A weekend in Paradise...

What a weekend! Let me start from the beginning so you don't miss a minute:

WEDNESDAY:  6:40 p.m.  Katie and I board a bus headed to Mendoza... of course... it won't arrive until 7:30 the next morning.... ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.... this part is kind of boring.... it goes on for awhile. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ... Rain storm wakes me up very confused.... ZZZZZZZZZ


THURSDAY: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzz oh good morning Mendoza, nice to see you again.  Time to get on another bus.  Kelsey, Brice, Patrick and Karina were on the same bus!  They spent the weekend in Santiago, but it was nice to have a few more familiar faces with whom to travel.  I slept a little more, listened to some music... loved the views of the Andes... read a book.  It's called Yes Man, by Danny Wallace.  READ IT!  That is not a suggestion. It's a command.  The idea for the movie came from the book, but it is a completely different story... also, Danny Wallace has something to do with The Office so anyone that enjoys that show will love it. Or anyone that loves humor.  Or anyone at all really.  So read it.  After one lovely, cold and long encounter with border patrol, we were in Chile!  A few hours later we arrived in Santiago.

Santiago... hmmm how shall I describe you?  Santiago is a big city.  I didn't realize what I found off about Cordoba until I was in Santiago.  When I heard that Cordoba was the second largest city in Argentina, I was expecting a big city full of shiny buildings and a sprawling infrastructure like Chicago or Minneapolis or Santiago (apparently).  While Cordoba is a big city, the "center" is not more than 8 blocks square, and there are not many shiny buildings.  I think this is probably for the best for me... I have learned the city and know my way around well, I know good places to eat and I know fun things to do, but yet there are still some new things to discover.  Anyways... back to Santiago.  There is a metro!  I haven't been on a metro since ROME! It was a pleasant reminder of that vacation... although I'm not a huge fan of subways.  Especially in Santiago.  The idea of being under meters and meters of cement in a city that recently experienced a 8+ earthquake--let's just say it gave me the slightest of jitters.  I said a quick prayer of thanks every time I emerged from the murky depths.  There is a lot of different restaurants serving various international cuisines.  Apparently Kelsey even found a KFC to keep an Easter tradition alive in her southern heart... fried chicken.  We explored the city for the afternoon and ate a nice meal together.

FRIDAY:  Katie, Trevor (Katie's friend from her university in England.  He's been teaching English in Santiago since August) and I headed to the airport at 6 am.  Or perhaps earlier.  That morning is kind of a blur in my mind.  Anyways, we arrived, ate some Dunkin' Donuts, and boarded a plane for EASTER ISLAND!  Vroom Vroom... *that's the sound of the airplane... just making this experience real for you.  We landed at 11:30 local time... talk about confusion.  So Chile is an hour behind Argentina, but Easter Island is two hours behind mainland Chile, and to make matters more boggling, Chile participates in their own Daylight Savings time (which was Saturday night) while Argentina does not.  I never really knew what time it was... but does it matter in Paradise?  We settled in at the hotel, and hit the town!  We explored for the better part of the afternoon and went to two of the beaches later for some more exploring.  We booked a tour with the sweetest, cutest tour guide/ taxi driver!  Her name is Patricia... look her up when you go to the island!  As with every night, we had a delicious seafood dinner :)

SATURDAY:  Tour tour tour tour tour.  I'll write a big post about the history of the island and the mystery surrounding it, but I'll give you some basic details here!  We visited two of the volcanoes that formed the island, and the National Park which encompasses many of the famous sites.  These include a recreation of the native's homes Orongo, a visit to the place where they extracted the rock to form the moai (the statues), the famous 15 statue monument called Tongariki,  the 7 statue monument that faces the sea (all the moais [save these] face inland, protecting the island, but these face the sea.  Since the ancient people of the island were
 seafaring, these statues protect their brothers at sea.  We visited a few caves on the island, including Cueva de los dos ventanas (Cave of the two windows).  After about a five minute walk through the cave, it opens up to the sea, and you can stand and view the water from the rock face... so beautiful. We were dirty, dusty, tired, sore and amazed by the time it was over, and after a delicious dinner, we slept like babies :)


SUNDAY:  HAPPY EASTER!  We celebrated on the beach with a nice picnic lunch and a relaxing day... well... see for yourself:

MONDAY:  We searched the town for someone to take us snorkeling,
 but unfortunately, because a storm was coming the sea was just too strong for it this trip :)  I really wanted to try my hand at surfing, but after some serious soul searching, decided trying it on 6 ft. waves was not the best place to learn.  We decided to quench our adventure spirit with ziplining... however the rain had a different idea.  We still saw some new things around the island and had a relaxing afternoon listening to the pitter-patter of tropical rain.  We had an awesome last night on the island; we went to dinner with our new friend Nario, a fellow traveler from           Brazil!     We also saw a show of native song and dance. It was quite a cultural experience!  Especially when I was invited on stage to dance.  Well, I use the term "invited" loosely.  They came off stage and started pulling people on and I jumped up and down in my seat with my hand in the
air until the gentleman to my left in the picture picked me.  I sashayed my way across the stage, twisting, twirling and whirling.  Basically, it was so much fun and such an incredible experience.  Watching the experts was even cooler.  It was similar to a hulu-type dance, and it was impressive to watch the amount of pride the dancers had for their culture, and the passion and emotion they put into dancing.  The island truly is special, and it is obvious they are proud to be a part of it.




TUESDAY: SAD DAY! I had to leave on a jet plane.. don't know when I'll be back again..


WEDNESDAY:  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ on a bus.  Possibly watched a drug heist.  Or banana heist.  This South America stuff will get you every time.  De todos modos, I have arrived safely back in Cordoba, so blessed to have had this experience, a little tired, sun-toasted to perfection, and amazed by this island!