cubbie

Thanks for posting that link, Middle_Seat.

Middle_Seat

If you go to Easter Island (Rapa Nui), you may become smarter, happier and less anxious:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0629211902.htm

"ScienceDaily (June 29, 2012) — Cognitive skills such as learning and memory diminish with age in everyone, and the drop-off is steepest in Alzheimer's disease. Texas scientists seeking a way to prevent this decline reported exciting results this week with a drug that has Polynesian roots...."

aaron1262

Just also returned from a trip on Easter Island. Stayed a unaki uhi on the main road. It was basic nothing spectacular, but clean. There was free and reliable wifi if you sit out on in the garden. Did the hike up orongo it was pretty nice. I took a tour from Aussie Bill who runs the hotel across the street. It was a decent tour for 60 USD. Not the cheapest place to visit, but definitely worth to see the Moai.

While i was there i saw the QF 747 at the airport. It was there for the Captains world tour. Quite the site!

dodger 1k

We just returned from Easter Island and no, they do not collect the visa reciprocity fee in Easter Island. We traveled there on the LAN flight from Lima. The return flight was to Santiago and that was a domestic flight, so no fee from Easter Island to Santiago either.

For those that are wondering, there were a number of hotel kiosks in baggage claim, so like others mentioned, if you do not have an advanced booking, should not be a problem.

We had an advanced booking at Explora Rapa Nui. Not a budget hotel by any means at $1,500 per night, but the tours were excellent and it is all inclusive, including alcohol. Rooms were fairly ordinary, kind of rustic, but did have an ocean view. Food was very good, gourmet quality, internet horrible.

Overall, 3 nights seemed about right for Easter Island. Beautiful place, friendly people, but very remote.

OskiBear

This was just in the LA Times, referencing National Geographic:

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...,6247582.story

Tiki

We went to Easter island 5 years ago and it was amazing! I do have some entries in my Travelpod blog starting here http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...1660/tpod.html which may be of interest even though obviously prices have gone way up! We are budget travelers and this was before we got seriously into the miles and points game. The one thing I don't see other people mentioning is the Karikari dance shows, don't know if the reason is because the group no longer exists or because people didn't know they existed but well worth an evening out!

Viajero Perpetuo

Kari Kari is alive, well, popular and the best show to go to.

LAX_Esq

Was in IPC for 4 nights last week. Some notes, beyond the obvious points, that might help others:

- Paid 45,000 pesos / day for an automatic car (a really tiny Subaru SUV) from Insular

- Got a private room with private bathroom for 20,000 pesos / night at Camping Mihinoa. It was a very good deal for the price point, and, at $45/night, it was a much better value than any $80-100 place we considered.

- Hiked up Terevaka, the island's highest "mountain." It not steep at all, and anyone in decent shape can make it. It was about 1.5 hours up and an hour down. Pretty good views at the top.

- Hiked around the north cost of the island (Anakena to Ahu Te Pau), which can't be accessed by car. It took a good 6 hours. The views of the coast and scenery are really nice, and it's totally isolated. However, half the journey, it seems like the "trail" disappears and you just have to figure it out yourself, and make sure you don't get too close to the cliffs. There's some ruins to see, but it's hard to know what you're looking at since they're not marked.

- Buy the national park pass at the airport for $50, instead of $60 at Orango/Rano Raraku.

- Opening/closing times likely mean little. We were at the entrance to Rano Raraku at 9am, and the sign says it's open at 9am, and the employees showed up at 9.35am to unlock the gates.

- The gelato place (Mikato) is really good. Nothing else in the town looked appealing; we had brought our own food.

JohnnyColombia

My experiences this week. Arrived at IPC where the luggage belt doesn't work so they carry the bags in and put them in a pile.

Nobody pitched me for taxi or hotels contrary to what I'd gathered from this thread, so I decided to walk to Hanga Roa. Asked the cops which way exactly and started walking.

Note the road into town is made of little Z shaped concrete blocks and will test one's suitcase wheels.

First corner I met a bona fide rapa nui called Erika, chewed the fat with her, had a fanta then carried on.

Passed the LAN office with posters for Papeete, Lima and Santiago. 3 pretty cool destinations for an island of 6000 people.

Stopped about 3 blocks later to ask a couple of local girls outside a shop where the centre was. This is it! they said, then they invited me to have lunch with them. Really really friendly place! I'd only been there an hour and had made 3 friends and got a free lunch.

The girls didn't know where I could stay, then came along Christian, a guy that came up to ask me if I was a journalist that had come to write about his disease. No I hadn't, but he told me all about it anyway, plus recommended hostel kona tau around the corner.

I hoofed my suitcase up a gravel road and got me a private room with bathroom for 30 mil.

They booked a Suzuki jimny for me the next day for 35 mil, and I met a guy that wanted to split the costs with me, so was 17500 each for our own pace tour of the island. Very easy to do the whole island in one day if you don't have some tedious guide wittering on about stone ovens.

Thursday night was funny, went to a bar called maura. At midnight the police traffic control over the road disappeared and loads of gays turned up. Don't know if it was the police that had quickly changed into civvies but this little island has a little LGBT scene.

I understand that the middle of the island is great for stargazing, would have had a look but the night we had the jimny was cloudy.

Loved the island, it's a proper little chile with its own twist and amazing people, cannot wait to go back

lotuspad

Welcome back, Johhny! Thanks for sharing your recent experience with us. Sounds like you had great luck with the locals in town. When we got there it was off peak and the town was pretty much deserted.

I finally got around to writing up my trip report for the Easter Island segment. It's a fantastic place and definitely worth at least one visit this lifetime.

http://www.travelwhimsy.com/peru-chi...land-in-a-day/

JohnnyColombia

Very cool trip report lotuspad. And you seem to note the same theme, very friendly people.

Here are a few of my pics, I guess we all get pretty much the same snaps on this tiny island

lotuspad

same snaps?? no, yours are way cooler, especially on the surfboard! that's awesome!

what kind of camera do you use? mine is a standard compact point and shoot. thinking of upgrading to something fancier but not sure if the added bulk is going to work for my travels.

JohnnyColombia

I kinda envy you point and shoot people. I had a pretty bog standard Canon EOS DSLR, 5 different lenses and a tripod with me. I took 1001 exposures on the island of which 37 were keepers. For every wave crashing on a rock I had about 60 photos of no waves crashing on rocks.

The surfer would have been a Canon EF- 70-300mm III IS USM lens, probably at full stretch hence he is a little blurry around the corners.

SanDiego1K

Stunning pictures, Johnny, worthy of a professional photo book. Thank you for sharing them.

lotuspad

Yes, I have an aversion to carrying heavy things when I'm on the road. I'm always thinking I might forget a bag here or there. But a day will come when I'm ready to upgrade. A friend also highly recommends the Canon EOS. Definitely experienced some photo envy after seeing your pics!