Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Day 3

We had breakfast and were packed in the lobby for a 9:20 AM departure.

We headed to the crater. Upon arriving at the crater, we were shown photos and given an explanation of the Bird-Man competition. This competition was developed as a means of ending the bloody conflict between tribes. The competition involved young men from the different tribes climbing down a 300 foot cliff, swimming 1500 meters to collect an egg from an island, swimming back 1500 meters, climbing back up the 300 meter cliff and giving the egg to his clan's Priest. The clan's leader whose representative made it back first got to rule the island for the next year.

We then walked the site where the male clan's members lived during the competition.

We also viewed crater.

We drove a short way to an overlook from which you can see the ocean, crater and town. We paused here for a group photo.

It was now lunch time. We were surprised when we pulled up to the same restaurant we ate at yesterday. Martin explained that on the way down from the volcano, he received a call that the scheduled restaurant canceled our reservation. So the sweet owners of the the Neptuno by the Sea scrambled to accommodate us.

We then headed to the airport. Upon arrival, we were told that the schedule had been changed and that our 2:30 PM flight would not leave until 4:40 PM. The flight is a 5 hour flight so we won't get arriving to Santiago until 12:30 AM. I am doubtful that we will be getting to the hotel before 2:00 AM. In addition, it will come as no surprise that the airport in Rapa Nui is not air conditioned and it was HOT!

We are flying from Santiago to Buenos Aires in the morning. I am REALLY looking forward to getting on the ship and having a less hectic schedule.

BTW only one of our 4 flights so far have been ontime. The ontime flight was from Phoenix to Miami which was also the shortest.Read more