Last day here now. It's me getting out early now to catch sunrise at Tongariki. My daughter stayed in the room happily snoring away, and Tito picked me up at 7:00.



When we got to the site, well away from the few lights of town, the stars were more than I'd ever seen. There's hardly any light sources for thousands of kilometers.



The quarry was dimly backlit by the lights from town (this is a 3 second exposure on an iPhone).



Soon, the sun started to come up and the several dozen people there enjoyed it all in silence. It was very, very special and I feel fortunate to have experienced this. This must be one of the greatest sunrise locations on the planet. Sorry for the numerous similar images...

























After the sun rose into the sky, I had to take a few more pics of this site. Simply amazing.









On the island, a movie called Wild Horse Nine, staged in the 60's, is being filmed for the last few weeks. There are a few big names like John Malkovich and Steve Buscemi in the movie. We didn't see them but Tito had seen them around recently. They were setting up for a filming session at the quarry, and we saw one of the actors arriving on site in this vintage car.



I almost forgot to take a pic of the mango trees growing in the hotel garden. Can't get fresher than that.



We packed up the room and then got ready to leave. A farewell gift from the hotel was a simple, gorgeous necklace with a feather and a shell, and is meant to bring good luck.



We still had a couple of hours until flight time, so Juan from the hotel graciously agreed to bring ALL of our luggage, including backpacks, to the airport later on. We went into town with our new Canadian friends, with them to return their rental car in town. We were able to walk around unencumbered by baggage of any sort, which was super helpful.




Random dogs on scooters on the main street.











After a while we split the group up. My daughter and I had surveyed the special ice cream shop and it looked like it was going to open at 12:00. I really wanted to catch a video of the LATAM plane arriving from Santiago back by the airport at 12:30 and it was about a 20 minute walk over there. So 3 of us went to the ice cream place and I walked over to the flight approach path. My daughter wasn't disappointed in the least with her outcome.



I did get my video of the arriving flight and it was very cool. I also encountered a planespotter from Santiago who was at the same place with a massive dSLR camera.




After that, I walked back to the airport to meet Juan with our luggage and passed one of the few gas stations on the island. It looked from the signage like it used to be a Shell and was now unbranded. I don't think I saw any chains whatsoever on Rapa Nui other than the banks.



At the airport again. As you can see, very small.



There are a few people here waiting for arriving friends and guests.



This is the entire departures hall. I'm standing at the check in counter to take this picture, and the line is towards security.



Another random dog, by the gift shop in the airport. Just chillin.



There was another PDI check at exit, this was actually before security just like in Santiago. Very tight controls here! I'd imagine if you overstayed your declared time you'd have to pay a fine.



Under the security belts, there were a ton of rocks and seashells confiscated from passengers. These are all natural artifacts and are not to be removed from the island.



Now, here's the cool part. The departure gate area has an indoor space.



A covered outdoor space.



And a beautiful garden, right beside the apron, even with its own moai. I'm in love!







Iorana, Rapa Nui. It's been so great to be here! 3 days wasn't enough. If I were to do it again, I'd stay for 4-5 to have some more time to wander around town. The moai are what make Rapa Nui famous, but it really has a lot more to offer. It definitely shows that it's part of Polynesia, with the very interesting history, surfing culture, laid back attitude, and just the feel of the place.





We had an uneventful flight back to Santiago.





The menu was the same as the way out, so I ordered the ravioli. It was a bit dry, the beef was better.







The child meal resembled something like salisbury steak.



The sunset, enhanced by the air pollution from Chile, was quite nice.



Another invitation from a friendly flight crew to visit the cockpit on arrival in Santiago. My girl checks out the HUD on the Dreamliner. Like a real life video game!





And that's the end to a very interesting part of our 2025 trip to South America. Thanks for following along!