Valporiso... and beyond

The horse track


One of the amazing horses at the races... this guy won.




An asensor track


The view from an asensor... one of the many ancient elevators that are still used all over the city.


Museo cielo abierto... aka open sky museam, feel free to do whatever artistic endeavor that you like in this large space.


I think banksy was here... this one is for you cori
















Horse and dog parked by the side of the highway


Bus art


A deteriorating buldigng...

Valporiso is one of the most incredible cities that I have ever been to.
It is incredibly beautiful and unique, it seems like San Fransisco, New Orleans and parts of Lima got smashed together to crate a wonderful steep portside town, and to top it off and make it even more amazing... the entire city is covered with some of the most amazing street art that I have ever seen, it's everywhere!!! (Cori-little sister if you ever come here you may never leave!)
My first 2 days were spent walking arround the town taking photos... lots and lots of photos. On the seccond day I met a lovely German gal. We went to the most incredible resturaunt where we enjoyed a great bottle of wine, Lobster rissoto and ginger crembrule, ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. If anyone is planning on visitng; Uriola 383, Epicurian is highly reccomended!
On my 3rd day (yesterday) a large ggroup of people staying in the same hostel as me decided to go to Vina Del Mar, so I went with them. 3 Canadian fellows, 1 Polish gal, my new German friend and I all boarded the metro train toghether. We had planned to go to the Fonuk Museam but it was closed from earthquake damage. So we had a nice seafood lunch overlooking the sea and then we headed to the local sporting club where we spent the afternoon at THE HORSE RACES!!!! It was really fun, the track was really nice and everyone won $, except for me (i lost 6 dollars- oh well).
I spent all day today on a bus, and I am presently in La Serena.
Happy April Fools day... and Happy Birthday to my Mommy! It's turning into fall here so I hope everyone up north is enjoying spring.

Heading North...

I am in Santiago at the moment, I have been here staying in a great hostel for the past few days. I havn't really done much, other then attempthing to figure out what I am going to do for the next 2.5 months.
Tentative plan:
I have decided that I am going to start moving north slowly, first heading up the Cilean coast and then into Boliva, fallowed by Peru. Hopefully in about 5 weeks I will be in Banos Equador. There I am going to do a homestay for 3 weeks and study spanish everyday (except weekends)!

Yesterday I ventured outside to get away from the lazy internet routene that I had fallen into. I went for a big hike with 2 german fellows and a crazy gal from england. We headed up Cerro Provencia on the outskirts of Santiago. It was hot, really hot, it was steep and we were breathing the lovely brown smoggy air that fills the valley here. Needless to say, after 4 hours of steep up I decided I didn't want to go to the top and that I would go back and sit in the shade (the boys who did go to the top, told us we made a good decision uppon their return). Despite the heat, we did get a good veiw of Santiago (on a realativly low smog day) and the big mountains to the east. This afternoon I head to Valporiso for a few days, to explore...







Photos:
Philip (german fellow) trying to decipher a very bad map, of Cerro Provencia.

The very dry landscape of Santiago's foothill's... cactuses everywhere, I felt like I was in Arizona.

Santiago

More Rapa Nui!

The 7 sailors, the only Moai statues on the island that are oriented out to sea. All the rest face inland.


Rno Raraku, the quarry where the Moai were made.


The Moai on Anakena Beach


Anakena Beach


A ruin near the sea, the island was first discovered and settled in 500 AD.


Tongeriki from afar with people and wild horses.


Detail.


The very impressive Tongariki.


Part of Tongariki (the whole thing is 15 upright statues) with a person infront to give some perspective on their size... They are big! The tallest one is 20 meters.


Moai face, with Rno Raraku, the quarry where it was made in the background.


A fallen Moai, with a wild pony in the background. There where wild horses all over the island... Tons of them, in the soccer fields, on the main street, everywhere! Many of the just had babbies too.

The Island of many names and wonders...

Easter Island
Isla de Pescua
Rapa Nui

I am posting alot of pictures, because I took a lot... and it was hard to narrow them down. E. Island truely is an incredible place, both in scenery and in history. I spent a lot of time touring the island, to see the multitude of Moai statues (there are over 900 on the island thas only 18km long!), pictographs and ruins... but I also spent a good ammount of time swimming in the ocean and laying on the beach. It was an excelent vacation from my vacation.







Moai in mid construction from the quarry (the only one on the island)at Rno Raraku.


The unique knealing Moai, the only statue on the island that is not in a standing position. Tongariki is in the background (15 Moai standing together in a line).






Ovahe... Incredible PINK sand beach. This photo does not do it justice.


Lava tube cave that ends in a cliff over the ocean


I signed up tp go fishing.. assuming it would involve a pole and a reel. Wrong! I learned how to fish with a net and a snorkel, it was great and we got lots of fish, that we ate for lunch.


One of the fish that I netted!


I got covered in traditional cerimonial paint after I learned the traditional way to fish.


One of the pictographs at the swimming spot.


Boats in the harbor at sunset


Really nice swimming area complete with palm trees and pictographs.


Sunset looking out of the harbor in Hanga Roa


A moai statue in the center of the only town on the island, Hanga Roa... with a bird on it's head.