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Easter Island -- my experience

Easter Island -- my experience

Old Jan 15, 2011, 3:18 pm
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Great trip report, appreciate all the detail and observations. My family plans to visit Easter Island at some point soon, possibly within the next year. It's been hard finding much good, current info from a practical perspective.

One thing I've debated is how much time to spend there, intending to do the island along with a stopover elsewhere. So it was good to find some more inputs on how much might be right.
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Old Jan 17, 2011, 3:31 am
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Very informative review. I will share with my US friends in Peru who need to border hop... they've talked about going there.
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Old Jan 18, 2011, 10:28 am
  #18  
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Originally Posted by nyc1978
The only thing I'm a little surprised by is the suggestion to negotiate the park fee down. Given all I've read of the island and its people and these historic and fragile treasures, the park can probably use all the money it can get to keep pace with the tens of thousands of people who traipse through the ruins every year, degrading it with each foot print. Spending thousands of dollars (or miles!) just to fly there, it doesn't seem like a lot to give back to make sure the site is in good condition for future visitors. Just my $0.02.
Obviously, one is free to "feel good" about paying the $60 entrance fee, and to also feel good about paying more as a foreigner. Personally, I never feel good being singled out for a foreigner tax -- especially when then tax has increased 600% in a year.

I'm also not sure if the revenue is staying on Easter Island, or is just winding up in Santiago.

Obviously, you could justify (sort of) such a high fee if you consider it as payment for all the archeological sights on the island, and you believed they were using the money for restoration. I didn't see a lot of money being spent on maintenance, but I'm sure there are considerable expenses.

I'm generally hostile to the idea of charging high fees to see cultural/scenic/historical treasures. Would you feel good having to pay $60 per person to see the Grand Canyon? I don't think that's a good idea -- even if it actually cost the National Park Service that much per visitor -- but maybe that's just me.

And that fact that the Chilean gov't clips you (or at least Americans) $140 at the SCL airport for, well, nothing, doesn't tend to make you too happy about being singled out for additional gringo taxes.


Originally Posted by 84fiero
Great trip report, appreciate all the detail and observations. My family plans to visit Easter Island at some point soon, possibly within the next year. It's been hard finding much good, current info from a practical perspective.

One thing I've debated is how much time to spend there, intending to do the island along with a stopover elsewhere. So it was good to find some more inputs on how much might be right.
Yeah, you've really got to combine Easter Island with SOMETHING else. It's just too far to go to just see the statues. For all but the most enthralled visitors, the island only merits a few days. It's crazy to fly 15,000 miles from the US for a few days.
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Old Jan 19, 2011, 11:54 am
  #19  
 
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Just back. Loved Isla de Pascua. A few comments:

First, LAN service from SCL to IPC. I was in Business Class and must say that their service is rather minimalist. They do offer a hot breakfast shortly after the start (flight was about an hour delayed), but for the rest of the flight...nothing, they don't even come around to offer you water or juice one more time. I mean, it's a 5 1/2 hour flight. It's confusing because the menu you have there promises a lunch, but the flight goes SCL-IPC-LIM and the lunch is only for the IPC-LIM part. By the time we arrived, it was about 1 p.m. local time, which is 3 p.m. Santiago time. So basically, you get some breakfast but then nothing until 3 p.m.

Some comments on the original post:

I was perfectly fine with the 30,000 Peso fee to visit the National Park (ticket is valid for 5 days and you just have to pay once, keep it with you and show it when you visit the other sites). I stayed 3 days and I think that was fine. I would never have the idea to go through the hassle of bringing my own food to this place. For three days, I could travel with hand luggage, not sure where I would have been able to fit food. Personally, I would also not want to go through the hassle of trying to make lodging arrangements after arrival - much nicer to be picked up by a hotel representative (most hotels offer this, and it is included in the price) with a Polynesian flower necklace, rather than standing there with your luggage and trying to negotiate a potentially lower, but potentially also higher price than you would get if you just book online beforehand.

As to the rental car, automatic is quite a bit more expensive, I had a manual 4x4 that was delivered to my hotel, paid 35,000 Pesos/day. I might have been able to negotiate that down a bit, but didn't think it was worth the hassle. I didn't go in with the expectation that they were out to rip off tourists and I never had the feeling that anyone was, so I didn't see the point of trying to squeeze them. I would agree that you should definitely go for a 4x4. When driving around on the non-paved roads with your windows open, a lot of dust/sand will get into your car. My car was pretty dirty inside and outside when I returned it, but they seemed to be used to that.

About the island itself: I stayed at a very basic place called Chez Joseph, which was just fine for the three nights (don't expect air condition or any luxury, but the people running it were very nice and had good advice on what to visit, and arrange rental car and a good dinner show), and located close to the main street of Hanga Roa and the beach, easy to walk to everything. Paid about $ 60/night or something like that. They prefer that you pay in cash in Pesos. There are two ATMs on the island, one of them was broken, but the other one is not far away (Banco Santander, takes pretty much all the important cards, I think).

Top attractions from my point of view: Orongo and the crater next to it, the Moai quarry and the crater, with its wild horses (Rano Raraku), Anakena Beach (really nice beach, and really unique with the Moais in the background), also the moais at Tongariki. For sunset, the Moais at Tahai are nice.

I'll try to upload some images later.
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Old Jan 19, 2011, 9:03 pm
  #20  
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Thanks for your perspective, attorney28. I see you're from ZRH: perhaps the SECOND most expensive place in the world.

Yeah, LAN biz class doesn't look too impressive. I'm always amazed by the flyertalk "fetish" for biz class (even at twice the price of coach, it usually looks overpriced to me), but LAN's looks less impressive than most. It would seem particularly underwhelming on the daytime SCL-IPC roundtrip. You can drink (free booze), eat, and be entertained with the individual screens in the back (LAN has decent movie selection and an impressive audio collection). I think the upgrade's worth about $100, but many folks love to pay so much more.

I also noticed the bad in-cabin service on the westward flight out of SCL (you might want to eat breakfast before this breakfast flight!), but the eastbound service was better. Trivial stuff, though: two movies and you're there.

As far as booking a hotel in advance goes, I would maintain that it's far more hassle (and certainly more time consuming) to book your Easter Island accomodations in advance. And there's just not enough information out there to make an informed decision (well, maybe one or two places have enough of a reputation to be reliable). That plus more than half the establishments (probably 3/4ths) aren't going to be "online." And there is zero probability of paying more on arrival. That said, when you arrive, it certainly is easier to have someone waiting for you with a sign and a lei.

The locals are friendly and perhaps not as jaded by mass tourism as most places. That said, minimal time "negotiating" or just shopping around will save you money. My innkeeper told me the best price I could get on an automatic 4x4 was 60,000 pesos per day. In less than 20 minutes on the main drag, I had that down to 37,000 pesos -- which is still too much to pay unless you need an automatic.

Bringing food is a matter of personal preference. Other than bread and fruit -- and overpriced beverages -- it's going to be extremely expensive to buy any food in the stores (and it's not like they're going to have what you want, anyway). So you can just eat in the restaurants (also expensive) when you're hungry. But if you want any snacks, or want to avoid a few expensive (and not particularly good) restaurant meals, bringing food seems like a good idea to me. Personally, I wouldn't want to show up on the island without a bottle of wine, pisco (premixed sour) and the ingredients for a nice meat and cheese plate.

BTW, I've never driven on a dirt road with the windows down (and I've driven on a lot of dirt roads!). Isn't it both unpleasant -- and a mess?

Your sightseeing recommendations are spot on. That said, in three days, you can see EVERYTHING on the island!

Last edited by iahphx; Jan 19, 2011 at 9:09 pm
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Old Jan 20, 2011, 3:12 am
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by iahphx
Yeah, LAN biz class doesn't look too impressive. I'm always amazed by the flyertalk "fetish" for biz class (even at twice the price of coach, it usually looks overpriced to me), but LAN's looks less impressive than most. It would seem particularly underwhelming on the daytime SCL-IPC roundtrip. You can drink (free booze), eat, and be entertained with the individual screens in the back (LAN has decent movie selection and an impressive audio collection). I think the upgrade's worth about $100, but many folks love to pay so much more.

I also noticed the bad in-cabin service on the westward flight out of SCL (you might want to eat breakfast before this breakfast flight!), but the eastbound service was better. Trivial stuff, though: two movies
and you're there.
Well, I had the same crew on the inbound and outbound flight, so the service was exactly the same eastbound and westbound. As I was in such disbelief that they would not offer anything at all after the breakfast service (for like 4 hours doing pretty much nothing), I took a photo of the menu that appeared to promise lunch. The female purser suddenly approached me (after having ignored me the whole flight, I was sitting in row 1) and asked me in a passive-aggressive manner "Excuse me, Sir, what are you doing?!" I said I am taking a picture of the menu because I am wondering why we do not get anything after breakfast. She then went on to explain that the lunch service in the menu is only for the continuing flight IPC-LIM.

I didn't know about free booze in the back - none at all was offered in the C cabin.

As to the presumably higher price in Biz: Depends on the rate you book, and on your place of origin.
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Old Jan 20, 2011, 6:39 am
  #22  
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Originally Posted by attorney28
Well, I had the same crew on the inbound and outbound flight, so the service was exactly the same eastbound and westbound. As I was in such disbelief that they would not offer anything at all after the breakfast service (for like 4 hours doing pretty much nothing), I took a photo of the menu that appeared to promise lunch. The female purser suddenly approached me (after having ignored me the whole flight, I was sitting in row 1) and asked me in a passive-aggressive manner "Excuse me, Sir, what are you doing?!" I said I am taking a picture of the menu because I am wondering why we do not get anything after breakfast. She then went on to explain that the lunch service in the menu is only for the continuing flight IPC-LIM.
Strange that they would "stop you" from photographing the menu. Isn't there a whole website dedicated to airline food?

Other than the bad breakfast (the Chileans seem to have no breakfast tradition -- it's by far the worst meal in the country!), I noticed the crew never came around to offer beverages (even water) after the meal service. It was odd on a 5 hour flight. On the return, I vowed to go back to the galley to get a drink if no one came through, but this time the service was "normal." I think there was both a second beverage cart and a f/a periodically circulating in the cabin with a bottle of water and cups.

Nobody should get the impression from this that LAN's in-cabin service is bad. Indeed, on average, LAN service is signficantly better is coach than most US airlines (slightly better food, free alcohol and a top-tier entertainment system). Their up-front product though -- at least the seating -- looks lackluster to me.
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Old Jan 20, 2011, 2:39 pm
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Interesting to hear about the comments on LAN biz. I'm flying LIM-IPC this April with the upgrade at a whopping $10 more than econ - don't really care what the difference is at that point! For me I had specific dates to fly so I couldn't get quite as cheap econ ticket for the TO flight, for the FROM flight it was a $300 or so difference to upgrade so I figured I'd hang onto the cash for accommodation instead!
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Old Jan 21, 2011, 8:10 am
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I stayed there three days the first time I went there 30 years ago. Regardless of park entrance fees (there were none then) and other such issues the experience was one of the high points of my life.

Of course there were only six rooms on the island then, three of which were occupied by LAN crew and I was single...I had a wonderful time.

I am planning a return in a few months time with my spouse. Obviously there will be much more luxury. I hope nothing else has changed much.
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Old Jan 21, 2011, 12:41 pm
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Originally Posted by jbcarioca
I hope nothing else has changed much.
I suspect that EVERYTHING has changed on Easter Island in 30 years, including the way the statues are displayed.

But I'm sure you'll have a great time. What do they call it -- "reliving your youth"? How could that not be special in such a unique place!

Last edited by iahphx; Jan 21, 2011 at 1:17 pm Reason: sp
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Old Jan 21, 2011, 2:46 pm
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I am positive you are right, and I certain that my spouse will enjoy it greatly as well.
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Old Jan 22, 2011, 12:55 pm
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Is the $60 entrance fee per person or for the whole group? I will be traveling there this summer with my family and hope its not a $180 visit. $60 per group is more reasonable as that is somewhat similar to a National Park entrance fee of 20 to 25 dollars.
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Old Jan 22, 2011, 2:38 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by iahphx
Nobody should get the impression from this that LAN's in-cabin service is bad. Indeed, on average, LAN service is signficantly better is coach than most US airlines (slightly better food, free alcohol and a top-tier entertainment system). Their up-front product though -- at least the seating -- looks lackluster to me.
Between scheduled service times, FAs up front rarely if ever offer anything. They will remove your empty water glass, not refill it. However, the experienced LAN flyer knows you just have to ask and you will receive. I'll usually go to the galley, but every once in awhile I'll ring my bell. As far as the seats, I like them. My only complaints are the width and there's no space to put anything.
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Old Jan 22, 2011, 7:54 pm
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Originally Posted by cityfishing
Is the $60 entrance fee per person or for the whole group? I will be traveling there this summer with my family and hope its not a $180 visit. $60 per group is more reasonable as that is somewhat similar to a National Park entrance fee of 20 to 25 dollars.
Unfortunately, it is now $60 per person for foreigners, which gets you a ticket good for both Orango and the moai quarry.

There is some ambiquity as to what foreign children have to pay. The official rules would seem to suggest they each have to pay $60, but for small children, that would be pretty heartless so the rules are often bent. In the tourist office in town, they suggested we visit Orongo first because there was a ranger there would wouldn't charge us for our kids. Unfortunately, that ranger was off-duty that day and the ranger who was working wanted $60 for our 14-year-old. We refused to pay the $180, and left. Later, we got a ticket from another ranger for less.
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Old Jan 22, 2011, 8:46 pm
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Ouch. Thanks for the tips. Hopefully, we will encounter the reasonable ranger as my 7 year old is coming on the trip. Or someone who is staying in our hotel might let us borrow their receipt. The fees for reciprocity and park entrances do add up. We are also going to Machu Picchu and finding cheap intra-Peru LAN flights without paying the gringo price has been difficult.
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