Residencial Taniera Easter Island

... reality checks are for everyone. I did not mind being the butt of the joke as long as it lifted their spirits. On Thursday August 20th we will return (to the scene of the crime) to Linares for the second half of the competition. I am sure they will do better. They couldn't possibly do any worse.

All good things must come to an end. I don't know where that phrase came from but it is certainly true of ...

... in God’s presence all day going from church, to temple, to chapel. We move on to the courtyard and she tell us that the owners of the house had many workers and the worked the field and raised Trigo (Tree-go: Wheat) and grapes for wine. We visited the salon of the last owner and the Park/garden that her husband had build for her as a testament of his undying love for her. The sun is setting in the garden and a shadow is cast on ...

... 20 km long and 15 km wide, you are never far from the ocean. We settled into our hostel, went for a wander along the beach and within 5 minutes came face to face with our first Easter Island Statue! It was a slightly odd experience as the statue didn’t look exactly as we had imagined they would. On the island there are approximately 1000 statues in various locations – some are in groups, some are solitary however the majority are lying face down ...

... look. Driving along the muddy tracks was fun, a real off road experience, we even had to use the 4 wheel drive as it was rather slippery and rocky. We returned to Hanga Roa to use the internet and get supplies for tea before going to the hostel to relax. We discovered we had hot water so all showered and made the most of the hot water before it went cold again like it had been for the previous days. After buying food for tea we decided to save it until tomorrow and treat ...

... at Rano Raraku volcano, the "Moai factory" & were transported, overland to their final destination. The statues took a year or two to carve & perhaps longer to transport. There is great speculation over their transport but the most popular theory is that they were strapped, for protection, to a large 'Y' shaped wooden sledge made from the trunk of a tree & swung along, a few feet at a time, suspended from a huge 'A' frame. This could explain ...

Rounding Cape Horn - Captain Johnny is absolutely ecstatic about this day - in all of his years of sailing - he has never been around Cape Horn - so we knew that we were in for the best experience possible. We were up very early this morning and it was a hazy morning - we saw some islands from our balcony and it was nice to see land on this fourth day at sea. We weren't due to reach Cape Horn until around 2 p.m. We passed the day in typical ...

... roughly in the center of the island and so uniquely situated that your view is spared of any fences, roads, airport strip, village and, even (blasphemy) moais. Only yellow rolling hills sprinkled with volcanic debris, here and there cones of ancient volcanoes and , not really an ocean, but a deep blue abyss surrounding you from all sides, leaving you to wonder whether the rest of the sane and solid world really exists. It did not of course at the time. From there my ...

... sunburn remedy. Though I did consider smearing on some of that delicious kiwi jam served by the hostel, because it looked so cooling and refreshing ... but imagine how horrific that could become later on - birds pecking at my eyes, flies buzzing around my head, mosquitoes feasting on my face ... There was a young Aussie couple from the hostel also on the tour, Nik and Jasimma. I overheard Jasimma talking on the phone with some family she has in Chile ...

... couple on the bus - the husband was also a mechanical engineer and actually tried getting work in Calgary 12 years ago, with no luck. He would've had no trouble if he tried a few years ago during the boom! He ended up becoming an SAP consultant when there wasn't much mechanical engineering work back home, so it probably worked out best for him. There was an older couple from Newcastle who were in Chile visiting their daughter ...

... off in town and went popped in the supermarket to get get some beers and water to have in our room. Then we headed off for dinner. We were both looking forward to some fish and we weren't disappointed. Our first meal in Hanga Roa was at Merahi Ra'a (think that's right - not far from the Pecheur place that's in all the guidebooks - we didn't fancy the menu there). It was a bit rough and ready - plastic tablecloths etc but the fish was lovely. Huge tuna steaks ...