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:
- 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....
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