Wow, just wow. When we arrived, the green hills, palms and bananas swaying in the wind, was a balm for my ice weary soul. Even in Santiago we saw little green, it being high summer here and a similar climate to California, it was brown. After getting leied we went to our hotel which I love. We have a view of several moai from our room as well as a beautiful tropical garden. Heaven! We were then picked up by our guide Jo-Jo (pronounced Yo-Yo) and he took us to hike the rim of the Rano Kau crater. It was stunningly beautiful, an oasis of freshwater right next to the sea. The caldera was huge and it took us awhile up figure out the scale. The tiny green smudges you see at the water line are trees 4-5m tall! The scum in the water are giant floating reed beds which the local people once used to make beds and surf boards for the birdman competition. More on that tomorrow! We hiked to the very edge of the cliff and then back all the way around the caldera to the other farthest point. It was awesome after having spent five hours in a plane. Along the hike we saw obsidian everywhere coming out of the soil as well as spots where the ground reverberated, a sign of a lava tube cave. It is truly a volcanic landscape.
After the hike we grabbed a quick dinner of tuna Ceviche and it was time for star gazing. We met our guides in town and they took us to the other side of the island where they had telescopes set up, blankets, and hot chocolate. It was cloudy, haha. The lead guide sang some songs and had a beautiful voice and good skills at the guitar. Then a lecture about astral navigation, all in attempt to wait for the stars to come out, and finally a change of plans. We then went and got our pictures taken with the moai in the dark with one or two stars. Matt tried getting pictures as well but it was very dark and he wasn’t sure if he was successful. Final transit to another part of the island, still no stars, defeat. Then back to our hotel, our guide couldn’t find it. Hilarious! This island is so so small, it was funny in a I’m ready for bed hurry up kind of way. We were unsuccessful with stars but heard some nice music.