I’m becoming like one of Pavlov’s dogs, because every time that I hear the word “airplane,” I think free meal! free movie! free music! This is the kind of thing that is exciting when you live out of a backpack and only own 7 pairs of underwear.
We had quite a surprising gnocchi on the way to Easter Island…
Island life is aesthetically pleasing, if somewhat slow. And EXPENSIVE. We did our grocery shopping in Santiago before getting on the plane, so we arrived with I don’t know how many pounds of groceries on our backs (I couldn’t even lift my backpack by myself to get it on!) and arrived ready to spend as little money as possible.
The island was formed by 3 neighboring volcanoes, but it is really small. There is only one town – Hanga Roa – then the giant heads and then… free-wandering livestock. We had heard before we went that people tend to spend not longer than 3 or so days there. We were there a full week, but I actually think that that was a good amount of time. It’s the perfect amount of time if you are up for exploring the island on foot, and taking your time.
There are tens of caves along the coastline that are good for exploring, beautiful hikes up to the tops of the volcanoes and, if you get really bored, you can walk home from the island’s 2 beaches, which are 18 kilometers from town. Here is what I learned, though. Even if you are bored, you might want to take a taxi or something back to town because of THE BULLS THAT RUN FREE. I don’t need to ever do the running of the bulls after being grunted at by the biggest car-sized bull I have ever seen in my life.
I was walking with 3 stray dogs who seemed to think I was headed somewhere interesting and all 3 of those little traitors cowered behind me, while I cowered behind what looked like a climbable tree and thought about how I wasn’t ready to die. The bull stomped and took a few steps, but then seemed to think I wasn’t worth the effort and kind of wandered off.
I accepted the very next ride offered to me. (On the island everyone hitchhikes everywhere. Even if you don’t want a ride, people are always trying to offer you one. Qué amable!)
We spent many happy afternoons reading (we are both obsessed with our current books – Sophie’s Choice and Mollie Peer or the Adventures of the Moosepath League) on the beach in town (there is one… but it’s 6 feet long and always filled with local naked babies and strays taking a leak), hiking around and exploring all the different moai sights (moai are the giant statues).
We did fork over the cash for a paid tour of the moai, which we (or I) begrudgingly opened my wallet for so that we could get a little more information, to put everything in context. I also spent one cozy rainy afternoon at the local library researching the island. Yeah, it goes a bit slower in Spanish, but it still went.
So, then, we were wondering where the best place to buy crafts was and we were told… the prison. Of course.
You know what I love about Easter Island? How they let you wander around the prison.
You walk over near the areaa of the prison and ask directions. A guy from the agricultural control told us where to go. Then you just walk in the gate because the gate REMAINS OPEN. There are 3 prisoners. Two of them are robbers and one of them is a murderer… but it was ‘just’ a crime of passion, as it was explained to us. In other words, they aren’t worried about him killing tourists buying crafts… with the CHAINSAW that they give them to build things. Literally, they have a chainsaw. See the pics!
So in we walked and checked out what they had there. Jillian bought a lovely present for her parents. Can’t say what it is, though (HI JOAN AND DAVID!). And then we were given multiple free crafts as Christmas presents. Jillian and I each got a ring and a chicken feather necklace and then (and this is my favorite), Jillian got a strawberry made out of volcanic rock. This still confuses us.
I also got a freaking volcano pencil holder. It’s made out of wood that happens to have the shape of the volcano closest to the prison. The guy INSISTED I take it with me. So I got it for free, but now it’s going to cost me 80 dollars to mail it home because it weighs like 5 pounds. The prisoner who gave it to me also insisted that I prove to him that I knew how to put the pencils in their proper place. He didn’t believe that I had seen a pencil holder before or something, I don’t know.
In any case, after listening to a few Berlin songs and posing for pictures, we walked right out of the prison and hitched a ride back to town, where we ran into the agricultural guy who had given us the directions.
“Hello!,” he said. “Do you remember me?” (He was out of his uniform and wearing a t-shirt, at the park.) We said yes and he said, “Great! When do you leave?” and we told him the next day. He put on his most serious face and answered (this is what I love about small towns), “Oh! Well I am also the x-ray machine man at the airport. Now, no fruits, no rocks, no sand, yes? You know? Yes? Okay. See you tomorrow. No fruits!”
I don’t love flying over oceans, but we had that yum gnocchi again on the way back… another successful vacation from our vacation.
