Easter Island and Santiago, Chile
I love to travel, so I was thrilled when my friend asked if I wanted to join her on a trip to Easter Island in December 2018. I’ve always been fascinated by Easter Island, but it wasn’t really in my top 10 places to go, mostly because it is so remote. But there’s no time like the present to go on an adventure so I jumped at the chance!
One of the two ways to get to Easter Island is through Santiago, Chile (the other way is through Tahiti). We looked at flight costs and it was much cheaper to fly into Easter Island on Friday, and out on a Tuesday, so we started there and built the rest of the trip around that constraint.
I was coming from Seattle, and Melissa was coming from the Denver area, so we met at LAX with enough time for a healthy layover before the direct flight to Santiago. LATAM did a great job. It is a fun, budget airline. I paid a little extra for the bulkhead row and extra legroom — totally worth it for the 11 hour flight.
We landed in Santiago at 6am, and had pre-arranged a cab to pick us up at the airport and take us to our AirBnB. I am glad we did. I didn’t want to figure out public transportation that early in the morning. The AirBnB was in a great location downtown. We got there before we could check into our room, so we ended up doing a free guided walking tour of downtown Santiago. It was GREAT. I’m going to look for a walking tour every place I go from now on! We got a nice lay of the land, and some good tips for restaurants and hang out spots.
Chile has a ton of stray dogs, or “street dogs.” Apparently the government sponsors some veterinarians to provide care to the dogs, like giving them rabies vaccinations, and spaying the females. At first it was a shock to see the dogs everywhere, even along busy streets, but the dogs knew what to do! Sometimes they even crossed the street with the humans when the lights changed. They were all a bit skittish or aloof, and they all had fleas, but otherwise they looked happy and healthy. I fell in love with each of them! Occasionally, I could coax one of them over for a pet with some leftover food, but otherwise they were just doing their own thing.
Chile is famous for its wine, so we took a tour of Concha Y Toro winery (which is supposedly haunted). We missed the last English speaking tour, so we went on the Spanish tour. Luckily our wonderful tour guide spoke English, as well as Spanish and Portuguese. We had a fun, giggly time on this smaller tour, with three other feisty ladies.
At dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Bellavista (a super lively neighborhood in Santiago), we befriended a couple who gave us a fantastic tip about an ancestral tasting restaurant called Peumayen. The restaurant focused on preserving the recipes and methods of ancient Chileans.
We were so stuffed by the end of this mind blowing meal that we could barely manage the dessert course. This was one of the top meals of my life! We had planned to visit Pablo Neruda’s house nearby after lunch, but we had to stop for a mini nap on a park bench before we could make it over.
Before this trip, I had only a basic knowledge of Pablo Neruda. It was awesome and inspiring to see how he lived. In addition to his artistic and political contributions to the world, he was also a consummate entertainer. He threw fantastic parties and added delightful wings on to his houses. I was surprised to see that while his houses were a bit bigger and grander than most other houses around, they were not giant celebrity monstrosities. His houses were rather modest, especially by today’s standards. Every room was well crafted and every piece of furniture was artfully chosen, all used to great and sometimes hilarious effect.
Valparaiso, the haven for artists, was just a two hour bus ride away from Santiago. I already yearn to return to Valparaiso for some relaxing and inspiring vacations! What a stunning coastal city. Every square inch of the buildings and walls are covered by murals, graffiti or color! What a spectacular place, nestled into steep hills. There are 16 funiculars pedestrians can use to get up and down the steeps streets in town. Pablo Neruda had a house here, too, overlooking the sea. Traditionally, he came to Valparaiso for New Years to watch the fireworks over the water.
Here are some of my favorite murals I saw in Valparaiso:
The next day, we did a day trip to Cajon del Maipo- the reservoir and water supply for Santiago. We got to check out some old train tracks and a tunnel on the way up to the reservoir, and stopped at a typical Chilean restaurant for lunch on the way back. (There was some kind of pumpkin dish on almost every menu in Chile! I was in heaven.)
Next stop, Easter Island/Rapa Nui! It was a smooth and uneventful six hour flight from Santiago to the island. Once we landed, it felt HOT and MUGGY immediately, and was definitely a tropical paradise!
Easter Island is small, and the main town is easy to navigate on foot. There were a few Moai within walking distance, so we jumped right into our sightseeing.
Much to my delight, there were a bunch of street dogs on the island too! This chill little dude was napping near the shore. I snuggled up and watched the sunset with him. The islanders call the dogs “time share dogs” because they are free to wander and crash with a different family each night! These pups were also fairly healthy. They all had fleas, but get rabies shots and other care, sponsored by the Chilean government.
Horseback riding tours were available on the island and we ended up taking a seven hour ride across the northern coast. The northern coast is only accessible by horseback or hiking, so it was nearly pristine. We explored caves, Moai and other sacred sites. At our first stop on the horse back ride, after we got off the horses, the guide gave both of us a headlamp and said “Here, back into this cave and check it out.” Yikes! I backed in first, through the very small, steep opening. I made it about halfway into the cave when I saw a big crab skittering across the ceiling! At first, I thought it was a tarantula! After I regained my composure, we made it to the end of the cave which opened out to a spectacular view of the sea far below us. #totallyworthit
I hadn’t been on a horse many years, so the seven hour ride turned out to be about five hours too many. OW! But still, it was a ride to remember!
One of the highlights of my time on the island was going on a stargazing tour! It was mind blowing to see the sky from the southern hemisphere and with such little light pollution. The guides gave a short presentation on basic astronomy, Polynesian navigation, and archeo-astronomy. We then drove to a remote part of the island for stargazing and explanations on navigational techniques. They provided high powered binoculars and a sophisticated telescope, and I could even see a lot of celestial bodies with my naked eye!
The island is small! We kept running into the same residents and tourists. One afternoon we ended up hanging out at the beach with Mariko, a Rapa Nui native. She was fun and friendly and shared stories of her life on the island, and also in the USA.
We indulged in many tropical decadences like delicious fruity things, and more empanadas.
We saw some interesting aquatic life during a glass bottom boat tour, too!
We went to see different head statues on the island every day. A tiny Suzuki Jimmy was all we needed to get to each site. In fact, Suzuki Jimmys were practically the only kind of rental car on the island. The roads were easy to navigate and in pretty good condition. The only thing we had to worry about was coming across herds of untamed horses and cows!
On our last day, we went back to Ahu Tongariki one last time to watch the sun rise over the Moai. It was definitely worth getting up at 4am to see this!
This was an amazing trip, and I would love to go back some day!
P.S. Here are 79 of my favorite street dogs from Santiago and Easter Island 💜
Check out my travel mate Melissa’s write up of our trip. It is MUCH more detailed.
