Chile & Easter Island

Arnold N. Patchett

Firstly, we travelled to the vast Atacama desert in the north, and visited the veiy early moining geysers, as well as the main town of Antofagasta.

Thence we went to Santiago with its endless attractions and the vineyards near the city. Following this, we made a road journey through a long tunnel under the mountains to the very beautiful city of Valparaiso with its coastal and fashionable resort of Vina del Mar: great variety of sea food!

Then we flew to the south with its fantastic Paine National Park and Pehoe with icebergs, swollen rivers and stupendous waterfalls, all overlooked by the high Andes. The famous volcano, Osorno, with its everlasting snow-capped peak stands out for very many miles around, sometimes with a background of azure sky and sometimes a passing cloud.

Finally, we travelled to Punta Arenas, a lovely town, overlooking the Magellan Straits and Tierra del Fuego. Before returning home from Santiago, a two and a half day visit was made to Easter Island – a four hour flight over 2300 miles from the mainland.

The stone statues (moai) must be seen to be believed – some are thirty feet high. Tiie piece de resistance is a row of fifteen of them overlooking the sea. They are all perfectly carved as are a number of fallen and/or damaged ones. No evidence of any early attempts by beginners to carve them appear on the island, so it is thought that they were done by professionals who were driven out of Peru by the Incas centuries ago and finally landed on the first island they came to, i.e. Easter Island. They were carved and erected to commemorate specially noteworthy ancestors.

There are still some craters of extinct volcanoes one can visit with ease. At least two are over a hundred yards in diameter and are half-filled with water. Petroglyphs can be seen in several places especially on the top of the stupendously high cliffs in the south west comer of the island. Far below are three rocky islands, the haunt of countless sea birds in season. By contrast, we bathed from silver sanded palm fringed beaches into the blue Pacific. On one beach promontory is a plaque near a moai reminding us of the famous Kon Tiki expedition which took place a few years after World War II.

We stayed at a simple, but very well equipped hotel in Hanga Roa, the little town of the island. Hibiscus trees in full flower on the roadside added to the charm

Speleologists please note that there are a number of caves on Easter Island.