The night before was a frenzy of getting all of my groceries to fit into my bags and also email all of my students to remind them of cancelled classes while I was gone. I also had to figure out how to get to the airport since my flight was at 8:20 AM and wanted to avoid the rush hour. Luckily I found a shuttle bus service (even cheaper than Turbus) that got me there in plenty of time.
With the exception of some crying children the flight was pretty uneventful. It was a 5 hour flight, but with a personal TV type thing in front of each seat you had games to play, movies to watch, and music to listen to. I got to see Liar Liar and really enjoyed it.
I ended up being on jamón overload, as I got a ham cheese and egg sandwich and Dunkin Donuts before getting on the flight. For breakfast they served a ham and cheese sandwich, and then as a snack later on it was a small ham and cheese croissant.
It was warm and sunny when I landed, and people were really excited to be there. A lot of people were taking pictures right after getting off the plane. My hostel had free pickup at the airport, and I was greeted with a lei too. After waiting for some other people to get their bags (I brought my bulging bag of groceries on the flight without a problem) we headed to the hostel.
3 middle-aged women from Australia arrived on the same flight, and we chatted on the ride back. We were greeted with fresh squeezed orange juice before I decided to go out and explore. The downtown area is pretty small and you can explore it completely on foot. I checked out some travel agencies to figure out how I was going to spend my time here.
After getting some info and stopping for some 3 leches ice cream I headed back to the hostel. It turns out that electricity was out on the island, and besides me and the 3 women only one other person was staying at the hostel. I laid down for a nap around 6:00 and the next thing I knew it was already 11 that night. So I turned in and decided to make the rest of my time count.
Here's a few pictures from the outside of my hostel. Yes, they had banana trees there:
And here was breakfast, with bananas right off the tree and fresh squeezed juice:
I found a good deal for a full day tour, which took me to see a lot of the famed Moai statues as well as to the beautiful beach of Anakena. The Moai were constructed as gravestones for deceased natives, and so they hold a special significance in that way. They were constructed and then placed on top of the platforms, but some of them toppled over or never made it to the platforms. Here are some pictures of what I saw so far:
I rented a bike for the day tomorrow, and for Monday I am also getting body art done. I am debating between snorkeling and going to the beach with the rest of my time on Monday, as I go back on Tuesday in the late morning. Now it´s time to go catch the sunset and soak up some more sun.
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