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Our Year at Home
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Location Date Europe 1488758400 Oceania 1481068800 South America 
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Location Date San Pedro Atacama 1448668800 La Serena 1448150400 Rancagua 1447459200 Pucon 1446940800 Valdivia 1446681600 Puerto Varas 1446249600 Petrohue 1445990400 Palena 1445641200 Putre 1363564800 Arica 1363132800 Tocopilla 1362614400 Copiapo 1360713600 Vicuna 1360022400 Futaleufu 1355270400 Puerto Natales 1353283200 Castro 1352937600 San Antonio 1352073600 Santiago 1351814400 Hanga Roa
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We had four days in Easter Island, which was enough to see the main sights, but a couple of extra days to go snorkeling and swimming would have been good. Easter Island is the remotest inhabited island and is 3,780 Kms from the main land and its closest neighbor is Pitcairn Island, 2,250Kms away. This is a 5 hour flight.
We stayed in a lovely little hotel in the centre of the small (population 5,000) and only town. The hotel is run by Alvaro who knew everything about the Island and its history and it seems everyone on it.
Of course the main attraction of the Island are the stone statues, Moai. There were about 400 on the island, although many have been destroyed and others knocked over in the past by warring tribes, tsunamis, missionaries and grave robbers. All the grave robbers found were bones and decorated shells!
Many of the Moai are still lying face down whilst others have been stood upright in their original position. Originally they had 'hats' or 'top knots' of red stone which it is thought to represent their red hair that was tied up in a knot. The final phase of their construction was the insertion of eyes made of white & coloured coral. Very few of these survive.
We liked the quarry best. This was where they were carved from the side of one of the volcanos that make up the island. The biggest Moai on the island is 20 m tall but was left laying half finished in the mountain side. The mystery is how they then moved them up to 15Kms to their final positions and then raised them up onto the ceremonial platforms, Ahus. There are many theories, but the rolling on logs seems the logical one to us. The top knots of red stone came from a separate extinct volcano at the other end of the island, but it is thought that due to their shape they were simply rolled to the final site.
The island is quite small 24 x 17 Kms at its largest and mostly volcanic rock so not much grows there. All food other than a few vegetables and all other material is shipped or flown in and the prices reflect this. £4.60 for a loaf of bread was the the worst we came across.
While we were on the island we witnessed their election campaigning for mayor. It was a lot more interesting than ours.
This aside we loved Easter Island, the Moai were spectacular and the history and isolation incredible.
We stayed in a lovely little hotel in the centre of the small (population 5,000) and only town. The hotel is run by Alvaro who knew everything about the Island and its history and it seems everyone on it.
Of course the main attraction of the Island are the stone statues, Moai. There were about 400 on the island, although many have been destroyed and others knocked over in the past by warring tribes, tsunamis, missionaries and grave robbers. All the grave robbers found were bones and decorated shells!
Many of the Moai are still lying face down whilst others have been stood upright in their original position. Originally they had 'hats' or 'top knots' of red stone which it is thought to represent their red hair that was tied up in a knot. The final phase of their construction was the insertion of eyes made of white & coloured coral. Very few of these survive.
We liked the quarry best. This was where they were carved from the side of one of the volcanos that make up the island. The biggest Moai on the island is 20 m tall but was left laying half finished in the mountain side. The mystery is how they then moved them up to 15Kms to their final positions and then raised them up onto the ceremonial platforms, Ahus. There are many theories, but the rolling on logs seems the logical one to us. The top knots of red stone came from a separate extinct volcano at the other end of the island, but it is thought that due to their shape they were simply rolled to the final site.
The island is quite small 24 x 17 Kms at its largest and mostly volcanic rock so not much grows there. All food other than a few vegetables and all other material is shipped or flown in and the prices reflect this. £4.60 for a loaf of bread was the the worst we came across.
While we were on the island we witnessed their election campaigning for mayor. It was a lot more interesting than ours.
This aside we loved Easter Island, the Moai were spectacular and the history and isolation incredible.
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