Tag Archives: easter island
A Forgotten Flight to Easter Island / Jun, 18
I’ve been re-reading Katherine Routledge’s The Mysteries of Easter Island lately. Routledge was a British aristocrat who, with her husband, sailed from England to Easter Island in 1914 to conduct one of the first ethnographic and archaeological surveys of the island. It’s thanks to her that we know as much as we do about the […]
Day 19: Juanita the Mummy / Jul, 09
After the Santa Catalina Monastery, Arequipa’s second-most famous attraction is Juanita the Mummy. Housed at El Museo Santuarios Andinos, Juanita is a 12- or 13-year-old Inca girl who was the victim of human sacrifice sometime in the middle of the 15th century. (I say “victim” because even though the museum’s displays and tour guides kind […]
Day 17: Arequipa I Love You / Jul, 07
Another travel-dominated day, one that would take me 1,600 miles from Santiago to Arequipa, Peru, where I’d begin the next chapter of my trip. My flight, operated by the Chilean airline Sky, hopscotched its way north, landing first in Antofagosta and then Arica, both cities in northern Chile surrounded by brown desert and mountains, before […]
Day 16: Leaving the Island / Jul, 06
This was entirely a travel day, so I don’t have much to say and almost no pictures to show. I spent the morning packing in my cabana, picking up my laundry, returning my rental bike, paying Dario. He hailed me a cab when it was time to go to the airport, and paid the driver […]
Day 15: Mayor and Moai / Jul, 05
Some mornings caffeine just hits me in a certain way, and I get all excited about something. This morning, it was the idea of writing an article, when I get back home, about the balance the island is trying to strike between tourism and conservation. Something like 65,000 tourists came here last year, up from […]
Day 14: Trekking the North Coast / Jul, 04
I spent the morning at the archaelogical museum, which recounts the history of the island in thorough detail through information boards (in Spanish and fairly decent English) and a few dozen artifacts. The most interesting of these are one of the few moai ever found to display female characteristics:
Day 13: The Birdman Cult / Jul, 03
This morning began with me indulging in another Type A, United Statesian fuss. Dario and I had agreed last night to explore the island together in his truck, and I knocked on his door a little after 8 to see if he was there. No answer — which didn’t surprise me, as he said he […]
Day 12: Biking the Island / Jul, 02
This was a pretty huge day. The island, small as it is, seems to call for huge days. I rose early and rented a bike in town, from Insular on the main street. I was impressed with how professionally this place was run, and ended up with a Cannondale bike for 24 hours, a helmet […]
Day 11: Easter Island Arrival / Jul, 01
The plane ride to Easter Island was uneventful, except that this was kind of crazy to see: