Sorry in advance for any spelling mistakes, this is a bizarre keyboard that has all these keys that I´ve never seen before like ç, ñ, º and ª and none of the other keys are in the right spot! I just had to ask someone how to make the @ symbol which is pretty embarrassing! I guess I should have paid more attention in Spanish class!
I spent all day Saturday flying from Salvador to Sao Paolo and then Sao Paolo to Santiago. Sunday morning was spent touring Santiago Chile which was amazing and I would love to go back. It was awesome to turn a corner and see the Andes mountains. It was a bit chilly in Chile but I guess since it´s winter that´s to be expected. The airport was freezing cause it had no ceiling. Chile had an 8.8 earthquake about 6 months ago and while it´s amazing how little damage there is, the drop ceiling in the airport fell down making and they are still working on putting it back up. It was not totally reassuring that my driver gave me instructions on what to do in case of an earthquake on the way to my hotel, especially since his instructions were, if you´re in bed you may as well sit there and enjoy it cause there´s nothing else to do.
Yesterday afternoon it was back to the airport for another long flight. Basically we turned west at Santiago and flew about 2000 miles from anywhere. At the moment I am in the most isolated inhabited place on earth. Some people call it Rapa Nui. Others call it Te Pito O Te Henua (The Navel of the World). The Chileans call it Isla de Pascua. About 3000 people call it home. Most Americans who have heard of it call it Easter Island. Technically Easter Island is part of Chile although the people are of Polynesian descent (and speak both Spanish and their native language) and many of them don´t want to be a part of Chile. Actually, right now there is a protest going on where many of the native families have been camping out on government owned land which was taken from their families without compensation. Apparently the Chilean government sent more police here this weekend and were threatening to remove the people by force this afternoon but fortunately that did not happen.
Anyway, Easter Island is most famous for the Moai, the rock statues with the big heads that are all over the island. They are amazing to see in person (I will post pictures when I get back) If you´ve never seen one, they look like Squidward´s house on Spongebob! After being woken up very early by a crowing rooster (who knew they crow all day and all night) I spent the day touring some of the moai and the surrounding area. Tomorrow I head out for a day tour to see the most famous moai on the beach on the other side of the island and the quarry that they got the stone from to make them. It should be a fun day. Now I´m off to watch the sunset over the moai on the beach outside my hotel room!
I'm so fascinated by this - can't way to see pics! I really need to look at a map and see where the end of the earth really is. Long live qwerty! Glad you enjoyed Chile - you'll have to tell Liza a little about it!
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