Hey, Susanne back at it after Chelsea got to tell you about our amazing Andes weekend.
Let's start with some noteworthy quotes heard over the last few days....randomly:
-Allie today in the van on way back home: "don't you see the siren?"
-Unknown: "she has everything you need, but it's not here"
-When Amy hit her thumb with a hammer: "good thing I'm not strong"
-Maggie after calling Steve "Paco".... "if I was in Canada, he'd be called Dave or Jim or Steve...." Group response "his name IS Steve ".
-Aaron "I need to stop eating, I can't breathe" (After our meat sweats)
-Allie "sorry, I was distracted by the Andes"
-Susanne "looking forward to the Wike and Bine tour this weekend"
-"Unknown" commenting about how tight the space was in the truck "he shifted between my legs"
Monday saw us back at the work sites and it is usually on the second week that a bit of panic sets in as you always feel like you're going to run out of time. We had a few good work days this week and got way ahead past digging trenches and getting floors ready and making walls. We are now into finished roofs, walls that have siding and ceilings that are being built. Drywalls are up and mudding is happening. It is a really interesting build as my experience has usually been with brock builds, and to get our hands on a lot of wood, hammering, using a skill saw (LOVE iT!!!) and basically doing some things that will come in handy at home is really kind of neat.
Our evenings continue to evolve around food and wine. Work days are long. We leave at 8:20 and are often not back until 7pm or so. Traffic in the evening is quite challenging as the work days here are longer so that people are on the road at 6:30pm versus 4:30 or 5pm at home. Our team is incredibly committed and everyone volunteered to go in early today and tomorrow, so teams left at 7:30 or so and one team did not get back around 7:30pm or so. Unfortunately you can only work so long as it gets dark around 6:30pm. We continue to have nice weather during the days, chilly at night but it is really nice working weather.
Wednesday afternhoon after work we got to visit Teleton which is a Chilean organization dedicated to helping disabled children. We got a little tour and were amazed at how progressive the centre actually was. They had everything from arts rooms to pools, to robotic treadmills, bracing shops, music rooms. Once a year they have a telethon and it is basically Chilean tradition and almost an expectation to give a donation to Teleton...likely a bit like the IWK at home.
Chelsea and I told you about the three work sites and three different families we are helping. The family mteam is building additional rooms for is a family of a Mom, Grandmother, 3 daughters and a son who is quite sick with a lung disease. They believe it is likely cystic fibrosis...due to the condition of the home, he has to stay in a hospital and the Mom arranged for us to be able to see him in the hospical which is a special centre for kids with malnutrition who often have other more severe illnesses like our little Vincente. It was very special to be able to meet him in person. We had to get gowned up, and we got to be in the same room and interact a bit. He will be a year old on September 21st and will be allowed to go home for the night. It has been since March that he was last home. What a special half an hour this was...really brought home the whole reason for the build and our time here. And we could not have asked for a more grateful person and Mom in Francesca who joined us for dinner at the hostel after the hospîtal visit. And since we did not have an interpreter like we usually do obn the site, we had our i-phones and blackberries out with special apps which would translate etc. I had a little dictionary with me, but it was Spanish-German (yes, Mom, from wayyyy back) and it was not much use for anyone else :)
Wednesday was Allison's birthday and after some cake at the work site, and then some cake here, we went to Karaoke at a bar and had a great night out. Happy hour all nigfht, amazing Mohitos and very cheap drinks.... Who would have known we would have so much singing talent on our teram. Needless to say, after a big night out, it was a bit rough getting up today for our longer work day. But everyone worked super hard and we got a ton done!
Very grateful for our time here. Wonderful team. So committed, so helpful and just a great group of people who have bonded quickly, made some great friendships and I am pretty sure some of the newbies will be seen on future Habitat builds....
and PS: I can't find spellcheck on here, so: sorry! :)
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Fri-Sun, Aug.3-5: Extreme Horseback Riding & the Meat Sweats
Friday was a half build day as we were leaving to go on our first weekend of R&R in the Andes and Cascadas de las Animas. It's hard to put into words how incredible this place was- tucked in to the Andes an hour and a half away from bustling Santiago. We left the traffic behind and went winding up the road sandwiched between the mountains! We checked into our rustic cabins and headed right down to the restaurant for supper. Turns out meals are a bit of process in Chile. Like most Chilean meals, we started with bread and this spicy salsa, mmmmmm, and ceviche for the fish lovers. Then it was on to the lettuce and peeled tomato, onion, and avocado salad and corn. THEN came the endless platters of meat! And not just platters of one type of meat either- at home you might have chicken or steak, right? no, no, a traditional Chilean bbq consists of pretty much any kind of meat possible.... All at once! First came the sausage, then the chicken, then the steak, and then the pork tenderloin!!!! Talk about the meat sweats! And as if this wasn't enough food to satisfy even the hungriest sumo wrestler, we then had dessert! Ice cream, cake, flambé.... it was 10x the feeling you have after eating turkey dinner! The gigantic awesome meals, heavy on the meat side, continued all weekend and although we enjoyed every bite of them, we could probably not eat until we get back and be completely fine.
On to the extreme horseback riding. Susanne and I had been keeping our R&R plans secret from the group until we arrived although we probably could have told since we could have never explained the incredible adventure we were about to go on! Everyone mounted up and we started up the mountain in a single file line. In the front was our head guide and quite possibly one of the coolest people we have ever met. If you ever wanted to be a cowgirl, you would have wanted to be her. She looked the part, dressed head to toe in traditional Chilean attire and riding gear, exuding confidence on her feisty horse, the whole time singing and yelling things like "yahoo" for us to echo in the mountains. The entire trek up was like flipping through a pile of postcards. The snowcapped mountains loomed ahead, behind and beside you- one of the most picturesque landscapes I've ever seen! It was easy to "get lost" in the Andes.... That is as long as you weren't behind Hannah's horse whose last meal didn't seem to agree with him! :) After riding uphill on windy paths we arrived at our lunch site where we enjoyed... Yes, you guessed it- more meat platters!!!! As well as some rice, salad, bread etc. On the side. They cooked for us over an open fire while we ate and listened to one of the men play guitar and serenade us with Chilean music- awesome experience!! They also offered us the usual pisco sours, wine, and beer which... Had we known what was in store on the way down, we would have taken more advantage of! Our crazy cool cowgirl explained that the ride down the mountain would be an "adventure" Let's just say that she was putting it nicely. As we started down the steep cliffside trail you could hear everyone talking to their horses... "good boy" "it's ok, here we go" hahaha most people were really just trying to keep themselves calm. From the very beginning we were told that the most important thing to remember was that we have to trust our horse... And trust we did!!! For an hour and a half we skidded and galloped down steep hills directly on the cliffs edge while making sharp turns on the windy path. After the harrowing adventure and people had both feet firmly on the ground we all agreed that it should be considered an extreme sport but was hands down one of the most amazing experiences ever. After all that excitement and more meat sweats, Sunday was a relaxing day filled with yoga, a short hike to a waterfall and massages. It was a weekend none of us will ever forget.
Thu, August 2nd: Pisco (Gone) Sour!
Salsa anyone??? As promised, Ivan took us out for a night out on the town in Santiago. Many glasses of wine,beer and pisco sours later, we left the hostel and headed for the bar. Unfortunately the subway system had broken down so everyone and their dog were trying to hail cabs. Since we couldn't get enough for the entire group at once, we walked along and just hopped in cabs as they sped past! Quite the adventure! We all gradually arrived at the club where we took salsa lessons. And by learning salsa, I really mean being spun around the room and stumbling over our own feet, In fairness, they really did try to teach us but frankly, we don't move the way that they do. Still, it was a memorable night full of laughs, not-so fancy footwork, and an overindulgence of cervezas and pisco sours which for some, made for tough morning! We capped the night off with a little "Telepizza" which for the record, I strongly discourage unless of course you like dough that pretty much resembles sawdust! off to the Andes for the weekend! :)
Wed, August 1st: Team "Similar Operation"
Chelsea's turn:
Our apologies for slacking on the blog. Things have been busy in Santiago! As Susanne mentioned, we are split up in to different groups. My group (Jessie, Kelsey, Aaron, Billy, and Steve) is more towards the countryside on Santiago nearer to the Andes. We are building two rooms for a 5 month old baby boy named Carlitos who has severe respiratory problems. He has a very difficult time breathing, always sounding wheezy and hardly has the lung capacity to cry. However, like so many other builds, everyone is happy and enjoying life.
Our typical day starts out with about an hours drive to the house (traffic here is insane!), morning tea and bread with the family, and Julian's (our site maestro)extreme Stretching/ not really! He has his famous "touch the stars" and "feel the country". Every time we ask a question his answer is "its possible" and when he wants us to do something again in a different place he likes to say "do a similar operation" haha-he has us laughing all day and needless to say he is very entertaining. We have two other skilled workers on our site as well- Christan and Pablo- both of which are hard working and fun to work with. Over the past few days, we built the floor, exterior walls, and framed the interior walls. Days are flying by and we are all discovering new muscles we never knew existed! :) If anyone is looking for framer, we've got you covered.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Tuesday July 31st: Build Day 2
Everyone seemed to have slept well and our second day was also a successful one. We have a busy work schedule and tasks continue to range from demolition to digging trenches to getting floors ready for cement being poured, assembling wooden casings for the cement to be poured into (forgot the real word for it) and getting materials from the store such as gravel and sand which has to be shoveled into our Habitat truck, then driven to the work site, and brought into the yard via wheelbarrows. All of our demolition garbage was on the sidewalk and the municipality sent a big container today that we could load all the garbage into, so it was wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of broken bricks, glass, dirt, wood etc to move the stuff from the front of the house to the container. Took a looong time.
Meals are great here, fruit tastes delicious and consists of apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi and then we also eat yummy tomatoes, avocados etc. Tea is a comfort drink here and is served often. We all got the kiss on the cheek by the Mom on our site (site 3) and felt very welcome on our second day...the other sites felt the same. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, and are bonding with the families and kids on site.
Ivan, our Habitat person here, joined us for dinner and we got a promise of going salsa dancing on Thursday night. Should be fun.
Meals are great here, fruit tastes delicious and consists of apples, oranges, bananas, kiwi and then we also eat yummy tomatoes, avocados etc. Tea is a comfort drink here and is served often. We all got the kiss on the cheek by the Mom on our site (site 3) and felt very welcome on our second day...the other sites felt the same. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, and are bonding with the families and kids on site.
Ivan, our Habitat person here, joined us for dinner and we got a promise of going salsa dancing on Thursday night. Should be fun.
Monday July 30th: First Build Day aka. Demolition Day!
We met our team over a 7:30 breakfast of ``real`` coffee (Exciting after days of Nescafe), buns, fruit, yogurt (yum!) and excited faces eager to get the build going. So the 7 of us who had been on Easter lsland now met 12 others. Some were friends from home, and some were brand new friends...what a great group of people aged 18-60 from 4 different provinces and everyone seemed to mesh well already. We split into 3 groups of 6, 6, and 7 as we had 3 build sites and jumped into our vans to get on our way. The weather turned out great. It`s a bit chilly in the morning but was definitely t-shirt weather after 11am or so. Pants are a must here as the work site really is a place where you need your hard hat, gloves, a dust mask and either sunglasses or safety glasses. Things are being passed down from the roof, things are flying up from the floor as you try to chip away cement to make room for new floor being poured later in the week and to dig little trenches which would house new pipes and plumbing. It is a busy work site with limited room to move around.
Santiago is an interesting city to drive through. Very busy traffic, a bit crazy about driving and changing lanes. as we are building in a needy area, you can see lots of graffiti which is sometimes gang related (depending on neighbourhood), but often related to the various soccer teams in town. Chileans are crazy about soccer and in some areas, the colors painted on the bottom parts of electricity poles depict the team popular in that part of town. We`ve been told that in those places, you would never be seen wearing the jersey or colours of a competitive team. Too funny :)
Traffic is busy, lots of dogs everywhere, we saw a peddler walking up between cars in between traffic lights and instead of having a squeegee in his hand, he had an interesting assortment of bike tires, windshield wipers and a couple of other random things. Tons of corner and variety stores with many things familiar from home and lots of bars and fences in front of windows and doors.
The three build sites had three different stories. Chelsea had one group, Alex (who has also done a number of builds already) was kind enough to take on a second group and I had the third group. We all had separate vans and drives, and would only see each other again at the end of the work day. The houses all needed renovations so that in two cases, children could come live at home again as they were now staying in hospitals and in the other case would provide better living conditions for a child at home. Some parts of the homes had to be demolished and others prepared for new floors, walls etc. So tasks differed at the various sites and at my site, we took walls down with hammers, chiseled away on cement floors with hammers or crowbars, took roof trusses and metal sheathing down etc. Physically it was a tiring day day but the families made it all worth it. As a welcome, some of us had balloons waiting for us tied to the front gates, little signs on the wall welcoming us and name tags for our team, the family, as well as interpreters on site and Habitat staff. Amanda and Michelle are on my site, but Chelsea will be able to provide more detail on her work site once back to blogging on here.
Kids are super cute and the language barrier was quickly overcome by sign language and lots of smiles. All the 3 teams worked very hard and we got a ton done for the first day. Meals at the work sites were prepared by the families and ranged from soup to spaghetti etc. Our work day does not finish until about 5:30pm and dinner was at 7. After that, we all found corner stores, bought some Chilean wine at 2 or 3 dollars a bottle and sat around chatting and playing catch phrase. It was a great first day. Tiring and we would likely have some blisters and sore muscles the next day, but that is what this is all about :)
Santiago is an interesting city to drive through. Very busy traffic, a bit crazy about driving and changing lanes. as we are building in a needy area, you can see lots of graffiti which is sometimes gang related (depending on neighbourhood), but often related to the various soccer teams in town. Chileans are crazy about soccer and in some areas, the colors painted on the bottom parts of electricity poles depict the team popular in that part of town. We`ve been told that in those places, you would never be seen wearing the jersey or colours of a competitive team. Too funny :)
Traffic is busy, lots of dogs everywhere, we saw a peddler walking up between cars in between traffic lights and instead of having a squeegee in his hand, he had an interesting assortment of bike tires, windshield wipers and a couple of other random things. Tons of corner and variety stores with many things familiar from home and lots of bars and fences in front of windows and doors.
The three build sites had three different stories. Chelsea had one group, Alex (who has also done a number of builds already) was kind enough to take on a second group and I had the third group. We all had separate vans and drives, and would only see each other again at the end of the work day. The houses all needed renovations so that in two cases, children could come live at home again as they were now staying in hospitals and in the other case would provide better living conditions for a child at home. Some parts of the homes had to be demolished and others prepared for new floors, walls etc. So tasks differed at the various sites and at my site, we took walls down with hammers, chiseled away on cement floors with hammers or crowbars, took roof trusses and metal sheathing down etc. Physically it was a tiring day day but the families made it all worth it. As a welcome, some of us had balloons waiting for us tied to the front gates, little signs on the wall welcoming us and name tags for our team, the family, as well as interpreters on site and Habitat staff. Amanda and Michelle are on my site, but Chelsea will be able to provide more detail on her work site once back to blogging on here.
Kids are super cute and the language barrier was quickly overcome by sign language and lots of smiles. All the 3 teams worked very hard and we got a ton done for the first day. Meals at the work sites were prepared by the families and ranged from soup to spaghetti etc. Our work day does not finish until about 5:30pm and dinner was at 7. After that, we all found corner stores, bought some Chilean wine at 2 or 3 dollars a bottle and sat around chatting and playing catch phrase. It was a great first day. Tiring and we would likely have some blisters and sore muscles the next day, but that is what this is all about :)
Sunday July 29th: ``In Transit`` Day
Early morning today. Our flight was leaving Easter Island at 7am or so, so we got up before 5am so that we could catch a ride to the airport at 5:15am
We got up, some showered, we got our stuff all packed and went to the front of the hostel...only to find out that the flight was delayed....by 8 hours! So back to bed we went. Our flight was delayed until 3pm due to weather over the Pacific ocean, so we got to hang out on this beautiful island for another day and we were lucky to have another nice breakfast, then check into our flight at the nearby airport, grab a ``bag lunch`` from the airline and then be able to stay in the hostel yard for a few hours. The weather was beautiful. not a rain drop in sight, t-shirt and shorts weather almost...which we had not experienced since getting here.
We caught our flight at 3pm with LAN airlines, a 4.5 hour flight to Santiago. Nice meal and wine on the plane and Amanda ended up charming the flight attendant so much that he somehow gave her a bottle of red to take with her...and we`re not talking baby bottles. Too funny. Michelle sat in the middle of two aisle seats and made use of wine carts coming down both aisles...I have to say: impressive wine talents, ladies. :)
We had changed plans earlier with our Habitat team as we were supposed to get in at 2pm versus the 10pm that would now be our arrival time. So the 12 team members who were already there had their orientation and supper with the local Habitat staff and we would meet them at breakfast the next morning. All went fine and by the time we got the the hostel around 11pm, most had gone to bed. Chris and Billy, part of our team, were still up and welcomed us which was nice. We grabbed our things and found our rooms and beds around midnight. Staff seemed incredibly welcoming with the customary kiss on the cheek and big smiles when we arrived. Loving the hospitality so far!
Santiago is a large city of about 6 or 7 million people. It was dark when we got in and quite chilly, but the city looked busy and big. Our hostel had charm inside and out. Lots of colors. Most team members had triple rooms, some had doubles and Chelsea and I ended up with single rooms. They were tiny with little twin beds, but really cute with warm colors, and little TVs. TVs are seldom turned on when available on Habitat trips, but with Olympics going on, it was nice to see the little screen. As it turned out, all channels were in Spanish and we are having trouble catching much Olympic coverage...but hoping to be lucky and maybe catch a volleyball game, some track or other fun events.
So the 19 of us were now under one roof and trying to get a good night`s sleep in preparation for our first build day. Can`t wait!!!
We got up, some showered, we got our stuff all packed and went to the front of the hostel...only to find out that the flight was delayed....by 8 hours! So back to bed we went. Our flight was delayed until 3pm due to weather over the Pacific ocean, so we got to hang out on this beautiful island for another day and we were lucky to have another nice breakfast, then check into our flight at the nearby airport, grab a ``bag lunch`` from the airline and then be able to stay in the hostel yard for a few hours. The weather was beautiful. not a rain drop in sight, t-shirt and shorts weather almost...which we had not experienced since getting here.
We caught our flight at 3pm with LAN airlines, a 4.5 hour flight to Santiago. Nice meal and wine on the plane and Amanda ended up charming the flight attendant so much that he somehow gave her a bottle of red to take with her...and we`re not talking baby bottles. Too funny. Michelle sat in the middle of two aisle seats and made use of wine carts coming down both aisles...I have to say: impressive wine talents, ladies. :)
We had changed plans earlier with our Habitat team as we were supposed to get in at 2pm versus the 10pm that would now be our arrival time. So the 12 team members who were already there had their orientation and supper with the local Habitat staff and we would meet them at breakfast the next morning. All went fine and by the time we got the the hostel around 11pm, most had gone to bed. Chris and Billy, part of our team, were still up and welcomed us which was nice. We grabbed our things and found our rooms and beds around midnight. Staff seemed incredibly welcoming with the customary kiss on the cheek and big smiles when we arrived. Loving the hospitality so far!
Santiago is a large city of about 6 or 7 million people. It was dark when we got in and quite chilly, but the city looked busy and big. Our hostel had charm inside and out. Lots of colors. Most team members had triple rooms, some had doubles and Chelsea and I ended up with single rooms. They were tiny with little twin beds, but really cute with warm colors, and little TVs. TVs are seldom turned on when available on Habitat trips, but with Olympics going on, it was nice to see the little screen. As it turned out, all channels were in Spanish and we are having trouble catching much Olympic coverage...but hoping to be lucky and maybe catch a volleyball game, some track or other fun events.
So the 19 of us were now under one roof and trying to get a good night`s sleep in preparation for our first build day. Can`t wait!!!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Saturday 28th: leisure day!
Today was our first day without a `program`. We had all day just to kick around, maybe get another hike in and do some shopping. We went to the post office where they give you a cool stamp for your passport. Alex arrived on Wednesday after we did and missed the Orongo hike, so he decided to get caught up on that while the rest of us waited for him to get back and wrote journals, got caught up on blogs and journals and went our for lunch. We tried the popular and traditional sweet potatoes which are served with a Teriyaki type dipping sauce and are more like chips almost...or for those who eat at Boston Pizza: they are like the cactus fried potatoe you can get there with that hot jalapeno dip. Good! Then we walked a couple of hours up the coast again where we saw the sunset the day before. Nice hike, but gets very rocky and then has little rock walls everywhere made out of volcanic rock...so a darker version of what you would see in England or Ireland maybe. Really pretty with horses throughout and of course our arsenal of dogs following us. There were 3 regulars, and then there were another 6 or 7 that joined, and we played ``fetch the rock`` as there were no balls or toys of course and my attempt at throwing a stick earlier ended up in the dogs crouching down, so I assume sticks are not as attractive to dogs here as they are at home. :) Our rock game unfortunately ended up in the first dog fight we saw and one little guy got bitten in or through his tongue. Lots of blood...we talked about taking him to a vet and explored our options but by the time we got back into town, it seemed to look a bit better. I felt terrible as I had thrown the rock...but all ended up ok, phew.
Chelsea had seen a place earlier which we ended up choosing for supper which had an almost 5 course meal for $20US. Drink, soup, salad, meal and dessert. Again, likely a 3 hour meal and as the town had issues with electricity that day, we actually ate by candle light. Our romantic dinner a la 7 :) Nice night, we were almost upset when the power came back on.
Sunday would bring an early departure so it was a packing and getting ready night to head to Santiago, the next leg of our journey which we are super excited for as the build starts soon!!
Other Rapa Nui facts:
Chelsea had seen a place earlier which we ended up choosing for supper which had an almost 5 course meal for $20US. Drink, soup, salad, meal and dessert. Again, likely a 3 hour meal and as the town had issues with electricity that day, we actually ate by candle light. Our romantic dinner a la 7 :) Nice night, we were almost upset when the power came back on.
Sunday would bring an early departure so it was a packing and getting ready night to head to Santiago, the next leg of our journey which we are super excited for as the build starts soon!!
Other Rapa Nui facts:
- 3 schools, one public and 2 private. School day is 8-4:30pm and Fridays you get off at 1pm. Kids wear uniforms. Only the public school teaches the language of Rapa Nui which obviously many want to keep in their families versus only learning Spanish.
- $50 entry fee into the national park
- with only 6000 people living on Easter Island, people here are mostly friends and often related. So no one ever fights for long or don`t get along as it gets too awkward and I guess a bit hard to escape with the island being 11 miles across and 7 miles long. :)
- you can get water ``with gas or without gas`` and didn`t really know the difference until some had purchased it and got a surprise with the first sip...until our last day when we found out the red cap means no gas, blue is gas (aka. carbonated)
- my phone keeps trying to update the time for here and has no idea where I am. Am getting a mix of time zones depending on time or day and weather likely
- roosters make good alarm clocks, but have no snooze buttons....
July 27th..Monsoon day!
Friday
No sunrise tour today so we enjoyed a great breakfast in our hostel. We love this place, by the way: Vaianni is run by Joanna and we have double and triple rooms which area clean, have great showers, a nice inner yard, with a section that is covered so that we can use it day and night and it comes with roosters, sparrows and a cat which was quite friendly but has fleas so we are somewhat cautious about it jumping up on us...which it regularly does. We seem to also attract all kinds of dogs, one kept coming into the yard by jumping over the fence somewhere and we got into a bit of trouble for paying attention to them...they obviously love tourists and tag along for walks and even long 5 or 10k hikes. So those of ones with dogs at home felt right at home as we felt like we were taking them for walks half the time :)
We decided to hike Televaka, a volcano which was the highest at 510m. Obviously no volcanic activity here either for many, many years. We got 2 cabs which took us close to the area and started our jaunt up. I think that day's hike was bout 11k or so maybe. We figure that during the week, we hiked 10-15k a day maybe...good little practice for Machu Picchu in 3 weeks.
We walked through a nice area with some horses and made it up the hill....in the midst of it, we heard my phone ring which was in my pocket, and surprisingly I had enough reception to talk to one of my accounts in Halifax who needed something. Too funny. but kudos to the telco providers here for providing reception there whereas many other places on the island outside of the town of Hanga Roa have no reception at all. The weather started off fine but then the rain came and by the time we were almost at the top, it was like a monsoon. We had to lean into it, Amanda had a poncho around her pack and we thought that this ``cape`` may lift her right off the mountain...it was wild. I didn't want to take my good camera out, and felt my underwater camera was more appropriate for this kind of weather. Half the group went back, some of us stayed behind to look at one more hill to see if it might hold the crater...you literally couldn't see a thing and ta_do: we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the water all the way around us on the various coasts and sunshine. Weather here turns on a dime and you never know what might happen in 10 minutes.
We got back in time for another half day tour with Cecilia, our ever so popular tour guide. We saw the place where the top knots are made (those flat things that look like hats but are actually the head dress or hair of the moais). then we went to see some cool caves which are formed from volcanic tubes, I think they call them. 7 km`s long and provided shelter for many families, especially in the time of unrest which happened when the island was depleted of natural resources and families, tribes turned on one another which even ended up in cannibalism as there was no wood to build canoes so that they could fish, no wood to cook, rodents ate a lot of nuts from trees so that they could not generate etc. Really interesting history actually which changed a once thriving island to almost implode.
There are only 7 moais which face the sea, all others face inland. The 7 facing the sea sympolize 7 explorers which were sent from the Polyneasian island Hiva by a king and who actually found Rapa Nui. Likely the only ones facing the ocean as that was where they came from and to symbolize their importance in having done so. Later we went to a place called Tahai for the sunset. there are some moais closer to the water and we got some nice pics while hanging out on a field above. Very peaceful. We saw a whale way out in the ocean blowing out some water which even our guide had not seen before.Cecilia`s husband spear fishes and has seen killer whales nearby when fishing, they apparently ended up circling them. Otherwise there are no dangerous animals in the water...they get reef sharks and once in a while a somewhat skinny, likely disoriented great white will come by, but it is not a problem in the community.
We had an amazing dinner close to the water in town. we splurged as they accepted Visa. Anything from Ceviche, to tuna carpaccio to qunioa salad for Chelsea (not much choice for her at a seafood place), seafood pasta, salmon caesar salad...it was yummy. Dinner here takes about 3 hours or so and some menus will say `Fanta or Cristal` as a choice for an included drink, so beer must be about the same price as water or pop. So you can guess which one we usually drink. Cristal is a Chilean beer, quite good. The local beer here is called Mahina. They also have Corona which is $1 more usually. Not bad at all.
We walked home behind 3 teen aged boys holding a little ipod dock or something and blasting Leona Lewis. Too funny. we felt like breaking out in a flash mob..but contained ourselves.
Great day!!!
No sunrise tour today so we enjoyed a great breakfast in our hostel. We love this place, by the way: Vaianni is run by Joanna and we have double and triple rooms which area clean, have great showers, a nice inner yard, with a section that is covered so that we can use it day and night and it comes with roosters, sparrows and a cat which was quite friendly but has fleas so we are somewhat cautious about it jumping up on us...which it regularly does. We seem to also attract all kinds of dogs, one kept coming into the yard by jumping over the fence somewhere and we got into a bit of trouble for paying attention to them...they obviously love tourists and tag along for walks and even long 5 or 10k hikes. So those of ones with dogs at home felt right at home as we felt like we were taking them for walks half the time :)
We decided to hike Televaka, a volcano which was the highest at 510m. Obviously no volcanic activity here either for many, many years. We got 2 cabs which took us close to the area and started our jaunt up. I think that day's hike was bout 11k or so maybe. We figure that during the week, we hiked 10-15k a day maybe...good little practice for Machu Picchu in 3 weeks.
We walked through a nice area with some horses and made it up the hill....in the midst of it, we heard my phone ring which was in my pocket, and surprisingly I had enough reception to talk to one of my accounts in Halifax who needed something. Too funny. but kudos to the telco providers here for providing reception there whereas many other places on the island outside of the town of Hanga Roa have no reception at all. The weather started off fine but then the rain came and by the time we were almost at the top, it was like a monsoon. We had to lean into it, Amanda had a poncho around her pack and we thought that this ``cape`` may lift her right off the mountain...it was wild. I didn't want to take my good camera out, and felt my underwater camera was more appropriate for this kind of weather. Half the group went back, some of us stayed behind to look at one more hill to see if it might hold the crater...you literally couldn't see a thing and ta_do: we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the water all the way around us on the various coasts and sunshine. Weather here turns on a dime and you never know what might happen in 10 minutes.
We got back in time for another half day tour with Cecilia, our ever so popular tour guide. We saw the place where the top knots are made (those flat things that look like hats but are actually the head dress or hair of the moais). then we went to see some cool caves which are formed from volcanic tubes, I think they call them. 7 km`s long and provided shelter for many families, especially in the time of unrest which happened when the island was depleted of natural resources and families, tribes turned on one another which even ended up in cannibalism as there was no wood to build canoes so that they could fish, no wood to cook, rodents ate a lot of nuts from trees so that they could not generate etc. Really interesting history actually which changed a once thriving island to almost implode.
There are only 7 moais which face the sea, all others face inland. The 7 facing the sea sympolize 7 explorers which were sent from the Polyneasian island Hiva by a king and who actually found Rapa Nui. Likely the only ones facing the ocean as that was where they came from and to symbolize their importance in having done so. Later we went to a place called Tahai for the sunset. there are some moais closer to the water and we got some nice pics while hanging out on a field above. Very peaceful. We saw a whale way out in the ocean blowing out some water which even our guide had not seen before.Cecilia`s husband spear fishes and has seen killer whales nearby when fishing, they apparently ended up circling them. Otherwise there are no dangerous animals in the water...they get reef sharks and once in a while a somewhat skinny, likely disoriented great white will come by, but it is not a problem in the community.
We had an amazing dinner close to the water in town. we splurged as they accepted Visa. Anything from Ceviche, to tuna carpaccio to qunioa salad for Chelsea (not much choice for her at a seafood place), seafood pasta, salmon caesar salad...it was yummy. Dinner here takes about 3 hours or so and some menus will say `Fanta or Cristal` as a choice for an included drink, so beer must be about the same price as water or pop. So you can guess which one we usually drink. Cristal is a Chilean beer, quite good. The local beer here is called Mahina. They also have Corona which is $1 more usually. Not bad at all.
We walked home behind 3 teen aged boys holding a little ipod dock or something and blasting Leona Lewis. Too funny. we felt like breaking out in a flash mob..but contained ourselves.
Great day!!!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
July 26th, Moais at Sunrise
Thursday,
Susanne reporting for blog duty...
Our first full day in Easter Island started early as we were trying to make the sunrise at the Ahu Tongariki, the largest shrine of the island with 15 statues which are all in a row in a beautiful spot at the water. After a fairly decent sleep, only interrupted by torrential downpours overnight (usual for this time of year) and roosters in the morning, we made our way with our tour guide Cecilia who took care of us for today and also a half tour the next day. Cecilia was half Rapa Nui and half American with perfect English as she lived in the States most of her life and then got settled here after becoming a Mom to 3 little kids. She couldn't have been more than mid to late 20`s and obviously knew her way around the land and people.
We got the shrine in the dark around 6:45 or so and waited for light and it was amazing to see the statues appear in the morning light. We spent an hour or so taking pics and taking in the scenery and continued on our way to see several sights for the day. Next was the volcanic cone Rano Raraku where almost all moai were carved. Almost 400 different statues are around, showing different steps of carving. It would take about a year to make one and they were basically carved into the volcanic rock, face up, then slid down and then the theories differ how these statues, up to 70 or 80 tons in weight made it to their final destination, as far as 10-15 km`s or so away. Theories now say, they were stood up and ``walked`` upright as ropes held them. All face the land versus ocean except for some we`ll see later.
The moai quarry or ``factory`` was amazing....the fact that a number of moai were literally left just when they seemed ready to be moved. From the quarry, we went up a hill to also look at a place where they held triathlons including running around the crater`s edge barefoot, swim across the crater lake and then run around again holding banana plants etc. The competition was held centuries ago and is now held once a year to uphold the tradition. We also saw the magnetic stone also called the bellybutton of the world which is actually a meteorite and is magnetic so if you put a compass on the top, it works correctly. Anywhere else on the stone the compass needle spins around ``confused`` which was neat to see.
Then we went on to a beach Anakena which is packed during summer months. It also had some moais, most with the traditional red hair knots called ``pukao``. The beach was beautiful and some folks were in the water. I think we would have gone in if we had bathing suits with us. Weather is so strange here....not cold but damp and rainy off and on, so that you are constantly changing clothes and layering even though it is likely 20 degrees. We had empanadas for lunch, the Easter island fast food it seems (around $5 or so) and then went out for a nice dinner later, accompanied by wine which was also continued in our backyard when back at the hostel. Fun night but I bet we were in bed by 10pm or so. Days are packed, long and even though the time difference is only 3 hours or so for us who are used to AST, all the activity and the hiking had us craving a good night`s sleep.
Some Easter island facts:
Our first full day in Easter Island started early as we were trying to make the sunrise at the Ahu Tongariki, the largest shrine of the island with 15 statues which are all in a row in a beautiful spot at the water. After a fairly decent sleep, only interrupted by torrential downpours overnight (usual for this time of year) and roosters in the morning, we made our way with our tour guide Cecilia who took care of us for today and also a half tour the next day. Cecilia was half Rapa Nui and half American with perfect English as she lived in the States most of her life and then got settled here after becoming a Mom to 3 little kids. She couldn't have been more than mid to late 20`s and obviously knew her way around the land and people.
We got the shrine in the dark around 6:45 or so and waited for light and it was amazing to see the statues appear in the morning light. We spent an hour or so taking pics and taking in the scenery and continued on our way to see several sights for the day. Next was the volcanic cone Rano Raraku where almost all moai were carved. Almost 400 different statues are around, showing different steps of carving. It would take about a year to make one and they were basically carved into the volcanic rock, face up, then slid down and then the theories differ how these statues, up to 70 or 80 tons in weight made it to their final destination, as far as 10-15 km`s or so away. Theories now say, they were stood up and ``walked`` upright as ropes held them. All face the land versus ocean except for some we`ll see later.
The moai quarry or ``factory`` was amazing....the fact that a number of moai were literally left just when they seemed ready to be moved. From the quarry, we went up a hill to also look at a place where they held triathlons including running around the crater`s edge barefoot, swim across the crater lake and then run around again holding banana plants etc. The competition was held centuries ago and is now held once a year to uphold the tradition. We also saw the magnetic stone also called the bellybutton of the world which is actually a meteorite and is magnetic so if you put a compass on the top, it works correctly. Anywhere else on the stone the compass needle spins around ``confused`` which was neat to see.
Then we went on to a beach Anakena which is packed during summer months. It also had some moais, most with the traditional red hair knots called ``pukao``. The beach was beautiful and some folks were in the water. I think we would have gone in if we had bathing suits with us. Weather is so strange here....not cold but damp and rainy off and on, so that you are constantly changing clothes and layering even though it is likely 20 degrees. We had empanadas for lunch, the Easter island fast food it seems (around $5 or so) and then went out for a nice dinner later, accompanied by wine which was also continued in our backyard when back at the hostel. Fun night but I bet we were in bed by 10pm or so. Days are packed, long and even though the time difference is only 3 hours or so for us who are used to AST, all the activity and the hiking had us craving a good night`s sleep.
Some Easter island facts:
- very bumpy roads
- dogs everywhere, but friendly, well fed and super friendly
- meals not cheap at restaurants
- 2 medallion``120``Chilean wine about $6 or so a bottle..we finished the whole row of bottles at the Supermercado....
- conversion from Chilean pesos to US dollars works like this: pretty well drop 3 zeros and double. i.e. 9000 Chilean pesos is about $20US
- the seafood here is delicious. `ceviche`might be my new favorite dish: raw fish (often tuna) served in small cubes with cut up tomatoes, onion, avocados and some spices with lemon juice over top. soooo good!
- gas is about $1.50 a litre
- most big things come by ship, 3 cargo ships a month. everything by plane is about $3 a kilo. the islands need everything to be brought in, as they only grow a few things like pineapple, sweet potatoes, papaya, banana etc. very dependent on Chilean goods to be brought in.
- they have Lays chips (only regular, about $4 or so) and really scary looking chip puffs which had 3 or 4 colours showing on the bag...so we stayed away
- Nescafe for breakfast...Mom, you`d be proud: am drinking your favorite coffee every day!
- Internet is unfortunately not the most reliable and super slow...so hang tight until we get to Chile and we can hopefully upload pictures, too.
- horses pretty well run wild here...otherwise a little light on wildlife after last year`s safari...we DID see a field mouse! :)
Thursday, July 26, 2012
It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's Birdman!
Well, kind of! ;) 28 hours after leaving Canadian soil we arrived on Easter Island yesterday! After checking into our hostel we decided to do a little sightseeing around THE town (yes, most everyone on the island, all 5000 people, live in Hanga Roa). The entire island is only 58km and aside from the landing strip and one main street, the rest of the island is a national park. We headed down to the coast and saw our first moai standing tall beside the ocean- quite a sight!
From there we got a little adventurous and decided to hike the Orongo Trail up to one of the 3 volcanic craters that shaped the island. It's also where the historical Birdman competition took place! In ancient times, the tribes on the island would hold a competition to see which tribe would have control. One man from each tribe had to race down the side of a cliff and swim across to an island on a long thing made of straw through strong currents and big surf. They had to retrieve a particular bird egg from the island, swim back, and scale back up the cliffside to win control for that year. Its beautiful up there but it's awfully windy- luckily the wind was blowing us away from the crater! Pictures to come!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
The best journeys are not always in straight lines
In less than a week we will be on our way to South America! We'll be zig-zagging across the "Southern Cone" by leaving Halifax on July 24th and flying through Newark and Lima before landing on Easter Island where we will spend a few days hiking the island and scoping out the moais. From there it's over to Santiago, Chile where we will be meeting our awesome Habitat team for a two week build full of hardwork and fun. Then it's on to the last leg of our journey in Cuzco, Peru where we will be doing a four day climb up the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu!
We're excited and can't wait for the adventure to begin! We hope you enjoy following our travels and remember, we love to hear from you too so leave us comments on the blog!
Adios amigos!
We're excited and can't wait for the adventure to begin! We hope you enjoy following our travels and remember, we love to hear from you too so leave us comments on the blog!
Adios amigos!
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