Easter Island

As I waited for three hours on the side of the road to start upon my journey from El Bolson (Patagonia) to Santiago, Chile, I saw my beloved bus breeze past me, leaving me standing/swearing comically in a cloud of dust. I had never been stood up by an automobile before, and it hurt. After a two-day, two-night adventure, however, I made it to Chile and actually found my brother. The next morning we headed out for Rapa Nui, a magical, little island today called Easter Island, which is literally in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Rapa Nui is shrouded in mystery and approximately 1,000 gigantic Moai statues (the stone heads), carved by Rapa Nui inhabitants many, many years ago, using only obsidian knives, and rocks. Incredible. Because the island was plagued with tribal warfare for years, many of the statues have been knocked down, and their platforms destroyed. With the help of modern equipment, and funds, however, many have been ¨successfully restored.¨For five sun-drenched days, my brother and I toured the island by foot and scooter (i´m buying one immediately upon my arrival home), and saw the island from above and below, snorkeling one day in some very rough, but unbelievably purple waters. As you can imagine, everything on the island was imported--the cars, the food, the clothes--and this was definitely reflected in the price of things. Because the people of Easter Island cut down all the trees (this is no exaggeration) in order to transport the Moai statues from one location to another, the flora and fauna is painfully scarce. The trees that do exist on the island have all been imported, and there are still only a few animal species there--from what I saw, only birds, horses, dogs, cows, and cockroaches. On our last day on Easter Island, Andrew and I hiked up an extinct volcano called Rano Raraku--the experience of standing upon the ridge of such a beautiful death trap was truly humbling. We also witnessed a ¨final four¨soccer match on the island. So funny that with only 4,000 people on the island, they can make 10 teams to compete. I think my high school Lady Bears team could have shamed them off the field, but they were okay considering the talent pools they were able to draw from. Currently i´m in San Pedro de Atacalamas, in northern chile. Andrew left for Bolivia this morning, but because they tossed out the American ambassador about a month ago, and many of my friends told me horror stories about trying to get in and leave Bolivia, I decided not to go. Andrew, using his brain, brought along his Canadian passport, so he´s set--apparently Canadians are welcome. I´m not sure where my next move will bring me, or when I will leave this beautiful little town, but wish me luck!

new adventures.

It is still hard to put into words how beautiful my temporary home is. Since the last time I wrote, my days have been filled with more cooking, teaching english, gardening, cleaning bathrooms, and animal tending, as well as long hikes to the lake. One of the big, brown horses decided to be my friend two days ago, which was clearly the highlight of my week (read: my life), and the three kittens I get to play with daily are growing bigger and more curious every day. A little more than a week ago, Brian flew back to the United States--It´s a little lonlier here in paradise without a constant companion, but I am still having a blast, and loving Patagonia. Last Monday, I started upon my own adventure to El Calafate, taking a bus (27 hours) to the southern end of Argentina, with two girlfriends from the farm, to El Glaciar Perito Moreno. Because I can´t upload pictures just yet, i´m asking you all of you reading this to google this glacier--it is absolutely mind-blowing. The gigantic glacier is the last expanding ice-mass on earth, and is a breath taking shade of blue that makes it pop out of the brown mountains and green waters that surround it. The ice is so dense, that the sounds of little pieces of the glacier cracking off, become thunderous clapps, sounding like the beginnings of an avalanche. Because the girls and I left to see the glacier just before 6am, we got back to El Calafate early, and decided to hike one of the many mountains that surround the city. The view, as you can imagine, was spectacular. On the way up the mountian, two little local dogs decided to tag along, and followed us for over 3 hours up and down the mountian. I´m just making friends like crazy in the animal sphere.

In a few hours I am off to Santiago, Chile (a 27-30 hour bus ride), to meet my brother, Andrew, for a family adventure. YAY. Hopefully the hardest part of the next few days will be locating eachother in a gigantic city, without cellphones. We´ll see...