10/09/2019 – Travel day Santiago to Easter Island, Chile

Our alarms went off at 03:15 and, excited but bleary eyed, we got ourselves up, packed, and out the door by 03:45 when our taxi that our host had kindly organised for us last night, arrived. Our host waved us off and appeared to have not been to sleep yet. He is a sociology student and I think lives quite a student lifestyle from what we have witnessed! We got driven the half hour journey through the empty morning roads of Santiago to the airport. We found check in and got rid of our bags and then went to the shop to buy some chocolate gifts for the kids we were about to be staying with. Our Easter Island host, Peter, had requested we bring some as it is so expensive over on the island. To be fair they weren’t the cheapest in Santiago either! We wandered around the airport getting lost and pointed in an array of different directions, as Easter Island has its own little underground security channel. When we eventually found it we went through and got asked by the police security if we had completed our online immigration forms. The Island has a new system where Chilenean and foreign tourists can only visit for under 30 days and there is a strict online form where you have to declare your paid for accommodation with special codes you have to fill in. We had filled in the form as instructed by our host Peter, and, after a bit of a pause and a knowing look from security when he saw we would be staying for 28 days, were waved through. We continued to feel a bit lost in the airport but eventually came across a Starbucks for a coffee. We found our gate which was already boarding and before long were sat on the huge plane. It was 10 seats wide, and felt like a huge long haul kind of plane. We flew with Latam Airlines, I’m not sure if any other companies fly there. We took off and Josh plugged into his podcast and I got stuck in to my book on the kindle. My goodness I am really really loving the ease of a kindle! Before long we were both asleep. The flight was about 5 hours long, much longer than I expected and just illustrates how far away from the mainland we are – 3700km away! We landed in Easter island, which looked beautifully green and tropical! The time had gone back 2 hours, so it was still only 10am when we landed. We went through the small hut like airport, which reminded me of the small Antigua airport, collected our bags and got in a taxi. We got driven to our accommodation called ‘Hareswiss’ by a young guy with great English. He explained he was originally from Patagonia, had come here on a surf holiday, and had never left. He had been here 5 years. Because he did this before the 30 day rule had been brought in he was allowed to stay here. He was pretty surprised at how long we were staying, and we have been a bit wary and not told anyone about our volunteering situation! We got dropped off and wandered around to what looked like the main house. Our host Peter said hello and waved us down to the small bungalow near the entrance to the land to meet a volunteer who was leaving today, and be shown our accommodation. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, with incredible colourful flowers and greenery and a view of the ocean. There is the main house at the top, 3 holiday bungalows (£120 a night each all tax free for Peter!), and a small building for us. We walked back down admiring the view and the peace! We introduced ourselves to the Chinese volunteer who finished cleaning the space and then showed us in. We have a little studio with bunk beds, a single bed, bedside table, a desk and chair, shelving, a small kitchen with a fridge, stove top and sink, and a bathroom with a toilet, shower, and sink. We are pretty exited at having our own little space for a while and being able to unpack our bags fully! The volunteer showed us how things worked and spoke to us a bit about her time here, and we gave her some advice and tips for her onwards travel as she heads to Lima and Cusco over the next week. Peter came down and seemed pretty excited to have a guy to talk to. He lives here with his wife and two daughters, and their big dog, Ringo. Peter is from Switzerland and used to play football for Edinburgh, and is clearly a very big football fan! I quickly zoned out but Josh knew enough to be able to have a bit of a chat. After that, the volunteer went up to the main house with her stuff and Josh and I had some time to unpack. We got our things out and fiddled around until midday when it was lunch time. We walked up to the main house and had lunch with Peter, the Chinese volunteer (can’t remember her name) and Petra, a volunteer from Czech Republic. We had a chicken breast, mashed potato, salad and some spaghetti. Peter explained that normally they only have two volunteers at a time but whilst we are here there will be three. I will be cleaning the bungalows, Josh will be gardening and maintenance and then Petra, who has been here for around 5 days already, is on nanny duty. I did mention to Josh that it was funny he just assumed and delegated cleaning to me and gardening to Josh! Talk about gender roles! Petra used to live in Austria and speaks German, so Peter wants her to help teach his kids German. Peter says he speaks English in the home, his wife (who is a Rapa Nui, and comes from this island) speaks Spanish, and they want their daughters to learn German (Peters first language.) Peter explained a bit about the islands culture and habits over lunch. It seems there is a lot of conflict between Chilaneans and the Rapa Nui people, it reminded me of the conflict between aborigines and Australians. It will be interesting to experience things for ourselves. Peter left to drop the volunteer at the airport, and pick up his wife, an air stewardess who has flown to and from Tahiti today. Petra, Josh and I washed up. Petra explained she actually isn’t a ‘kid’ person and wanted to be the cleaner! We laughed as I said I would probably prefer her job, but obviously can’t speak German. After clearing up Josh and I went back to our studio and made ourselves a coffee. I read for a bit and Josh went on the internet. Before long we were asleep and had a nice long nap. We woke up and walked up to the house where we had been told to regroup and the plan was for Peter to show us how to clean the bungalow properly. He has a very macho way about him, and pretty much only addresses Josh. It can be really frustrating, but seems pretty normal for South America, so I guess I have to get on with it. Peter explained to us that he has autoimmune hepatitis, and sometimes gets pretty ill pretty quickly, and was feeling bad. Petra had a 3 and a 6 year old hanging off each arm, and looked exhausted already, but was given the task of showing us what to do. We went to the middle bungalow and muddled through the cleaning up. It seemed straightforward enough at first, make it clean and tidy. Then Peter came in and checked it meticulously! He explained he has an excellent rating on both trip advisor and bookings, and he said he has worked hard to keep it that way. He is very specific about which cushion goes where and how many toilet rolls there need to be e.t.c! After a few hours of sweeping, mopping, bleaching, window cleaning, and all the while entertaining the two daughters, we finally finished up. One of the perks is that we get to keep the food the guests leave behind! We went back to our studio and picked up some bags to go to the shop with and buy some food for dinner. We walked along the seafront and came across our first Moai head! It was pretty exciting! It was nearly sunset and this is the recommended spot, so there were a fair amount of tourists around. It was very scenic! Blue sky, low sun, calm blue ocean, green grass, black rocks, and a handful of big towering heads and bodies, quite mystical! There are lots of wild horses and dogs roaming around too. We enjoyed the walk along the coastline to the main town. We found the supermarket and bought ourselves some groceries. I mean we were expecting it to be expensive but this was EXPENSIVE on a new level. Norway is Primark in comparison! Luckily we get breakfast and lunch provided, so we plan on just some small dinners to get us by. We walked back along the seafront to home. It was about a 45 minute walk back, and we got guided home all the way by this gorgeous and friendly stray dog. We fell in love instantly! A stray cat also ran up to us and ran between our legs as we walked for about 10 minutes. They are such warm hearted animals it is so hard to not adopt them! We got home and made ourselves a tuna pasta dinner and watched some friends. The gas had run out so there was no hot water so we hopped into bed without a shower and were quickly asleep.