We finally made it to Easter Island, so you can stop listening to me bitch about Tahiti like it's the worst place in the world (for the record: I wouldn't go back there). Last night went as well as it could have possibly gone - when we went to check in for our flight, we discovered that we were both in business class, which is possibly the only thing that stopped us from getting truly stabby. So we didn't have to suffer through the ridiculously long lines, and we were able to get a bit of sleep in some surprisingly nice beds with surprisingly nice amenities. Granted, it wasn't enough sleep to make today easy - I think we got three hours or so, which meant that when we finally got to the hotel (at seven am), we promptly crawled into bed and slept until noon.
So the rest of the day was a bit miserable, but a bit wonderful...we walked into town and saw some moai (the giant stone heads that Easter Island is famous for) along the way, which were pretty awesome. We grabbed a late lunch at a promising-looking restaurant that actually lived up to the promise; I had the first great steak of the trip, and it was enough to reenergize me for some more walking/sightseeing. Then we went to the museum and read about the moai and Rapa Nui's civilization. Not much is known about Rapa Nui's past (before the Europeans, before it became Easter Island), mostly because almost all of the citizens died/were killed/were enslaved in a very short time frame in the 1800s, which is deadly for the passing on of an entirely oral history. But the stone heads that remain, on an island that is farther away from other inhabited points than any other inhabited place on earth, are pretty haunting.
After the museum, we came back to the hotel to use the internet, and we very nearly succumbed to the allure of eating granola bars and staying in because we're both so wiped out from the trip. But if I had to sit around for yet another day doing nothing, after the day we spent in Bora Bora using the spa before our flight, and then the day we spent in Tahiti staring at nothing because we had nothing to do in Tahiti, I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. So I dragged Joann back into town, where we found a dance festival in progress, so we watched that for a bit. And then we had a delightful dinner while discussing linguistics, family trees, etc.
Getting back to the hotel was a bit interesting; this was the reason why we'd hesitated to go out, since the walk back in the dark would be super sketchy (there is enough horseshit between the hotel and town to bury a man in, without even having time to be worried about the feral dogs or the rock-strewn mud paths or the complete lack of streetlights). But we managed to find a taxi; granted, he wore a hood like he was some sort of grim reaper, but he got us back to the hotel without drama.
And now, I'm desperate to sleep - we're doing a tour tomorrow (which was supposed to be today, but they were kind enough to rebook us), and I'm excited to see more moai at the end of the world. Goodnight!
So the rest of the day was a bit miserable, but a bit wonderful...we walked into town and saw some moai (the giant stone heads that Easter Island is famous for) along the way, which were pretty awesome. We grabbed a late lunch at a promising-looking restaurant that actually lived up to the promise; I had the first great steak of the trip, and it was enough to reenergize me for some more walking/sightseeing. Then we went to the museum and read about the moai and Rapa Nui's civilization. Not much is known about Rapa Nui's past (before the Europeans, before it became Easter Island), mostly because almost all of the citizens died/were killed/were enslaved in a very short time frame in the 1800s, which is deadly for the passing on of an entirely oral history. But the stone heads that remain, on an island that is farther away from other inhabited points than any other inhabited place on earth, are pretty haunting.
After the museum, we came back to the hotel to use the internet, and we very nearly succumbed to the allure of eating granola bars and staying in because we're both so wiped out from the trip. But if I had to sit around for yet another day doing nothing, after the day we spent in Bora Bora using the spa before our flight, and then the day we spent in Tahiti staring at nothing because we had nothing to do in Tahiti, I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. So I dragged Joann back into town, where we found a dance festival in progress, so we watched that for a bit. And then we had a delightful dinner while discussing linguistics, family trees, etc.
Getting back to the hotel was a bit interesting; this was the reason why we'd hesitated to go out, since the walk back in the dark would be super sketchy (there is enough horseshit between the hotel and town to bury a man in, without even having time to be worried about the feral dogs or the rock-strewn mud paths or the complete lack of streetlights). But we managed to find a taxi; granted, he wore a hood like he was some sort of grim reaper, but he got us back to the hotel without drama.
And now, I'm desperate to sleep - we're doing a tour tomorrow (which was supposed to be today, but they were kind enough to rebook us), and I'm excited to see more moai at the end of the world. Goodnight!
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