This is what the in-flight map looks like when the plane is half-way there. The excitement was building to be sure. When we approached the island we flew along the southern coast from east to west and I had a perfect view. I filmed it all, including the landing and taxi to the apron where we deplaned down airstairs as there are no jetways.
The arrival "concourse" where we entered the main terminal building and collected our luggage. It took nearly half an hour for my bags to arrive; first in, last out? Once outside I was greeted by a young woman by the name of Kia who placed a lei around my neck and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek. (I've already forgotten what the Rapa Nui word for "lei" actually is, sorry).
Arrival at the place where I would be staying. Not very impressive from the outside and yes, I had second thoughts initially. Then when I saw my room, called "Iti" as in small, which is adorable, I knew everything would be just fine. The bed turned out to be the absolutely most comfortable of the entire trip! Same for the pillows! Call it the "heavenly bed" even though I know that name is used by some major hotel chain in the U.S.
The view from Te'Ora's patio area, looking across the road at the ocean and toward the harbor area of the village of Hanga Roa (a ten minute walk). The sound of the ocean waves crashing could be easily heard from my room and lulled me to sleep each night. Not really much of a harbor, but then again this isn't Cape Town.
There are some paved streets and the rest are dirt and in pretty tough shape (washboard). Lots of people have cars but getting replacement parts takes time; over six months for a passenger door window for Kia's car. And losts of the younger people have motor bikes which are very loud when passing by. (The boys especially like doing "wheelies" along the main street. Also, I noticed that dogs seem to be everywhere, mostly German shepherds, as in semi-wild. They're friendly, follow people unless scolded and while my inclination was to pet one or two, I had the good sense not to out of fear of being bitten.
Since the island observes daylight savings, it didn't get dark until close to 9:00 p.m. Watching the sun sink into the ocean from a point near the harbor was fun. The walk back to Te'Ora in the dark was not problematic for me as I felt completely safe in this little village of close to 6,000.
It sure was hard to believe where I was when I went to bed on my first night...
