Looking back - Isla de Pascua

Hello Friends!

I haven’t updated the blog in a few months, and I apologize for that.  A lot has been going on, and I was more focused on doing than writing.  It’s time to catch up a bit, so get ready!

As I mentioned before, February was a busy month.  I visited Uruguay with some friends, Eduardo and I went to Easter Island, and my mom and sister came to visit. I’ve already shared the events of my trip to Uruguay, so now it’s time to tell you all about the most incredible place I’ve ever been- Easter Island.

Easter Island is located 2,182 miles from Chile, and 1,289 miles from the Pitcairn Islands.  And that’s it.  These are the closest inhabited lands, making Easter Island the most remote inhabited spot in the world.  The flight is five hours, and upon arrival you really feel how isolated you are.  For one thing, it’s extremely windy.  There is nothing but ocean around you in all directions so the wind has nothing to slow it down.  Also, when you look out at the horizon you can see the curve of the Earth.  I know it sounds like a trick of the eye, but scientists have confirmed that this is actually possible, using gadgets that are far more high tech than my eyes. 

That little white dot is Easter Island

Of course, this is only the beginning of the Easter Island magic.  The island was settled by the Rapa Nui people in the first century, and descendants have lived there ever since.  The story is that seven original explorers set out from elsewhere in Polynesia and after (probably) a great deal of time, came to the island that would be called, also, Rapa Nui.  Considering how remote the island is, it amazes me that they found it at all.  Of course, there may have been some less successful journeys previously.  The population thrived for centuries, and in that time they built hundreds of the famous Moai statues.  The statues were built to represent their ancestors, as the Rapa Nui practiced ancestor worship.

(One of) the incredible things about the Moai statues is that they were all carved from rock in one specific volcano on the island.  Easter Island is triangular in shape, and has a volcano at each of its corners, plus many smaller ones around the rest of the island.  The rock from which the Moai are carved is found in a smaller volcano, Rano Raraku, in the east. 

All of the Moai were carved there, and only after they were complete were they transported to their final locations around the island.  Easter Island is only about 63 sq miles, but when the only mode of transportation is rolling logs, this is a major feat.  To complicate matters further, many of the Moai have hats, called Pukao, which are carved from red volcanic rock.  This rock is found only in a quarry on the western side of the Island called Puna Pau, so all Pukao had to be carved separately from the statues, and brought together at the Ahu, or altar.  When the Moai were placed upright on the Ahu, a ramp was fashioned in order to roll the Pukao onto the head of the Moai. 

A field of Pukao

There are roughly 887 Moais on the Island, although not all of them are outside, intact or upright.  Even though the Islanders were all called Rapa Nui, there were tribes on the island, and they did not always get along.  Apparently during infighting, Moais of a certain lineage would be toppled.  In the centuries since, some have been restored but there are still many that remain face down, often broken.  It’s a bit sad, but also very powerful.  They feel forgotten, abandoned, and somehow remind you how isolated you are at that moment. 

Our journey to the “Naval of the World” began with a delay.  LAN airlines delayed our flight by nine hours, so instead of arriving at 5:00 PM, we arrived at 2:00 in the morning.  We were sort of exhausted, but as soon as we got off the plane, the excitement woke us up.

We were met at the airport by one of the staff from our hostal, presented with flower leis, and driven into the town of Hanga Roa.  Hanga Roa is the main, and only, town on the island.  It’s small, but very sweet.  We checked into our room and then opted to go for a walk.  There wasn’t much we could see at 2:30 AM, and we couldn’t go very far since there are minimal street lamps.  When we got to the outskirts of the town, we didn’t want to go much further for fear of getting lost, but we spent some time just staring up at the skies.  I have never seen brighter stars in my life, and I know I keep harping on this, but we really felt how distant we were from anywhere we knew.

We woke up the next morning, had a nice breakfast and set off on rented bikes.  We opted to ride along the southern side of the island, from Hanga Roa towards the Rano Raraku volcano.  Along the way, we came across a horse racing event which was part of the Tapati festival, which is held each year.  The festival lasts two weeks and consists of several competitions, including several races, dancing, singing and others.  We watched the horse races for a bit, ate some mini pineapples, and enjoyed the view. 

 After our break we continued along the southern road, over hills and through fields.  Along the way we saw several Ahus, and Moai too, but none were upright.  We figured that the tribes on this side of the island must have been on the losing end of any conflicts. 

 Onward we pedaled, stopping for photo opportunities, getting closer and closer to standing Moai.  Finally we arrived at Rano Raraku National Park, and we could see the famous Moai dotting the hillside.  You see, while all of the Moai were carved there, not all of them ventured very far.  It appears that the hillside of Rano Raraku was sort of a “holding pen” for the completed Moai until they could be transported.  As many of them were never moved, we’re left with what feels like a grazing herd of Moai.  It’s incredible.

However, before hiking up into the hill we went into a little café at the base, where I met and melted for four tiny kittens.  They had bells around their necks so you could hear them coming, and they bounded around the café, chasing each other and the customers.  They were very nice lunch companions. 

Eduardo finally managed to drag me away from the kittens, and we started our hike.  There’s a path that takes you along the hillside, and signs that kindly ask you not to climb on the Moai.  I cannot imagine what kind of fool needs to be told that, but you can’t underestimate tourists.  We heard that in 2008, a tourist chipped a piece off one of the Moai as a souvenir!  He was fined $17,000 and banned from the island.  What a fool.

After walking among the herd, we hiked up into the volcano itself.  It’s an extinct volcano, and there is now a lake in the basin.  We took off our shoes and waded in a bit to cool off.  We wanted to go swimming, but we stupidly didn’t bring our bathing suits, and we didn’t think it would be appropriate to go in au natural.  We sat dangling our feet in and watched some locals cutting up and binding banana leaves for one of the main events of the Tapati festival.  The main event is a race down the hillside of another volcano, sliding on a bundle of banana leaves.  It’s supposed to be one of the most exciting events of the year, so of course it was taking place the day after our departure.  Still, we got to see some of the behind the scenes preparation.  We also sat and watched some of the wild horses run amok around the lake.  The island has a large wild horse population, and there were several living, or at least hanging out, in this crater. 

 

 

We left Rano Raraku, and continued by bike to the most eastern corner of the island.  Further up is Ahu Tongariki, with 15 Moai.  It’s pretty impressive, as the altar is in the middle of rocky land with nothing around for miles, so the Moai tower above everything. 

The famous fifteen

We continued on from there on a road that went up the eastern side of the Island, and which all of our maps stated was well paved.  This is a lie.  It was a painful road to ride, not least because it was uphill the entire way.  It was also rocky and full of tree roots, and made me swore never to get on a bike again.  After the better part of an hour, we made it to the point halfway up the eastern side of the island that connects with the main road on the island, which is paved, thankfully.  Of course, it’s also uphill.  We rode back to Hanga Roa and promptly collapsed.

After showering and having a short siesta, we walked down to the main park near the harbor where there was a stage set up for the Tapati festival.  We ate some delicious food, watched some performances, and then went back to the hostal and fell asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, despite my pledge never to get on that bike again, we rode to the western corner, to visit another extinct volcano.  We had the option of riding our bikes to the top, and Eduardo thought it would be fun but I thought it would be insane.  We decided to leave the bikes at the bottom and hike up through the trees.  Just walking up the hill was brutal, so I’m glad we opted to leave the bikes. 

At the top of the volcano, you can look down into the crater to see another lake.  You can’t go down into the crater, but the view from above is stunning.

We continued along the edge of the crater to the farthest point possible- the western corner of the volcano, and the island.  Off the coast of these cliffs there are a huge rocks/islands that were the site of the Birdman Competitions.  This competition was held every year, when leader of the different tribes would swim out to the first rock and wait for a migratory bird to arrive and lay it's first egg. The first man to swim back to the mainland with the egg was given the title of the Bird Man, and honored all year.

It's even farther than it looks.

We hiked back down, which was equally brutal and rode back to town for lunch.

In the afternoon we traded the bikes for a motorcycle, and headed for the beach.  Surprisingly, Easter Island only has one real beach, but it’s incredible.  It’s on the north-eastern side of the island, and the water is warm, the sand is fine, and there are of course Moais.  We sat in the sun, played in the warm water and took many pictures.

These poor guys can't even look at the beach.

The next morning we headed north from the town on another truly awful road, along the coast.  We found more ruined Moais and Ahus, but these seemed to be forgotten.  If we wanted to, we could walk right up and touch them, or break off a piece if we wanted to be total jerks.  We were careful not to disturb them in any way, but it was so incredible to walk between the fallen stones; we were totally alone and it was a really special feeling.

We continued on our bumpy way and came to an area that was known for the large underground caves.  We found what looked to be a hole covered by branches, so we jumped in to investigate.  “Hey, it goes in a little bit!”  “Hey, there’s another room!”  “Hey, there’s a huge network of caves that extends for miles!”  We lit up our headlamps and trekked through as much as we could.  I don’t think I've ever been in caves like these, and it was creepy and dark and thrilling. 

We ended up at a wide opening with some basic steps to get into the caverns, and we realized that this was where most people entered the caves.  Still, most people probably don’t go very far into the caves, so I like our way better.

Where we entered the caves

Where everyone else enters the caves

Our last stop with the motorcycle was Ahu Akivi, which is home to the only Moai that are facing the ocean.  There are seven of them, and they represent the seven original explorers who originally came to the island.  Again, I was amazed at how they could find this little dot in the center of the ocean.  This Ahu was also fairly isolated, and by this time I was really starting to understand the spiritual nature of the place.  It’s hard to explain, but the Moai are so stoic, so peaceful looking, and knowing what they represent and how long they’ve been gazing out over the island gave me a feeling of tranquility.  I’m also convinced that there must be some kind of magnetic energy or something around the island itself, because I had a simultaneous feeling of isolation and connectedness that made me feel so at peace.

The seven explorers 

And their view

This feeling really hit me that evening, our last, when we went to watch the sunset.  Our flight left at 10 PM, so we had time to return to the big park in the town where we were told we could find the best views of the sunset.  We came early, and we sat.  Nothing more.  There were many people around, mostly tourists, and there was an air of anticipation because the sunset spot is not a secret.  As the sun went lower and lower, I couldn’t help but feel a little sad that our visit was ending, but the view and the sunset were so spectacular I also felt happy and grateful. 

After dark, we could see people preparing for the evening’s festivities of the Rapa Nui festival.  From what I could see, the competition that evening was going to be traditional dancing.  Unfortunately, we had to leave before it began.  But, after the sun had set, a few singers came out to sing traditional Rapa Nui music to entertain the waiting crowds.  I think that sitting on the grass, looking at the Moais lit up by moonlight and torches, and listening to the beautiful sounds of the music was one of the most special moments in my life.  I was so completely content, and I could have stayed for hours.  Of course, we couldn’t stay, and when we reluctantly left the park I felt like a spell had been broken.  We could still hear the music, faintly, and I felt so drawn to it, but we had to keep walking back to reality. 

We left the island late in the evening, and slept on the flight back to Santiago.  When they woke us up for our descent, it felt a little like I was waking up from a dream. 

We want to go back someday, but logistically it could be difficult.  Still, I can confidently say that Easter Island is the most special place I’ve ever visited, and one I’ll never be able to forget. 

Uruguashos

Hello Friends!  It's been a busy month, very exciting, so I'm sorry I haven't updated more.  As I mentioned, the month of February was full of travelling and adventures, so I want to try to update as soon as I can.

February started with an incredible trip to Easter Island.  This place has been in the top three of my list of places to visit for as long as I can remember, so actually being there was incredible.  However, I'm not going to write about Easter Island right now.  It was so incredible that I haven't fully processed it yet.  I will need a lot of time to reflect and write about it, and time is something I don't have so much of. So, stay tuned for that.   But in the meantime, here's a teaser:

Moais at sunset

A few days after returning from Easter Island, I set off for Uruguay with my friend Natalia.  Natalia, like most Chileans, has her vacation in February so she had convinced me to join her in Uruguay months ago.  Neither of us had ever been, and I was really looking forward to it.  We visited the capital, Montevideo, and the town of Colonia about three hours outside of Montevideo.  I enjoyed it, and it was a ton of fun spending time with Natalia and her cousin, but to be perfectly honest I was underwhelmed by Montevideo.  It's a nice enough city, but not particularly beautiful or interesting.  Even the presidential building is just a normal office building.  Hardly impressive.  Part of this is probably because I know close to nothing about Uruguay or it's history, so I wasn't sure what to look for.  This is my fault, but the city wasn't really helping me out.  One thing I will say though is that since Montevideo is on the coast, there are beaches everywhere and the water was incredible and warm.  You could just see the Uruguayans loving life and spending every spare moment on the beach.  Not a bad life.

We left Montevideo after three days and really, I think that was sufficient for me.  We took the bus to Colonia, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It's a small town, further north but still on the coast, and very sweet.  I can see why it's a World Heritage Site.  The houses are cute and distinct, and the whole town has a relaxed and laid back feeling.  It was perfect for strolling and sitting with a beer or glass of wine.

We strolled and sat the first day, and the next day we rented a ridiculous off-road golf cart to explore further outside of the downtown area.  It was slow, noisy and absolutely wonderful.  (The sites outside of town however, were underwhelming.) 

The final day was rainy, which suited me fine.  There wasn't much left to see, and I had a lot of work to do.  We took the bus back to Montevideo and out to the airport for our late night flight home.  I really enjoyed the trip and it was great to spend some girls only time.  

I got back from Uruguay on Tuesday, worked for some days, and this morning we went to the airport to pick up my mom and my sister!  They're visiting for a week, and I've got big plans for them.  We're going to the north and to Viña del Mar, and of course spend some time in Santiago.  I wanted to get this post done before we headed out , so please excuse the brevity.  I'll be sure to update you on the Ewen family adventures next week!  I know it seems like I've just been flitting around this month, and maybe that's sort of true, but remember that Chile goes on vacation in February and since I'm a teacher, if my students go away I have no one to teach.  So that's my excuse.  I probably won't have very exciting updates for the next three years after this while I'm working to pay it off.  Such is life.  

Until next time! 

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Hellooo loyal followers - happy new year!  I hope everyone has had a good start to 2013, and that you’re not all too cold.  I’ve been watching the news and following the weather, and it seems to be total crap up there.  I’ve been at the beach almost every weekend, and sorry, I’m not sorry.  I lived in Germany for three years which meant 47 total hours of summer.  I’m going to enjoy every minute of this weather!

Still, I’ve been much busier this year than I was last year.  I was working for Eduardo last year and tutoring a bit, but I still hadn’t found my niche.  It’s hard moving to a totally new place, and making friends outside of a school environment can be tough.  It’s even tougher when you have the language skills of a 3 year old.  This year, though, has been pleasantly busy.  I have a few private students who I’m teaching, and I’ve also connected with a company that provides business English classes in professional companies so now I have a few “professional” students as well.  It’s fun, and it keeps me on my toes, although it frequently means starting the day at 7:30 AM and finishing around 9:00 PM.  Still, I’m gaining experience and money so I’m not complaining. 

Another fun “work” opportunity came from a friend of mine who works in the press department for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Chile.  She told me that there was a summit coming up in Santiago, and they were looking for some people to help out for the week of the summit.  I said sure and went to a meeting at the Ministry for a large group interview.  For whatever reason, they thought I was qualified so I was hired for the week.  It turns out that the summit is actually two summits: the CELAC summit and the CELAC-UE summit.  CELAC is the organization of Caribbean and Latin American countries, and the UE is the European Union (Unión Europea).  This summit is like a who’s who of head honchos in this world.  Heads of state from almost all of the 61 countries involved are here, and they are talking about very important things, like trade agreements, sustainable development, human rights, women’s rights, and probably other things like who has the best football team.  I was really excited to be involved, until I saw that my role was “translation assistant”.  I had visions of some emergency situations in which I would have to translate something personally for Chancellor Angela Merkel into German from Spanish, while TV cameras rolled and probably something was on fire.  

I'm sure creating this picture puts me on some EU watch list. 

As it turns out, I’m just helping with the translation of photo captions, television captions, biographies of the Heads of State, and some occasional speeches.  There are two head translators who are fluent in English and Spanish, so they are the ones that are taking care of the heavy stuff. 

However, yesterday I was called upon to translate some German, and my visions of flames and TV cameras started again.  Basically, some journalists from Spain came to our little room and asked if anyone understood German.  I said that I did, but that my speaking skills were limited.  “No problem, that’s just what we need.  Come on! Rapido!”  They told me that they needed something translated from German into Spanish, and I figured I could do it as long as I did the translation to English in the middle.  Well, it wasn’t so simple.  It wasn’t a written document; it was an audio recording of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and they needed it translated like, now.  I spent 30 minutes listening to the audio trying to transcribe it in German so I could begin to figure out what it meant.  Fortunately, the recording was only 1:40, and I’d like to thank Ms. Merkel personally for speaking slowly and clearly.  However, I’d also like to give Ms. Merkel a dirty look for speaking super lofty, metaphorical German.  Even after I had transcribed it as best I could, I couldn’t make much sense of it.  Part of the problem is that I was trying to write spoken words, and I wasn’t always sure where the sentence breaks should be.  This wouldn’t be a problem, except that in German practically all the verbs are at the end of the sentence so breaking it in the wrong place could be the difference between Ms. Merkel speaking about increasing cooperation or fighting cooperation.  Of course, it’s also a problem that I don’t understand all the colloquial phrases in German, although I’m bright enough to know that I shouldn’t translate “the students want a goat outside their window” literally. I ended up scouring my skype contact list for help, and help came from my German friend Stefanie.  (I’m lucky she lives in Vancouver now, or the time difference would have ruined it.)  I sent her my transcription and the recording and she fixed my mistakes.  Then she saved the day by simplifying the text and writing what Ms. Merkel meant, not specifically what she said.  This made the translation 17 billion times more simple.  The Spanish journalists were thrilled and hugged me multiple times, so I guess it’s ok that it took an hour and a half.

Other than my daredevil dabbling in German translations, I was also given a speech to translate from Chilean President Sebastian Piñera.  (It was his speech; he didn’t personally give it to me.)  It was long, but I found it so much simpler.  My Spanish skills are infinitely better than my German, and it helps that so much Spanish vocabulary, grammar and structure are similar to English.  It also helps that this was a very simplistic speech, full of empty rhetoric. (I kid, President Piñera is a genius and his speeches are nuggets of gold, as are all politicians’ speeches.)

I’ve been working at the summit all week, and we’ve got just a few more days.  It’s been challenging at times, but also loads of fun.  I’ve met a ton of nice people and I might have even made some friends. (!)

Apart from working, we’ve also been enjoying the summer weather.  Whenever possible I’ve gone mountain biking, which is really hard and I’m pretty slow, but it’s also really rewarding. There’s a decent sized hill near our apartment which is a big park, and there are trails that go all over the place.  I always stick to the same trails because I’m still not so confident and I don’t want to fall off the side.  Going up is slow and challenging, and it took many tries before I could make it all the way up without stopping.  Going down, on the other hand, is fast, speedy, rapid, and many other adjectives that make me nervous.  I don’t mind it so much, but the brakes work differently in the dirt, meaning that they sometimes don’t work at all.  There have been times that I’ve just fallen off my bike for lack of any other way to stop.  I also frequently curse at the hill, as if it’s out to get me.  Eduardo has competed in quite a few mountain bike races this season, and he’s become sort of a pro.  I decided to sign up for one last weekend for the heck of it, although I was convinced that either I wouldn’t make it up the hill or that I would be too scared to come down.  I also figured that I would be the least experienced person in the race, and I imagined everyone else zooming past me while I struggled to stay upright.  As it turns out, I was more prepared than a lot of people there.  The course went up to the top of a hill, but it wasn’t all up up up and then down down down.  There were inclines and then a slope back down and then another incline and then a flat area.  Many people had to stop halfway up the inclines and walk, and some didn’t even bother to try riding; they just got off and walked their bikes at the first sign of a hill.  I managed to ride up every single hill (albeit extremely slowly) except for one, and that was only because there were so many people walking their bikes there was nowhere for me to ride.  I finished the 25 K in less than 2 ½ hours, which I thought was pretty good.  (Of course, Eduardo finished 50 K in 3 ½ hours, but whatever.)  I was pleased just to finish, so imagine my surprise when I found out that I came in sixth among women in my age group and eighth among all women!  Most importantly, I got more comfortable with riding my bike in the dirt, and I’m itching to do another race.

I’ve got a busy month coming up, filled with teaching and travels and visitors.  I may or may not have a visitor coming this next weekend; the following week Eduardo and I are going to Easter Island; the week after that I’m going with a friend to Uruguay; and the last week of February my mom and sister are coming to visit. It will be so great to have them here and I’m really looking forward to sharing a little bit of our life here with them.  Plus, they’re bringing Christmas presents.

I’ll try to keep the blog updated this month, so stay tuned.

Until next time, Buena suerte! 

A Very Special Christmas

Hi friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and you're all looking forward to the new year.

We had a really nice Christmas, although as I mentioned before it was very different.  I decided to jump into Christmas decorating, so we bought a tree and some other things to fill our little apartment.

Plastic, but it looks pretty good.

Subtle, but sweet.

I even found some stinkin' cute stockings!

I also got more into the holiday spirt by spending time in, of all places, the mall.   I always enjoy shopping for gifts, and I like the Christmas music and the decorations.  Call me a sap, but I love it.  I also love seeing all the little kids lining up to see Santa... they are always so excited!  This mall had a huge snow globe with snow whirling all over the place for the kids to see Santa.  Again, it's an entirely different world than the hot summer outside, but whatever. 

No kids at this point, but
a few minutes later it was packed.

We went to Viña del Mar to spend Christmas with Eduardo's family, and it was really wonderful.  We had lots of good food, and the weather was great.  Well, mostly.  On Monday we washed several loads of clothes and hung them out to dry, and then went to the grocery store to buy 1500 pounds of food.  When we came out of the store, it was pouring rain and our clothes were soaked by the time we got home.  Still, the weather was hot and sunny on Christmas day so the clothes re-dried quickly.

This is what we woke up to on Christmas.

After exchanging gifts and having a delicious Christmas lunch, we went on a little mission to play Santa Clause.  The day before, we had stopped into the post office and I saw piles and piles of letters from kids to Santa, or Veijito Pascuero.  The post offices in Chile will put them out for people to read and send presents.  They aren't all from poor kids, but you can pretty much tell from the address.  We read a letter from one girl who was just asking Santa for a nice Christmas dinner for her family.  That one really broke my heart.  We also read letters from kids who wanted a Wii, a laptop, an X box, and a cell phone.  Then there was the little girl who had a list of 19 items, all of which were "Monster High" dolls.  She wrote at the bottom, "I want them all, but if my mom buys them, then no."  I'm not entirely sure what "Monster High" is, but I think it may be some sort of cartoon?  We saw a lot of Monster High dolls in the toy stores, and they are basically un-dead Barbies.  (I think this zombie thing has gone too far.)  We ended up taking a letter from a little girl named Estefania who is 5 years old.  She wrote that she had been "muy vien" that year, (instead of muy bien), and that she had gotten very good grades.  She was even learning English, and she had gotten an award in her class.  Then she asked for either a doll called "la la lo si".  We didn't know what that was, but some other girls in the post office told us it was a doll names Lally Loopsy, or something.  We never saw it, so it's still a mystery.  Estefania also asked for a "Li Do Es Pecho".  Again, we turned to the girls in the post office, and they told us she wanted a little animal from the "Littlest Pet Shop".  It was so sweet, because Estefania is just learning to write so she did the best she could, and to her, it sounds like "li do es pecho".  We bought two Littlest Pet Shop animals and wrapped them up with a bunch of candies.

We drove to her address, and the apartment was in an ancient social housing block.  We met her grandmother there, and she told us that Estefania was down at her other grandma's house and we could go meet her if we wanted.  She led us down, and we walked through the poorest area I had ever seen.  Estefania came out, and she's really adorable.  She was shy, but her face lit up when we told her that Santa had delivered her present to us by mistake.  She said that she really likes math and English, and she enjoys school.  She's obviously really bright, so I hope we made her Christmas a little bit memorable.

After our delivery, we went to the beach, which was the weirdest thing to do on Christmas, but it was awesome.  It was warm and beautiful, the sand was hot and the water was absolutely freezing.  It was a really nice afternoon.

We came home that evening to skype with my family and open a few more gifts.  We sat in front of our twinkly little tree, ate some cookies and enjoyed our Christmas.  We're drawing Christmas out until tomorrow, when we'll get together with my family down here to open gifts and grill some burgers and play in a kiddie pool.  We're combining traditions, I guess. 

All the best for 2013!