Easter Island, part 2

These are some other fun photos from the island.

In Brazil and Argentina we ate a lot of beef and some lamb.
In Chile it's been chicken and fish.

Tuna and sweet potatoes on Easter Island 

 Beautiful fruit

Easter Island airport 

Lovely tropical flowers

Sunset on the beach

Niko, Danna and our bus driver provided a lovely picnic dinner for us at sunset

View from our hotel restaurant 

A parting gift from the island as we left this morning 

We are in Santiago tonight. 2/14, and will fly home tomorrow.   It's been an amazing trip!!

Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Feb. 11-13

Easter Island is a Polynesian island of 63 square miles.

If you follow my blog, you know how passionate I am about visiting and learning about different cultures.  This was an especially rewarding experience for me.  If you're not as interested as I am in this area, you might want to skip to the next blog post for more photos.  😉

Our local guide, Niko, told us much that has been written about the island is only partially true or questionable.   His mother has been a global leader in studying the history and culture of this remote place and was recently awarded an honorary doctorate in Sweden for her extraordinary work.

Niko

Below are some details that most experts seem to agree on in respect to Easter Island:

*the first people arrived from Polynesia about 500 AD
*there were few resources on the island

*it was volcanic in origin with 3 long-extinct volcanoes

Mel's photo of a volcano with a lagoon inside

*the remoteness of the island afforded only a few species of plants and animals  and very few fish
*earliest settlers subsisted on sweet potatoes and chickens
*the population increased and organized around clans
*each clan had its own center for religious and cultural activities.   The centers were on platforms called ahus

Mel's photo of an ahu

*over 300 ahus were constructed,  some with sophisticated astronomical alignments
*at each site, between 1-15 huge stone statues or MOAI were erected

Our group

*using only obsidian stone tools, over 600 MOAIS were carved at the quarry at Rano Rataku by the 16th century

Statues at the quarry

*the island reached its peak population of about 7,000 around 1500 when wars broke out between the clans which resulted in destruction and toppling of the MOAIS
*the birdman religious cult displaced the MOAIS before European colonization occurred
*overpopulation created massive environmental degredation including total deforestation
*the first recorded European contact was made in 1722 on Easter Sunday by a Dutch explorer, hence the name
*with "discovery " came slave traders, epidemics, and choas
*Christian missionaries arrived in 1867 when the population declined to 1200
*by 1877 only 111 lived on Easter Island
*in 1888 the island became a special territory of Chile
*in 1966 the Rapanui were given Chilean citizenship
*today there are about 4,000 people on the island, and tourism is the mainstay of their economy

Santiago

Of Chile's population of 17,000,000 people, Santiago has 7,000,000.  It's a large, busy city that sits in a valley under a smoggy sky, much like Phoenix.  The city has shantytowns in many areas where immigrants build makeshift houses.  The area in and around Santiago is where the first Spanish explorers claimed the territory for Spain.

A woman who experienced the Allende and Pinochet eras in Chile talked to us about those tumultuous times and how they have affected her country.

Here is a glimpse of Chile's capital city.

View of the city from atop its biggest park

A popular way of getting up and down hills

There are attractive pedestrians walkways

The city is planting trees and creating green spaces to help alleviate the pollution 

Tomorrow we fly to Easter Island for 3 nights.  Our guide says it's the most remote place on earth, 2,000 miles from anywhere! 

Valparaiso, Chile 2/8

We flew to Santiago yesterday and arrived in the evening for 3 nights here in the capital city of Chile. Today we we took a day trip out to Valparaiso.

Valparaiso is Chile's third largest city of approximately 600,000 and is said to be one of the world's most picturesque ports.  It has a surprising mix of architectural designs which reflect its European influences. The city is built on steep hills that overlook the Pacific.  There is a huge array of street art on city streets.  We had lunch in the lovely home of a local family high upon a hill with gorgeous views of the city and harbor.

In the city center

A busy outdoor market

The family who hosted our lunch

Tomorrow we will spend the day exploring Santiago.  Then we will fly to Easter Island for the last 3 nights of our South American adventure. 

Cruising the Chilean icefields, 2/5-2/7

We arrived late in the evening for 3 nights here in Chile's capital.

Our previous 3 nights were spent onboard the 90 passenger Skorpios cruising around the Chilean ice fields and fjords.  The southern ice field is in the midst of Chilean Patagonia. It has 48 glacier bays which makes it the third most important freshwater reserve on the planet. We saw 11 of the glaciers "up close and personal".  Below are 3 photos I took from an Explorer.

Map of southern Chilean ice fields 

Mel's photo of The Skorpios

There were several opportunities each day for us to disembark the Skorpios, get into vessels similar to Zodiaks  called "Explorers", and venture out onto the ice fields or into areas too small for the boat to go.  The food was delicious and there was quite an amazing variety. This is a case where photos can definitely tell a better story than my words can!

Mel's ready for the Explorer 

Mel's on the Explorer

There they go!

Great food 

Terri and Penny learn how to make pisco sours, Chile's national drink

One unique experience was riding on an icebreaker as it slogged through ice.  We were treated to a shot of Jameson's served "on the rocks", chunks of a glacier's icebergs, to warm us up.

Onboard the icebreaker 

Mel and Terri spy the Jameson's 

Danna, our awesome guide, with her Jameson's 

Torres del Paine National Park, Chile, Feb. 3-4

Yesterday we drove across the border of Argentina, entering Chile.  The weather continues warm and dry.

The park is about 935 square miles and has a granite intrusion formed about 12 million years ago.  The profile is one of the most recognizable in the world and is the background for the logo on clothing manufactured by the Patagonia brand.

The glaciers in the park are in fast retreat, as much as 56 feet a year for the last 90 years.

We had 2 hikes scheduled today to explore some of the park.  Here are some photos of the area.

Mel's new knee is doing great

Mel was experimenting with his camera

For the next 3 nights we'll be cruising around the Chilean fjords on a small boat with no internet.