Easter Island ... where's the Easter bunny?

We woke up Tuesday morning (February 17) to the crowing of roosters.  It’s a nice sound.  Turns out there are lots of chickens on the island.  I expect they are providing the eggs that we are being served for breakfast, along with local bread, sliced fruits, a slice of ham, a rolled up piece of cheese, and coffee … hot water and you add the amount of granules of Nescafe that you prefer. It was plenty to get us going, although the Nescafe was interesting and totally unexpected.  We found out later that Nescafe is big on the Island and has been highly promoted. It appears that our host, as well as others, think they are treating us well.  It certainly isn’t Kaladi coffee.  But we made do.

By now it was definitely time to get going.  We had places to go, things to see.  And Captain Cupcake had tasked us with the mission of finding the Easter bunny.



The town of Rapa Nui, from above the airport.  It isn't large.

Easter Island is known as Rapa Nui (and in Spanish Isla de Pascua).  It’s a Polynesian island, and one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.  It’s located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile.  It’s known for about 887 monumental statues, called moai, that were created by the early Rapa Nui people.  In 1995 it was named a World Heritage Site and much of the island is protected within the Rapa Nui National Park.  So one of our first stops was to purchase a park ticket, $60 US.  But I’m good with that as I’ve always liked to support the parks.

The park sign is sure different from what we're used to.

Rapa Nui had been a thriving culture with a population high estimated at about 15,000; however, the introduction of rats and overpopulation led to a deforestation and extinction of natural resources, causing the demise of the Rapa Nui civilization.  By 1722 the population had dropped to about 2-3,000.  With disease introduced by sailors and slave raiding, the population was decimated to 111 in 1877.  Of the current residents, numbered at about 5,800 in the 2012 census, about 60 percent are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui.

We rented a car and went in search of the moais.  There are two main roads, one that follows the coastline around a portion of the island and one that goes through the middle.  We first drove to a volcano called Rano Kau, on the southwestern point of the island.  The island itself is shaped like a triangle, and the moais (heads) are located mostly around the coastline. 

The drive to the volcano was nice and we hiked the trails around it.  It appeared the lava from the volcano had blown a big hole around the edge of the volcano

The lush green and the sea blue complement each other.  The hillsides look nearly like velvet.

We also saw some old petroglyphs that we didn’t find the first round and had to go back.  But it was worth seeing them.

 There are quite a number of petroglyphs and they seem to be in very good shape.

I believe this is the Easter bunny that the island is named after.

Orango was the only ceremonial village that was built and used exclusively for religious purposes.  Although this site had a ceremonial use from earlier times, the construction of the village consolidated Orango as the most important ritual center across  the whole island.

The first houses were built during the 15th or 16th century.  The houses were home to chiefs, priests and others related to the ceremonies .  This area had been considered sacred since ancient times according to oral history.  It also overlooked the little islands where the seabirds nested.

The aerial view gives a better look of the volcano and the location of the houses to the left of the photo.

The ocean water is not the turquoise blue that I’ve seen elsewhere, but it is beautiful just the same.  There is a lot of the lava formations with the water breaking over them that just take your breath away by the beauty.  There are small areas where the water is turquoise, contrasting sharply with the darker color of the ocean.

The various lava formations are spectacular.  A small boat off to the right of the closer one hung out there for quite a while.  We couldn't figure out if they were fishing or diving or just enjoying the scenery.

We left the volcano and saw three hitchhikers.  Don’t pick up hitchhikers I was always told.  We picked them up, two young ladies and a guy.  They had walked all the way up and were walking back.  It would have been quite the hike.  Tired me out just thinking about it.  They were going to go have lunch and we kind of invited ourselves.  While we did have some language barriers we were able to get our points across to each other.  The restaurant they took us to was on the water and had some of the best fish I’ve ever tasted.  It may have been mahi mahi, or not, but had a mango salsa that was creamy with a wonderful delicate flavor.  The salad I chose with it was fresh out of the garden with all kinds of greens, tomato, and other things.  It was fabulous.  (And we went back on our own another night, and also told one of the hotel guests who ended up eating there a couple of times as well.)

There's always room for a cow photo.  I think this one was telling me he didn't want his photo taken.

After lunch we got serious about finding the moais.  We drove to each location and then hiked to see them.  Many of them are a quarter-mile or better from the road so there was always a bit of exercise involved.  Most of them have been knocked down … and it’s a rather sad sight to see that devastation. 

Vinapu was the first area where we went to see the moais.  We hadn't gotten very far around the island yet.

These moais had been toppled and their heads rolled away from the bodies to the foreground. 

 

At the Vaihu site you can see how far the pukao or heads rolled from the statues.

A paina, or circle of stones, is located in front of the ahu, known as a platform alter ceremonial or shrine.  This circular area had special ceremonial significance in ancient times and was where commemorative rituals were carried out.  

We did have the tendency to dilly dally as the coastline and waves were spectacular.

At the Akahanga location you can see the head and how far behind it the rest of the statues are.



However, some have been picked up and restored, more than once.  The Tongariki site is about the northernmost part of the coastal road before it turns inland.  It is where the most statues are located and as you approach them you are awed to silence

 



Easter Island's crown jewel is the Tongariki location where the moais have been restored.



The moais were moved and placed gently upon the ahu or platform.  The moais were believed to have been toppled in the 17th century during a tribal war.  They were restored and knocked down again in 1960 due to a tsunami from an earthquake.

 In 1992 Japan and Chile reached an agreement to restore the statues and the project was completed in 1996.

The 15 statues are magnificent and everything and more than what I thought they would be.

They are stately and majestic, watching over their land.  They have a unique, untamed beauty, and seeing them only confirms that this was the side trip for us.  The ruins and falls will have to wait for another time.

We got too close to some of the statues without realizing there was a boundary.  We heard yelling and wondered who knew they were yelling at ... us.  We figured it out.  I did go and apologize as I thought that appropriate.  Another language or communication barrier, but all ended well.

We also made it to the other ranger station at Rano Raraku, where there’s a hiking trail and a quarry to where statues were carved.  We were too late as it had closed so we decided to come back another day.

On we went, reaching Anakena, where there are more moais and a beautiful white sand beach.  The toilettes closed at 8 p.m.  Uh oh.  I was beginning to be quite needy for a bano (toilet).  But no luck.  Hold it.  Okay, and off we went to walk to the moai.  

The statues are beautiful here, too, but we were losing light and the silhouette shot seemed to fit.

The horses wander everywhere, kicking up their heels, rolling in the sand.  This is a beautiful white sand beach here and it was fun to walk in the sand while looking at the statues.

We drove on and back via the road through the middle of the island, made it home by dark, found a market and got some yogurt, cheese and salami.  Snacks.  Right stuff, right amount.  Another great day.

Tramping, camping and ramping

On Saturday, after another good night’s sleep, and fortified with cup of Kaladi coffee I was back to my old self, ready and raring to go,  so off we went to do some exploring in some parkland.  We like to find birds to photograph, so we did some hiking in areas that were basically all ours except for a few bicyclists here and there. 

There was some construction where we were wandering, but it didn't really detract from the view.

There's never a bad  bridge shot.

And a bridge and a bird?  Perfection.

Found a couple of our Canadian friends.

Egrets are great birds and I enjoy it every time we see one.  Or more.

We climbed over old water pipes, tramped along some trails and dirt roads, plunged into swamp water and over pickle grass to get across to other areas, made our way through barbed wire and fences and made it back out of there safe and sound with some super photos on our memory cards.  We were out there for a couple of hours and I was tired.

Old railroad lights, no glass or covers, but fun to play on.

There were lots of these snails around.

We climbed up and over multiple pipes during our tramping around.

Walking out, yep, I could be the exhibit coming soon.

We were planning to meet up with a biker friend from Pebble, Jimmy B, who used to live in Alaska.  He was going to ride up to meet us somewhere. 

We were down around Stanford when we heard a weird noise, a bell of some sort.  Not my phone.  Was it yours?  Nope.  A red light had come on in the car … a battery light.  We had one heck of a time trying to get someone from roadside assistance to help us.  If the car is running you have to keep using it, even if it could suddenly die on the 101 in traffic.  What?  Let me understate this … WE WERE NOT HAPPY, FRUSTRATED, PISSED OFF!!!!!  Fine.  We’d try to get it back to the airport.  Seems all other Enterprise rental offices closed at 2 p.m. or earlier, not that they could have helped us. 

However, we, who are pure of heart mostly, made it back to the airport.  We got a white car this time, Chevrolet, an upgrade and free gas.  AND a $50 credit.  AND an upgrade on the next car.  AND more free gas.  Guess our frustration was worth it a little bit.  But we spent three hours of our time that we’ll never get back, and we didn’t get to see Jimmy who had to be back to Pebble by 6 p.m. 

We’d worked up an appetite so food it was, a roasted yellow and red beet salad with blackened chicken for me, and home.  Tired out again, although we did find the mother ship of Facebook, the big home page of the (as Jaz calls it), Big Book of Face.  Had to stop for a photo there. 

Yep, the FB mother ship.

And FB has other vehicles ... a Hacking the Dragon?  Cool.

And their very own little mobile restaurant.

The time was close and spent repacking, getting all in order, making hotel reservations in Buenos Aires, checking my credit card, and going to bed.  Sleep was rather elusive as I was excited, but I managed a few hours.

Sunday, Feb. 15, was the big day … the day both of us would fly our first international flight.  We made it to the airport, turned in the rental car and hopped the flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles.  Flying over Los Angeles, I marveled at how huge this place is, how many tall buildings there are in so many different locations, how many houses there are crammed together, how many are up in the hills, how many appear to have swimming pools although they may just be blue tarps like people in Alaska have.  They can fool you, you know.

We had arrived and now the challenge would be to find the international terminal.  Good thing we’re literate.  Easy, peasy.  We decided to check in at the counter to be sure we were on the right track.  The lovely lady at LAN looked at our tickets and they were a bit messed up.  She fixed them for us.  Yahoo. 

Off we went to our gate.  We had provisions … water, nuts, Kind bars.  The plane was a 787, a big, big one, with nine seats across, in sets of three.  We had gotten ours traded for aisle seats and were happy as the plane was packed.  Why are so many people going to Lima?  A lady we spoke with said there are two flights a day and they’re always packed.  Okay.

We were expecting bare bones, but were happily surprised as we were greeted with blankets, pillows, headsets, earplugs and eye masks so we could sleep.  Movies were free, games were free, TV shows were free.  We even had a meal … and were offered wine.  Wow!!!!  Who’d a thought.  And I met a nice young man from Korea who is a teacher and plays a cello in an orchestra.  He flew 12 hours from Korea, and then this flight to Lima and then to Buenos Aires to pick up a handmade cello.  He showed me photos of it as it was being built … out of maple and poplar.  You never know who you might talk to on a flight.  I thought that was pretty cool.

I watched a movie I’d wanted to see, St. Vincent with Bill Murray, played a little solitaire and then started working on this.  But, it’s an eight-hour flight to Lima, Peru, and more to Santiago, Chile, and still more to Easter Island, Chile.  We left at 12:50 p.m. on our international flight and arrived sometime the next evening.  Very long, very tiring.

Chilean flag ... has great colors.

Hanging out outside of the terminal for a little while.  Fresh air required after hours and hours in planes and airport terminals.

Then we spent a 7-8 hour layover in Lima, camping out in the airport on benches, before we got the next flight to Santiago, Chile.  However, on that flight we were privileged enough to get first class.  Yahoo.  How wonderful.  Lay down chairs, linen for our meals.  And a bag with goodies … a little bag, some booties, a sleep mask.  This airlines knows how to treat its passengers … like people, not cattle.

Lots of security.  We go in and out of immigration, customs, security.  Lots of jobs there for people.

There's sure a lot of stuff confiscated.

We went down the ramp to our last flight that would get us to Easter Island, a five-hour flight into a small airport. 

Cloud formations, taken with a small camera through an airplane window, that doesn't do justice.

As we awaited our luggage at the Easter Island airport, we wondered if our man, Marcello, would find us.  Mostly people wait outside for their clients, family and friends. And our man was there, with a small girl holding up a sign, “Stefanie.”  Yes, they found us and Marcello was waiting with flower leis. 

Thank goodness.   A bed.  We were totally ready to crash.

Two days of travel to get here..  It was dark … 10:30 p.m.  I was tired, more than.  Exhausted.  It was hot and humid, but there was a fan and we opened all of the windows.  And fell into bed and into a deep sleep.

The USS Hornet ... yellow and black will always attract

Jaz had wanted to go see the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier that had retrieved the Apollo space capsule.  So off we went.  It was going to be another fascinating excursion. 

 

As we arrived at the dock, there were lots of ships in the water around the USS Hornet.  They are there for emergencies and can be deployed to carry supplies or other items.  These types of ships are located around the U.S. and in other countries.

This is the eighth Navy ship to be named the USS Hornet, the first one traced back to a sailing ship launched in 1775.  This one is more than 41-tons of steel.  It’s powered by 4 sets of steam turbines, a high-pressure one and a low-pressure one for each set, has four propellers and can travel about 35 mph which seems pretty fast to me.

The USS Hornet was decommissioned in 1970.

In 1942 this ship dispatched 16 B-25 bombers on Tokyo, Yokohama and other Japanese cities.  It was damaged in a typhoon in 1945 and sent for repairs.  By then the war was over and it was used to transport troops.  But she was also used to look for enemy subs during the Cold War with Russia and was deployed to Southeast Asia three times during the Vietnam War.  This ship certainly got around.

This pretty much tells the story of the place in history this ship has just during war.  But the ship and it's crews have accomplished so much more.

There were a number of planes and helicopters both below and above deck. 

This plane is just the right color and the expression is priceless.

Even some of the equipment is just the right color.

I had to use the powder room.

This ship also recovered the Apollo 11 space capsule used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, the  first men to walk on the moon.  Prior to the landing and recovery a quarantine area was set up, an Airstream trailer.  The crew walked from the capsule to the trailer and were quarantined, along with any waste products, for 21 days. 

This is not the actual capsule used by Armstrong and Aldrin, but is a recovered one.

 

I thought it was interesting that they used an Airstream travel trailer for their quarantine unit.  The steps show the path walked from the capsule to the trailer where the astronauts would be quarantined.

 Then we wandered below deck and found the sleeping area for the regular guys.  They were all packed into bunks and I imagine the snoring would more than keep some awake on their sleep shift.

The bunks are packed in like sardines into a not-very-large area.

 

The mattresses are not especially thick, and therefore, not particularly comfortable unless you're really tired.  Then, I expect, you could sleep anywhere and on anything.

 

There was a medical area with all types of medical accoutrements. 

These look as though they were well used.

 

One area had different types of torpedoes

The torpedoes were of interest as different colors and paint schemes mean different things.

 

A favorite for me was the area set up for the POW / MIA white table. 



While the explanation is long, I think it should be explained as each item on the table has a special meaning.  I would not have known any of this if I had not read the poster.

POW / MIA white table

The display is small, a setting for one reflecting the vulnerability of one prisoner against his enemy.

The tablecloth is white, symbolic of the pure intentions with which the comrades honored have served.

The single rose signifies the blood they may have shed in sacrifice to ensure the freedom of our beloved United States of America.  The rose also reminds us of the family and friends of our missing comrades who keep faith while awaiting their return.

The red ribbon represents the red ribbon worn on the lapels of the thousands who demand with unyielding determination, a proper account of our comrades who are not among us.

A slice of lemon on the plate reminds us of their bitter taste.

The salt sprinkled on the plate reminds us of the countless fallen tears of families as they wait.

The glass is inverted, they cannot toast with us at this time.

The chair (not shown) is empty.  They are not here.

The candle is reminiscent of the light of hope, which lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from their captors, to open arms of a grateful nation.

The American flag reminds us that many of them may never return and have paid the supreme price to insure our freedom.

Let us remember and never forget their sacrifice.

Many carriers had a deck with straight lines painted so the planes would come down and go from one end to the other, where other planes were parked.  And accidents happened.  Then came the idea to angle the track so they would go to the side toward the sky and, if necessary, could go around.

Can you imagine trying to land a plane on the deck of a carrier with a short runway and a landing strip that is possibly going up and down due to heavy wave action?

The deck of the carrier is a bit more than two acres.

 Each plane required 175-180 feet for takeoff or landing.  When prop planes were used, they could accelerate to the speed needed to get off the deck.  As jets came into use, they accelerated slower and couldn’t manage the 140-150 mph needed to get into the air.  A catapult was then necessary to get them up to speed and off the carrier.  The catapults are able to get a plane into the air every 30 seconds, pretty impressive.  During the times when there were a lot of planes being used, there would be a launch and then recovery, or return, every 90 minutes, for 12-hour shifts.  In good weather a plane could land every 45 seconds. 

Seems to me it is just a big slingshot.

 We left the ship after walking from bow to stern, top to bottom, stopped for a bite to eat, ran some last minute travel errands and headed back to the house.  Jaz’s mom was preparing to leave for the weekend to go with her other daughter to see her granddaughter, leaving us on our own.  We were old news to her by then.

Where to start ... San Francisco

Wednesday night / Thursday morning, Feb. 11 / 12, I arrived at the airport to start the first leg of this journey that will take my friend, Jaz, and me, to many places.

I was exhausted … the travel preparations, like preparations for some medical procedures (I won’t name them), was far more tiring and time-consuming than the travel itself.  There was the passport (glad I had it), a visa for Argentina, a packing list I made up (including some things from one from a friend, Shannon – thank you), packing itself (one suitcase and a smaller carryon with my computer and camera gear), laundry, pet food, pet meds, payments ahead on credit cards, travel arrangements to multiple countries (we were going earlier to spend time in a few other places), excursions.  Okay, just like being tired of the preparation, I’m tired of trying to name them all.  Haha!!!

Anyway, the time had come and I was off to San Francisco to meet up with Jaz to go on our next incredible adventure.

 It has seemed a dream, as we started planning this more than a year ago.  But now that it’s here, it’s starting to sink in; however, I won’t get too excited yet.

The flight to San Francisco was non-eventful and, in fact, I slept for part of it.  I was too tired to do anything else, but sleeping on an airplane really isn’t good sleep, or restful sleep.  I’m sure you get that.

An Egyptian exhibit at the airport was pretty cool, but I wasted no time.

I just shot a couple of photos with my phone as I walked by.  The beaded handbags were exquisite.

I arrived and Jaz picked me up and off we went to her mom’s.  Her mother is always very gracious and accepts me as another daughter from a different mother (and father, too).  We always enjoy a visit and spending some time together. 

This time was a little different.  I was so tired I had to take a nap after a bit of visiting.  Two-and-a-half hours later I was up and moving, but feeling rather like a zombie with a headache.  We visited a bit more and I was back in bed in just a few hours. 

A good lunch is always in order.  Perfect.

By Friday morning (Feb. 13), with a lot of sleep and a cup of Kaladi coffee under my belt, Jaz and I were off … to the San Francisco airport to pick up a rental car and do some carousing.  We rode public transportation that is always an adventure in itself, and got our car, a red Chrysler.

And off we went to catch a train.

 

The Internet here on Easter Island is exceptionally slow.  Only doing a little at a time. 

Teaser alert.  Easter Island.