Ultimas Dias en La Isla

Mihinoa Camping is an amazing place.  It`s not only a campsite, it has a dorm room, private rooms and a communal kitchen.   I rented a tent and was fortunate enough to pitch the tent in a building that was under construction, protected from the weather.  This was a plus because the strong wind and sporadic rain can be problematic for tiny tents.  I was able to cook for myself and meet other travelers, all by the edge of the ocean no-less!

The last few days I was on the island I was able to borrow Francisco`s bike and ride around on my own.  Even though he was weird, (I will tell you the story in person if you wish) it was very kind of him to lend out his bici.

I rode around the town and then took a little trip towards the airport. 

This is La Iglesia de Rapa Nui.  Religious pluralism at it´s best!

I found this cliff behind the airport and walked down to the rocks.  It was a bit dangerous to swim so I just let the waves splash me as I sat on a rock.

cliff colors

And then I ate a delicious empanada on the beach.

And then I saw a rainbow (after being caught in a sudden rain storm).

And then I said goodbye to La Isla Pascua.

Rapa Nui

More on Easter Island:
I continued to explore the island despite my running nose and occasional chill.  I hitched a ride with a very kind man named Hernan who drove me 20 minutes out of the way to drop me off at Raru Ranaku, also known as the quarry, where the big heads were carved out of the side of a volcano.  He dropped me off at a hidden entrance where I could sneak in for free.  He offered me some Coca-cola and then left.  What a kind guy!

The site was pretty amazing and very mysterious -- giant heads sticking out of the ground, broken face-down and many half way under the earth.

This is where I started taking a lot of selfies

Here you can see a giant Maoi that was never quite erected from the side of the volcano.  How did they do it!?¿?¿

After Raru Ranaku I found another site near by.  Ta-dah!  15 Maoi standing facing inland.  Apparently all had been toppled over over the past few millenia or something, but in the past 20 years have been reconstructed.

I got a ride back to town with a bunch of Americans who had to catch a flight.  We slammed beers as they shredded back to the airport.

La Isla Bonita

Since I have arrived I have been traveling the island, seeing all the sites and unfortunately catching a cold.

Francisco and I went to Dos Ventanas which is a cave with 2 openings that look out over the ocean.  Que impresionante!

 The land here is very open, not many tourist traps like you would expect.  There are 100s of horses roaming around and leaving their fecal material behind.  Below was an amazing sight of 20 horses or so being rangled up by a young girl on a motorcycle.  BAMF.

Beautiful flowers I found on the side of the road

Yesterday I took myself on an excursion to the South side of the island.  Since I am committed to not spending a ton of money here (because everything is double in price), I have been hitchhiking around.  It is very safe on the island, there are only 5,000 inhabitants, not much bigger than Conway.

This is going to be my next windows screensaver

A man named Carlo who spoke Spanish and Maori picked me up and took me to Anakena, which was an amazing beach oasis with Maoi standing right near.  He picked me up and turned off his car engine and proceeded to tell me a long story of getting jumped in LA.  I thought perhaps that my luck had run out and he was telling me this story for a reason of malice.  Quite the opposite!  He told me he likes to pick people up out of the goodness of his heart, that he wants to prove the universe wrong, PEOPLE ARE GOOD, he said.  I really enjoyed this guy, we had an existentialist talk about cyclical time etc.  I told him that I wrote my thesis on ideas of the micro and macrocosm, he said he thought we could be good friends.

Planes Raros con Francisco

So I did something a bit sketchy.

I had contacted Mathi, who was one of the people I stayed with in Concepcion because her boyfriend had told me that he had a friend who lived on Easter Island.  Her boyfriend actually was actually friends with the sister of someone who lived on the Island -- it is still unclear to me.  Anyway, I got his contact, Francisco, that is.  He said I could stay at his house and that he would pick me up from the airport.  We became facebook friends, I scoped him out with out ever meeting him and said ók´.

Because I am so good at profiling people, I brought a lot of snacks and chocolates as a thank you gift to give to Fancisco.  He seemed like the ´munchie´type, if you know what I mean.
My preconceptions were dead on.  He picked me up, drove us up to the inactive volcano and asked for the chocolates I had brought.

                                This is Francisco in front of Hanga Roa, the only town on the island.

Huge volcano crater, so cool!


We went back to Francisco´s house, which was sort of a shit hole.  We ate more snacks, listened to hip hop and talked.  He made me feel sort of uncomfortable, so after hanging out, meeting his friends and staying one night at his house I left to go to a camp site, which is where I am now staying. 

 Although Francisco wasn{t the ideal person to host me, he has still been very kind and accommodating.  We checked out some Maoi (big heads) and went on a hike the other day. 

The Maoi are totally amazing statues that line the entire island more or less.  Many of them have eyes made out of coral so after all these years the color still shines bright.  All but one face inward on the island and are erected on stone made platforms.  No one really knows what the story is, there is no written history of the people of the island, there are only theories.     Being here really makes you think!

Clase Primero

On Saturday I left Chillan.  I decided to take the train this time just to mix things up, I thought it would be nice to see the countryside without stopping every 5 kilometers.  Traveling by train is a nice way to see the countryside IF you have a view out a window, which I did not.  Everything was fine because I was seated next to Maria Paz, an 18 year old high schooler who let me borrow her teen mag.  We chatted about Justin Beiber and Twilight.  We are both for team Jacob...Duh.

Maria Paz.  I gotta stop taking pictures of people when they are sleeping...

I arrived to Santiago around 5, took the metro to meet my next couch surfing friend, Paula.  Paula met me at the metro station and we went back to her apartment to have ónces´, which is a late tea/snack time.  Paula was really great, she reminded me of my cousin Zoe.  We talked about politics and issues in Chile.  Later, we went out to get a drink.
The next day I left to find the Airport bus (unbelievably $3), with a bit of trouble I found it and arrived just in time for my flight to ISLA DE PASCUA!!!!   That´s Easter Island to all of you...

Originally when I planned this trip I thought flying an additional 5 hours just to visit a tiny island was too much, but then I thought, ¨when in my life will I ever be so close and so able!?¨



Beautiful snow capped Andes out the window

Somehow, my luck keeps getting better on this trip.  As I waited at the gate to board onto the flight, they called my name on the speaker.  I went up to the desk expecting bad news, but found quite the opposite: 

That´s right yállllll, FIRST CLASS upgrade!  This is photo of champaigne and a salted nut mix.  I sure took advantage of the free wine list, let me tell you!

No Olvida. . .

I forgot to post these sweet pics of my special friends in Chillan.  I left Chillan on Saturday, but the support from these people continues to follow me wherever I go.  I may end up staying with Nico´s Mom in Santiago a bit later in this trip, she went to Smith of all places!

Maria Gracia, Sanne, Nico, Ilo and Carmen (or Coca)

I babysat for these cute girls 2 nights last week.  They are Nico and Gracia´s daughters.  Although they understand English because Nico speaks to them in English, we spoke in Spanish mostly  (speaking with children in Spanish is so intimidating for me for some reason), we read books and played around.

Rafaela and Violeta.  Matilda, the youngest was already in bed.

Una Despedida

In addition to the experiences I have had here on the farm and in the cafe I am leaving some stellar accomodations and a bunch of great new friends.

I will miss the luxory of the heated dome, the full kitchen and the comfortable bed.  I won`t miss waking up to a 40 degree room.

Chao chao to Paula y Sandrita, my lunchtime friends in the office at the farm.  They made the best lunches and told the funniest stories of being hippies in the 80`s.  Last night Paula (on the left) quized me on what I will do if there is an earthquake.  They have looked after me well.

Lunch! Fresh from the farm.

Ilo (from Australia\Chile) and Sanne (from Holland), my new wwoofing friends will stay at the farm for a few more days and then head south while I will be heading north.  It has been nice to have company in the dome at night, even if that company means singing Tracy Chapman and 4 Non-Blonde songs.  We have had a lot of fun together.


p.s. please excuse the grammatical errors from the past posts.  These key boards are difficult for me, usually I am in a rush and well, I am not great at spelling. 

Ya les extraño

Tomorrow I leave Alma Atta.  I have become accostumed to this life of casual work in the green houses, testing of baked goods in the cafe and hanging out with a great family.

Chanchitos run around the farm now, cleaning up the fallen apples.

Don Hernan is the wonderful jeffe of the green houses who I worked with for several days.

La Mina

 La Mina Chiflon Del Diablo is a bit outside of Concepcion.  I took a microbus by myself out there to Lota which is the town where the mine is located.  Taking the bus was probably more fun than visiting the mine, but here are some pictures from Lota and La Mina.

The mine is naturally ventalated because it runs under the sea.  Why this happens I am not sure, I couldn't understand half of what the guide said.

The best part the mine tour was when we turned off our head lamps and were silent for a minute.  It was so dark and so silent -- a rare experience.

Lota is a town full of colorful houses and windy streets that overlooks the ocean. Dirtier than most.

On Sunday I returned to Chillan and was picked up by Nico who brought me to a BBQ.  How nice!

Un Poco Tomada

While in Concepcion, I couch surfed.  I found a nice, diverse group of people who were very welcoming.  Their houshold consists of 4 roommates, one from Redding PA (Michael), one from France (Mathi), one from Chile (Jorge) and one from Germany (Steffen).  The only common language that we all had was Spanish.

Jorge y Matchi trying to steal avacados from the neighbor's avacado tree. 

Their house was not so different from houses that I am used to in the U.S.  posters on the wall, communal food, a crazy kitten, furniture made from trash, a dying marijuana plant.

We went to 2 fiestas.  The first night we met up with another friend from Morocco and went to a party where there were many Chileans and a healthy amount of pisqo (Chilean liquor) and rum.  I got drunk and took this picture above.  Paulina, who is sitting next to me was so nice, her, Pablo and I talked about big topics like what happens after death, what we want to do with our lives and why Americans are assholes.



Out of this world!



The morning after a party looks the same no matter where you are.

The second night we went to a dinner party at Khadija;s (the Moroccan girl) house.  There were people from Spain, Columbia, France, Germany, Chile, USA, Morocco and possibly other places.  After eating a big meal of oysters, chicken and sausage we had a dance party and played music from each different country represented.  They played an Elvis song for me, we all chanted "U. S. A!" It was weird.

Fin De Semana en Concepcion

So I went to Concepcion, a city about an hour and a half from Chillan.  Concepcion is right on the coast and has suffered heavily from several earthquakes over the years, but has culturally perservered due to its thick culture of academia and economically due because of it's mining environment.

The city was very polluted, my boogers were completely black every day. 

This is the big round about in Concepcion.  As we entered the city we passed a couple making out right in the middle of the circle, one on top of the other.  PDA is really big here because everyone lives with their parents.

It really felt like fall in Concepcion, leaves all over the side walks and a crisp autum smell.

Although a bit hard to see, here is some evidence from the earthquake from 2010.

I bought a newspaper for my bus ride, this is what I found in the national news section.

"Pier ruins graduation photo" this is US news.  Right below it : "55 dead in Syria."

I'm not sure if those two pieces of new equate...

Alma Atta Emporio

Sometimes I work in the cafe here.  It is totally different work than when I am on the farm.  I wash dishes, serve coffee and try to understand Spanish.  All of the products used in the cafe are organice (mostly), and most of the people who come in are fancy.  It is like a cafe from New York in an underdeveloped plaza near Chillan where chickens and rabbits run around outside.




On Thursday I worked in the cafe during an event that they held at night.  At 7pm 20 women showed up to put make up on each other and to paint tiny statues of la virgen.  They ate some dinner, stayed until 11pm and then left.   ????

They make apple juice from the apples on the farm.  It tastes very different from all other apple juice I have tried.  Those girls on the bottle are Nico and Gracias' daughters.


outside the cafe.