Iorana Easter Island

... of creation scattered down the hillside. The reconstructed temples are a fabulous sight, some containing over a dozen statues each 6+ meters tall dominating the landscape. A wonderful, mysterious island with bags of charm and intrigue. This has really added to one of our favourite periods of our trip &#8211; more memories to last a life time.<br><br style="font-family: yui-tmp;">Here are the photo&#8217;s.<br><br>Next stop &#8211; the Chilean capital of Santiago.

... everything for you. It was the Museo Antropologico Sebastian Englert. We learnt about the history of the island, its creation, discovery and inhabitants. It was really interesting but a lot of reading. There were also displays inside of weapons used, moai kavakava (the strange 'statues of ribs') and replica rongo-rongo tablets. After spending some time in the museum we walked back alone the coast and sat in the sun for a bit before walking back down the main street ...

... ways, with intentions to meet again.... I expected sunny beach town, and got grey skies, deserted streets and a post holiday blues... this was the last weekend before chilians returned to school after thier summer holidays and the depression and back to school attitude was totally tangible! i arrived at the hostel i was staying at, which was a converted old boat on a rock point, literally no one was there, and ...

... a local runner dressed only in a loin cloth, sprinted past us, reached the top then sprinted down again - obviously training for some race. The lake was filled with totora reeds as found in Lake Titicaca - another link to South America. We stopped at several other sites to see symbolic rock carvings & at "Ahu Te Pito Kura" we fondled a sacred round magnetic stone (a meteorite) that is supposed to give you power. Our last stop was at ...

... constructions, perhaps of ritual character - I could not say more certainly as my guidebook was oblivious of this part of the island. As I moved on and on, the heat and humidity grew stronger and by 7pm they still climbed up - the sun being hopelessly high. In one detail the guidebook was right - there is no shade on the island and walking under afternoon sun may be a masochistic excercise. I got to the village after 8pm when the heat just started to subside. It is ...

We verlaten het merengebied en gaan verder met onze tocht naar het noorden, via de rio Bio Bio naar Concepcion, de tweede grootste stad van Chile waar we een afspraak hebben met Dania, een weerzien voor Constanza 18 jaar later. Een kort bezoek aan de stad, enorm druk. Daarna samen met Dania haar familie een gezellige avond met lekker (en veel) eten - BBQ met heel lekker vlees.

... coal mines, and they made a famous film about the mine here a few years ago. Now the mine is closed, but is opened for tourists to visit the mine, which extends about 3km out under the sea. The trip down the mine was really impressive, again the miner who was taking us could only speak Spanish, so it was good for improving our language skills, we headed down a lift for about 40metres, then we walked about for 1 hour under the ground. Mining must have ...

With just a little trepidation I looked out over the waiting crowd for Ricardo. Would he be very different after 20 years? No. Just the same. My short hair caused a moment of hesitation from the other side of the glass but no more than that. Where do you start after being out of contact with one of the most important people of your university years for so long. Well, 'You look just the same' is probably not original but it was what I said.

... mean that you have to eat whatever is ripe, and not what you necessary feel like, so we ate tons of raspberries, beetroot and spinach. We also had the most incredible jams for our bread. There was raspberry, blackberry, cherry, plum, apple and ginger, and quince. It was difficult not to stuff ourselves on bread and jam at every meal. I know it sounds like all we did was eat, but I promise, we did earn our keep by picking raspberries,watering, weeding and more watering.

... seen on TV or in books and I found it hard to believe that here we were walking around amongst the statues. <br><br>There is a real feeling of mystery on the island which is hard to put your finger on. It's one of the most incredible places I have been. It might be it's remoteness or the stories about the island. I really don't know.<br><br>In the distance you could make out Tongariki which a Japanese company paid to have restored in the 90's. This was our next ...