Well as you can tell from the pics, still on the amazing Easter Island (Isla de Pascua). I found the Moai, the history, archaeological sites, and the pride/culture of the local Polynesians to be fascinating. My travelmate Uncle Rudy (UR), on the other hand, not so much. Upon arrival to a humble, no frills abode, culture shock hit him...no we were definitely not in Kansas anymore. Nor were we in the Holiday Inn at Santiago's airport, where we'd spent the previous night so we could catch our morning flight to the island. By the way, we missed it, opted instead for the most expensive buffet breakfast either of us had eaten. (Uncle Rudy assumed breakfast wouldn't be too expensive so he simply said, add it to the room bill, which was on his MasterCard) When he had to sign for the bill after we ate, both of us nearly choked at the cost. We learned, then proceeded to take as much fresh fruit as we could carry. He'd already paid for it, trust me! We caught the only other flight to the island that day and arrived some 5+ hrs later, deplaned, and walked across the tarmac into a small unpretentious building that was the airport terminal. I watched the locals extract their bags, bundles, boxes, ice chests, etc. from the conveyor belt, then I saw the Unicorn, aka Uncle Rudy's Louis Vuitton luggage. I pulled it off and he hooked his LV carryon to the big piece and glided to the airport exit where are hostess Bicky awaited us with our names on a piece of paper. It was late, somewhere around dark 30 or so. We rode for a few minutes as Bicky pointed out stores, shops, and banks. Once at the accommodation, we stepped inside of a clean, simple, unpretentious room with an electric fan, 2 beds, small fridge, old school 19" TV, wardrobe closet, and bathroom/shower. We went to the office to check in with passports and get the spill that Bicky had memorized so well, once she started, she continued until she finished so completely, neither Rudy nor I had any questions about, when/where was breakfast, tours, car rentals, etc. The only question UR had was, '...what's the Wifi code?' Bicky provided it. After we returned to the room, which had a front deck, I could hear the ocean waves crashing against the shore. It was a wonderful sound but we were advised to keep our sliding glass and wood door closed and locked for safety. We did. As I finished my shower, I could hear UR sounding very irritated and fussy. 'This Wifi is coming and going unless I stand outside, but it's too cold for that'. He wanted to go to the office to complain, but said he'd wait until the morning to do so. I turned the tv on to check what was on it, UR laughed, and said 'you must be kidding right? There's nothing going to be on that little TV on this little island'. Not for him, but I speak/understand Espanol so I noted the programs on the 3-4 channels. There really was nothing on so I got in bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, I got up and walked over to the room where breakfast was set up. There was a couple from Spain who raved about the island tour they'd taken the previous day. I told UR about it when he arrived for breakfast and we decided to book the full day tour. UR was still complaining about the weak Wifi signal and the connection issues. Bicky's daughter advised that the problem was island-wide and there was nothing they could really do about it. We went on an excellent tour where we saw many beautiful sites including an (Pics:enormous rain water filled volcano, gold sandy beach, Moai, ancient art drawings, archeological sites), while we listened to the stories of the island, cultures, people, etc. The other lady and I listened intently as her husband and UR acted liked bored husbands. They were often far away from us and our guide, taking walks, pictures, and doing their own thing. At the end of the tour, I asked UR what he thought of it, and he responded, "...it was nice, but when they say a 'full day tour', they mean FULL DAY!" (10a-6p) Yep, that's what they mean and I loved it!!!
I rented a car the next day and we did our own exporing to (Pics: Orongo, remnants of an ancient village, and Rano Kau, a huge volcano crater near the ocean).
