Chez Jerome Easter Island

... Tahiti or New Zealand centuries ago, developed a very peculiar and characteristic culture. What remains today, after the civil war that decimated the population and almost brought it to extinction and the arrival of Western sailors, are the famous Moais and the local legends and myths that consider the island the navel of the world. This is enough to attract tourists, nowadays still a reduced number but growing by a two digit number every year, that enjoy such a charismatic ...

... called Paro, was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 75 tonnes. The heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at Ahu Tongariki, weighing 86 tons; and one unfinished sculpture, if completed, would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 tons."(Wikipedia)

Number of Moai.

Total number of moai on Easter Island: 887
Total ...

... machine.

The following day, it was confirmed that the airport was still closed and we were literally stuck on the island. Aftter calling into the airline´s office twice during the day, our flight was re-confirmed for 10.00am the next day. We therefore struck a deal directly with the owner of the hostel we were staying in and cut out Marcelo the thief.

There was nothing to do but sit by the sea and eat and drink. Not such a bad end to a quite amazing island.

... gives you an idea of the scale of these things. big. the most impressive sight is probably the quarry. this is where the statues were carved. there are a number of statues still there mostly hidden in the ground and the largest statue ever built is there, standing at 33m tall. now imagine dragging that thing along the ground and lifting it on to a platform??? one recommendation if anyone ever goes there though is go sometime soon ...

... until we could board. It was a relief to finally be on the plane and leaving and heading somewhere new. It wasn't that we didn't enjoy our time in the French Polynesia Islands but its not the place for backpackers on a very limited budget. It was a beautiful place to relax and do nothing for a couple of days but when your used to being constantly on the go, it feels wrong and like a waste of time to do nothing. Please don't take our experience as any reason not to visit ...

... had experienced of Pablo since our arrival. A Swiss lady and I had separately talked to the LAN crew on our flight over, by virtue of us both having worked in the airline business before. Swiss Fraulein was also staying in the hostel I'd chosen, so we naturally got chatting and decided to venture into town - a good stretch of our legs after the 4 1/2 hour journey. Purely by chance, the LAN crew were sat having dinner and recognised the passing Fraulein, yelling out to grab her ...

... of the moon behind the Moai, and then waited patiently for the sun to come up! It seemed that we weren't the only ones with the good idea though and there were about 20 people there when the sun came up including a group who'd come straight from an all night party and plonked themselves right infront of 20 people's perfectly lined up photos!! So I bravely went and asked them in my best Spanish if they could move! It was worth it for the cool photos! The rest of the day ...

... with most contructions limited to the islands one and only town and the rest being wilderness and archeological sites with wild horses roaming freely. Today I met alot of the locals. I spoke to some women selling souvenirs at a site and after 20min of discussion ( in spanish) they offered there lunch (ham sandwich), and water to me as I had told them I had planned not to eat during the day (due to the prices). I tried to refuse but they insisted. A bit further ...

... at the arrival hall. I hunt around and managed to get a bed in a dormitory for CLP7,500 a night. The hostel was near the airport, and it was a pretty cozy family owned hostel, except the small fact that the owner ...

... compete by climbing down the cliffs *nd swimming to the Motu islet to find *n egg of the Sooty Tern. The winner w*s decl*red the bird m*n for the ye*r. In the evening did some skin diving without getting in to the w*ter! The w*ter *round H*ng* Ro* b*y is so cle*r th*t we s*w lo*ds of fish *nd even some m*ssive turtles by just w*lking *round the b*y!