Hanga Roa, Chile, South America

I had a great first day on the island today! The weather didn’t quite agree with me the whole time, but for the first half of the day it was glorious! I got a really good night’s sleep at the hostel last night, and had a good breakfast to start off the day. Nothing special, but a couple of rolls with cheese and jam, with some coffee or tea. Not bad for a free breakfast.

I decided that I wanted to walk around the island instead of take a bike or scooter today, so I headed off to the south. I walked around the airport and then started the hike up to Orongo. The signs said it was 1.5 hours to get up there, but in about 50 minutes I made it up to the top. It was beautiful. There was no one else around. The rain stayed away for the entire hike to the top, and the volcanic crater that I came upon at the top of the mountain was a very nice surprise. I really didn’t expect to see that when I get there, so I was pleasantly surprised.

I finished my hike at the small ceremonial town next to the crater called Orongo. This is a place where the locals built houses inside rock huts in the cliffs hundreds of years ago and they would stay here during religious ceremonies. Because of the intense winds and rains, the door to get into the huts are tiny, about 2ft by 2ft. It’s a pretty smart way of building houses so close to the water though.

I finished the walk up there and decided I was going to check out another site down at sea level called Vinapu. Just before I reached the bottom of the volcano, the rain started. I had a choice, either a 15 minute walk back to the hostel, or a 40 minute walk to Vinapu. I decided to put my waterproof gear on, and hike over to Vinapu. Mistake. The rain never stopped. It just got harder. I got over to Vinapu, saw the ceremonial site, which was not very impressive, and then had a 45 minute walk around the other end of the airport to get back into town. I was completely soaked. Completely. That part wasn’t so fun. Originally I had planned on walking further down to another site with some Moai across town, but by the time I got to my hostel, all I wanted was a hot shower. That’s exactly what I got.

I got a hot shower, put on some dry clothes and relaxed for about an hour before going out to get some food. I found a good place for dinner where I could have a salad, grilled chicken with rice, and a coke for about $12. Not bad considering I was told how outrageously expensive everything on this island would be. I’m pretty happy with that price for dinner. I also went to the dive shop and signed up for a couple of dives for tomorrow. It looks like it could rain for part of the day again tomorrow, so if I’m going to be wet anyway, I might as well be diving. And the good thing is, it’s not too early. I just have to be down there for 9am, so that’s easy. Now I just have to hope there is something worth seeing in the water…