Our arrival into Chile brought us to the Atacama desert which is in the northern part of Chile. We were with the adventure company Explora. They had a little debriefing explaining the nature of their set up and after hearing this Brad and I decided to pay a little visit to the gift shop. You see, as we set out for this trip not a lot of information was given to us as to what we would be doing exactly. (thanks DW I got some new clothes). Explora is an active exploration lodge that you sign up for daily activities and a guide takes you on them. So we signed up for a few hikes the next day and decided to get to bed early since we had been traveling for the last 24 hours. Three of those hours were sitting on the Tarmac in Atlanta while a major lightening storm rolled by!!
As could only happen to Brad and I, we woke up late and had just 3 min to get to our meeting point. Brad called the front desk to see if they could make a little something for us to eat along the way, since we'd be hiking all morning. Once we got to our destination our guide gathered us for some instruction. He took one look at us and asks in puzzlement do you have a backpack? We didn't of course. So he politely offers to carry our water bottles. We only had those because they gave them to us when they picked us up. Did I mention we were very ill prepared!!
Looking out at this barren rocky dry land it was hard to believe we were in for anything that interesting because desert was all you could see for miles and miles. It reminded us a lot of southern Utah. Two little shacks at the beginning of our hike belonged to some shepherds. The guide explained that they belonged to the last two shepherds in the area and they happen to be 80 year old women!! They hike in and out of this canyon and sleep on the hard earth. Once they die there will be no more native shepherds on the land. So off we go to hike what is known as the cactus canyon. We did discover a holding pen for their animals.
Sometimes it doesn't rain here for 10-15 years. This last year they had 5 hours of rain in one day which produced these beautiful flowers. Our guide had never seen these in all his years.
At the end of the adventure they set up a little picnic with juices, sodas, fruits and nuts for you to enjoy.
We took a quick jaunt into town and I, of course, found the cemetery and a really cool cactus door, the things i love finding while traveling!!
Later that afternoon we had another adventure out to the salt flats, similar to ours in Utah, to view the sunset and pelican refuge. Along our way we stopped at this little village that was founded by the Inca's. They still use a dam that was constructed by them centuries ago.
We concluded our night with a visit to the largest privately owned observatory in the world which had a great view of Saturn. Several miles away is the ALMA Project, the largest array of telescopes in the world. That area was chosen because the telescopes are only obstructed by cloud cover for less then 30 days out of the year and no light pollution.
Our last adventure here in the Atacama was a hike to the Valley of Death. They are enormous sand dunes. We acted like kids and ran down the mountain of sand.
We flew back to Santiago and drove to Valparaiso, one area Brad served while on his mission. It was great seeing this with Brad. We had some neat experiences. One was finding his papito, the husband of the family he used to live with. On Sunday we drove to punchuncavi and had a fabulous day visiting with Brads' mamita and other people he associated with while on his mission. These people are truly happy with what little they have, even when the floors of their homes are dirt! Since i couldn't understand the conversations I spent my time wondering how they swept the floor under the table.
EASTER ISLAND
Another flight to get out to what is known as the most remote island in the world!! It is known as Rapa Nui by the islanders. The history of Easter Island is rich and controversial. Its inhabitants have endured famines, epidemics, civil war, slave raids, colonialism, and near deforestation; its population declined precipitously more than once. Again, we were with the Explora outfit.
So after arriving we decided to do the "Cliffs and Caves" hike. Because this is a volcanic island there are several tunnels and caves that were formed by gas bubbles when the eruption took place. The caves were used for shelter and to house sheep. This island was once covered with a gigantic palm trees that are no longer on the earth today. There are many theories of what might have happened to them but nothing is for sure.
The following are pictures of the early inhabitants way "housing". The bow shape is a foundation for their house. The walled circle was to hold the animals. Smaller stones were used for fire.
The island is also known for the more than 1,000 Moai that are there. These are massive statues that were carved out of volcanic ash that had transformed into rock. They were placed on top of a sacred platform were they faced their village. They are said to represent ancestors and when they would carve another one they would cut the existing one down and use it as the base for new ones. The eyes were done last and were made out of coral and obsidian rock. (only one eye has ever been found). It's mind boggling to understand how they moved these heavy statues from the quarry to atop the platforms and even miles away. There are many speculations but no one really knows. One of the most interesting facts about the Moai's is that when a french expedition arrived in 1772 ALL of them had been toppled over. Again no one knows exactly why, but they speculate that tribes on the island fought each other and did it to represent victory. At the height of this culture there were 15-20 thousand people on the island and at one point got down to 100+. Today 4,500 hundred people live there and the horse population out numbers the people 5 to 1!! The history of this society is fascinating but leaves so many questions unanswered, partly because it comes from many different oral traditions.
Most settlements were located on the coast and moai were erected along the coastline, watching over their descendants in the settlements before them, with their backs toward the spirit world in the sea.
The only moai with eyes!! They claim they had eyes because of white coral fragment found near the statues.
Petroglyph of a turtle and the most moais together - 15!!
A circular stone fence calls attention to the importance of this flawlessly round, magnetic rock that many locals still believe contains spiritual power (according to legend, the islanders’ first king, Hotu Matu’a, arrived with the stone). Its name – Te Pito O Te Henua – literally translates as “navel of the world,” perhaps indicating how the first settlers saw their land. When holding a compass on top of the rock it will not point to north but held a few inches above the rock it will point north, of course Brad pulled out his iphone to test this theory out and sure enough it was true.
Rano Ranaku, a dead volcano that served as the quarry where Rapa Nui built their moai. There are about three hundred unfinished moai in this quarry, the largest one would have stood 60 feet tall. Though no one is sure how they were moved and throughout the whole island you can find Moais on their way to where ever their final alter was suppose to be.
The only kneeling moai and a view of "the 15" near the top of the quarry.
Another little hike takes you to the other side of the mountain, once at the top your surprised to find a lake. It is a beautiful place and of course there are more moai.
Bird Man Crater- we didn't actually get to see this because of the rain but drove by it. The legend is quite fascinating. The chief of a tribe picked his best competitor to participated in this competition if he won that chief would become king and the "prize" for the competitor was a virgin woman! To know if she was a virgin they would give her a little looksy then decide if she was. If they decided she wasn't they tossed her into the crater. For the competition they had to climb down a cliff, swim to "Bird Island", wait for this specific bird to hatch an egg, swim back with the egg then give it to the chief.
It was time for our journey to end on Easter Island. What an awe inspiring trip that really caused you to think about this tiny island. We left with so many questions that we bought a book when we got home. We boarded the plane, yet again, for the flight back to Chile.
Santiago
Our last day in Chile we spent in Santiago. One of the most famous things about this area are the wine vineyards. We visited the Concha Y Toro wine vineyard. It has beautiful grounds and a funny legend about a devil living in the cellar.
We had a lovely lunch with another one of Brad's mamitas and her children. It's fun to see their excitement upon seeing him again. Some had traveled two hours for the brief lunch. They gave me a beautiful silver necklace as a gift. Our guide then took us on a tour of the city, seeing government buildings, the pre-Columbian museum and the Cathedral. The time had come that we started our journey back home. I loved seeing this part of the world and Brad back in his element.
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