Huh???

Okay, I spent hours working on the entry from Chile and Easter Island. I had the pictures all nicely spaced with the descriptions at the side, but when I published it it went all higgeldy-piggeldy. (Yes, Patrick - that is a word!) Sorry, but I'm not doing it again - you'll just have to figure it out. Any tips Melody?

Chile & Easter Island

This was the luckiest vacation ever! Everything worked out exactly as we wanted it to - not an easy task considering there were 9 stand-by flights involved! As soon as we landed in Calgary we bought lottery tickets!

Here are some of the highlights:

Lesley & Dave at the airport waiting for a flight to Toronto. We had a long wait in Toronto - about 8 hours - but when you play the stand-by game you take whichever flight is available, not the one that's most convenient.

The flight from Toronto to Santiago was about 10 hours so they didn't look quite so fresh and perky at the other end.

As soon as we arrived in Santiago, we got on a bus and headed to Valparaiso. It's on the coast about an hour and a half away. This is our B&B.

Valparaiso is built on the sides of the hills so they have these funky funiculars (like elevators) dotted around town to get up and down some of the steeper areas.

The funiculars are ancient and kinda rickety and scary-looking, but they were fun to ride in.
One of the better addresses in Valparaiso.

I'm moving to Valparaiso and opening up a paint store. They love brightly coloured houses!
No, he's not a rock star or a movie idol or even a celebrity athlete (although he does look like a wrestler dude). He's just some guy who came from nothing and made a fortune in mining. Now he wants to be the president of Chile. People were lining the street for hours hoping to catch a glimpse of him. There's a "Farkas mania" throughout Chile, but most people that we talked to think he's a joke. We didn't know who he was and couldn't have cared less, but we ran in to him not once, but twice - lucky us!
Almost as rich as Farkas!

Next stop - Punta Arenas. I arrived first thing in the morning but Dan couldn't get on the flight. He tried to get on the flight that Lesley & Dave were booked on, but that was full too. Stand-by travel often relies on other peoples misfortune (missing their flights) and sometimes it takes an act of God. This time a volcano erupted spewing ash all over a runway and closing an airport midway between Santiago & Punta Arenas. 50 people on Lesley & Dave's flight had to deplane at the last minute freeing up space for Dan....another lucky break.
Then on to Puerto Natales. A 3½ hour bus ride from Punta Arenas. Gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. They say that it's usually so foggy and rainy there that most visitors don't even see the peaks of the mountains. We are lucky again - not even a breathe of wind to ripple the reflection in the lake!

Beside some icebergs calved from a glacier.

Another spectacular look at the "Towers"

We showed up at the cruise office about 6 hours before sailing on the off-chance that they might have space available at a reasonable price on the cruise that L&D were booked on. Of course they did. We got the last cabin!

Dan demonstrating the life-vests for us non-nautical types.

There was always a bar set up at the end of each excursion to serve Scotch on the "rocks" (chunks of glacier)

"Scotch on the rocks" (Carse is a Scottish name.)

A penguin colony.

One of the trickier Zodiac landings.

Another excursion, another bar.

Pia Glacier. It was cracking like thunder and pieces were falling off like crazy.

Cape Horn.

The boat docked in Ushuaia, Argentina. We kicked around Ushuaia for the day, then flew to Buenos Aires, stayed overnight, and back to Santiago, Chile the next day to catch a flight to Easter Island.

A lei greeting at Easter Island. Dan & I arrived without reservations for a place to stay because it didn't look like we would get on the flight. (We got the last 2 seats of course) The woman that owns the place that L&D were staying at took us under her wing too. Sharon took us all on a tour of Hanga Roa (the only town on the island), found us a place to stay, lined up tours, rental car, a guide and generally treated us like VIPs. If you ever go to Easter Island - look for Sharon at the T'e Ora! She's a true gem!!! And so is her business partner Kim!!!

Our first moai. This one is actually in the middle of town. Taken with the camera with the splotches on the lens because the other one broke. Sorry Melody - no good story about the camera breaking. I think it must've gotten splashed on one of our zodiac rides.

An evening's entertainment. Hunky half-naked men and gorgeous scantily-clad women. What's not to enjoy?!

Ahu Akivi.
Our first group of moai.

The top knot guy.

The quarry where the moai were carved was probably my favourite place. There were dozens of these guys scattered all over the place. They're not just heads - the rest of the body is buried.

Still at the quarry.

They're huge!

Paul is the best guide on the island. He made the history come alive because he's part of it. He's been involved in the restoration of the moai since 1968.

He also threw the itinerary out the window and passed by a couple of sites because there were bus tours there already. He got us to the next place so we had it all to ourselves, then he doubled back later to catch the places we'd missed.

Ahu Tongariki, I think.

A truly memorable trip!

P.S.

The strangest pizza ever. Basically a ham & pineapple, but with banana and maraschino cherries.