O`Tai Easter Island

... that there are indeed a lot of statutes which i'll come on to. and the third main thing to say is that there are a lot of dogs. a LOT of dogs. now neither of us are generally scared of dogs but we did run down the road a few times (failing miserably to get rid of them). you see, they used to belong to someone but 'pet' doesn't quite mean the same thing there so there's a huge amount of stray dogs wandering about the main/only town ...

... sight seein, so we had planned to rent a moped for da day as id never drove one. When the guy arrived and looked at my drivers licence he said I couldnt drive it as it was 100cc ****in irish licences are too detailed and he said he had no cars left dose. We walked into town but seen as it was sunday hardly anywhere was open , we eventully found a place and decided to hire a quad bike. Best decision ever, twas some crack ...

... I will be wanting to return, time by time.<br><br>The island disappeared almost instantly after the takeoff, the blue of the ocean filled the window for the next five hours. A sudden and somewhat crazy idea came to my mind: it would have been wonderful if we could somehow learn to un-discover all discovered islands, restore all blanks on the maps and begin to enjoy again that original awe of the unknown, a mystery and thrill of the possibilities of which the number is unbounded. <br>

... to check in, which really upset the control freak in me. Anyway, I was eventually handed my boarding pass at 8:50ish (the flight was at 9:10) and told that I should be at the gate ready to board by 8:20 - I laughed as did the guy checking me in!!! So I dashed off to the boarding gate hoping to pass a loo on the way ( I knew that I shouldn´t have had that early morning coffee) and sitting in the boarding lounge was a dutch guy I had met very very briefly on ...

Auf Polynesisch heisst die Insel 'Rapa Nui', uebersetzt 'Der Nabel der Welt'. Irgendwie verstaendlich, dass die fruheren BewohnerInnen diesen Namen gewaehlt haben, liegt diese Insel doch 3.700 km entfernt vom Festland, 2.000 km enfernt von den Pitcairn Inseln und 4.100 km entfernt von Tahiti isoliert im Meer. 1722 erreichte eine hollaendische Expedition die Insel an einem Ostersonntag, deswegen der Name Osterinsel. Geographisch ...

... beim lesen des buches gefesselt und es sollte eines uns**** highlights d** reise w**den! und uns** gefuehl hat uns nicht betrogen = es war einfach nur "toata maangaloo" das ist rapa nui; die sprache d** ost** islaend** und heisst mega auf schwitz**duetsch.Daneben sollte ab jetzt auch die Zeit d** Schnaeppchen und Billig=Dinn**s vorbei sein!!!!! hi** auf d** weitest isoli**ten insel im pazifik schlagen die uhren noch and**s, wenn es diese ueb**haupt gibt - uns**e ...

... today, and most the shops are closed. The post office was also closed so I could not send out my postcards. I went souvenir shopping in the morning, hoping to get some good deal. After that I headed towards ...

... hit the island and toppled the rest of them - presently, archeologists have re-erected 36 of the more than 800 moai on the island.  We then continued up the spectacular eastern coast to Rano Raraku, an extinct volcano and the site of the quarry or the 'factory' where the moai were made. As we approached the volcano, we saw dozens of heads just sticking out of the grassy hillsides, an astounding sight. A path led us up and around the volcano and along the ...

... Paz was great fun - breathtaking setting (no pun intended!), located in a canyon, with lots of indigenous ladies wearing multi-layered, multi-coloured dresses and bowler hats perched upon their heads (no photos I'm afraid as they believe each pic takes a piece of their soul away!) with scary electricity wires everywhere, although it can be real tough going walking around cos of the altitude. Next took an overnight bus to Uyuni and joined a ...

... time to get back to the hotel to wait for the transfer to the airport. Our plane was on time - shame we would have liked to have stayed longer. <br><br>Rapa Nui - Easter Island - was a truly magical place and we had a tear or two in our eyes when we left.<br><br>It wasn't helped though by this being our last major stop on our holiday - soon it would be time to go home and back to work to pay for the next extravaganza....Santiago and thence home beckoned.<br><br><br><br>