visit many spots off the foreign tourist track.  After three relaxing days on the beaches at Vina Del Mar (Chilean Jersey shore), we headed into wine country.  We had two vastly different experiences: the first in a grand estate straight from a European bike tour brochure; and the second in a small family run vineyard producing wine for export to Switzerland.  Aside from the mosquitoes, which rivaled anything we had ever seen in Minnesota, we had a pleasant few days walking among the vineyards and visiting an area very reminiscent of Napa. 

Next as we headed towards the Lake District in search of outdoor adventure, big mountains and active volcanoes -- the rain hit.  We spent the next week in a mix of mist, monsoon rains, mud and a little misery.  After one rainy night at a rundown hot springs hotel in a stunning canyon, we drove through the Conguillo National Park, stopping to hike and see the "Mother Tree", an 1,800 year old Auracaria tree.  The trip became a 4x4 trail ride, although we stayed on the main road in our Nissan sedan rental car.  We forded more than a few streams and tried to avoid oncoming traffic on the single-lane, rutted, muddy roads.  Great parks, marginal “roads”.

Pucon is the summer vacation capital of Chile and we tried to explore the area in pouring rain.  Even our trip to the volcanic caves turned out to be a rain day as the cave ceiling is porous and it pretty much “rains” in the caves. Finally on our last full day in Pucon, the weather broke and we got a glimpse of why it is a popular summer destination.  The town was bustling, the lake was inviting and we saw the huge, active volcano that looms over the town for the first time!

After the numerous cultural experiences and the range of living conditions in Peru, Chile felt much more like a US summer vacation.  The overall standard of living appears much higher and we mostly encountered domestic Chilean tourists on their own holidays.  Up next – we fly to Punta Arenas, the most southern town in Chile, where we will board a ship for a four-night expedition to see whales and travel through the Patagonian fjords.