Dia 3, Isla de Pascua

DAY 3

We awoke, relatively sore and groggy the next morning to a beautiful day. The waves were crashing right next to us, we had plenty of food for a great breakfast of granola and yogurt, Tongariki was to our left and behind us awaited Rano Raraku. We packed all of our things and, leaving them there, started off for Rano Raraku. We spent the entire morning exploring, first on the outer part of the volcano, with hundreds of moai in various states of completion and transport down the volcano. From there, we entered the depths of the crater, full of guava-heavy trees (which we took full advantage of, don’t even worry about that) and more moai, before finally walking the entire circumference of the rim, from where we had excellent views of the entire island.

We returned to our cave for lunch after Rano Raraku, then set out along the road once again with our giant backpacks. Our next goal was Anakena, one of the few white-sand beaches on the island. Getting there required crossing a sizeable stretch of road inland, then following the coast for several miles. Unfortunately it was raining off and on, and there really wasn’t anything interesting for scenery. We ended up deciding to hitchhike, and we immediately picked up by a Chilean threesome sightseeing that side of the island. We ended up hitchhiking/touring with them, getting out with them at all of the various places of interest en route and taking pictures before finally reaching Anakena, where they dropped us off. As we hopped out of the car, the one woman of the three, marveling over the idealistic beauty of the palm trees and cerulean blue water, joked at how nice it would be to have a Mango Sour while basking in the sun. Once again, the guardian angel of life was right there with us, and we looked at each other with expressions of surprised realization. We had both more or less forgotten about it until that moment, but we actually had with us all of the supplies to make Mango Sours! We had brought with us to the island our own bottle of Pisco, thinking that we would probably want it at some point along the way and realizing that it was incredibly expensive on the island (about three times the price in Chile, which works out to normal US prices, actually.) Anyhow, not only did we have an entire bottle of Pisco with us, we also had a packet of mango juice concentrate, fresh lemons, and several water bottles filled with water. Perfect! It didn’t turn out that well, and we actually didn’t end up drinking it, but it was fun to have.

KellyAnne, a bit more brave than I, headed pretty much instantly toward the water, while I set up a little pick-nick for us on the beach. At this point we didn’t actually have any food left that could be creatively mixed together to enjoy anything resembling a meal; by “pick-nick” I mean that we ate pickles, peanuts, granola, gummy worms, bran crackers and our own house formula Mango Sour. Unfortunately the weather was rather fickle, and although there was enough sun on the beach that I ultimately ended up a little sun burnt from that day, there were also enough clouds irregularly blocking the sun that it was kind of cold and windy at times.

We hung out on the beach for a few hours, and had original plans to spend the night there, but the weather started to look like it might get nasty and the occasional fat raindrop was finding its way to our cheeks. We decided that if the weather was going to be like that the next day, too, we probably weren’t going to have much interest in spending the whole day at the beach like we had originally planned. Instead of camping in the rain that night, and surviving through the next day on our rather boring rations, we elected to head back to Hanga Roa. We packed our things and made our way to the road, where a thumb stuck out towards traffic ended with the first car we saw stopping for us.

We threw our backpacks in the back of the pickup and hopped in the cab, where we were greeted by a very delightfully interesting and fun Rapa Nui couple probably in their 40’s. They had decided that instead of working that day, they were going to spend the day fishing together, and were heading back to town to cook a dinner of the fresh fish they had just caught. That, my friends, is the life.


We told the couple to drop us off at the intersection between the church and the artisan market, but once we got there we weren’t exactly sure what to do. Sure, Napohe had offered to let us use his facilities again, but he wasn’t expecting us back for another day. As we stood in the intersection trying to decide if we should head up to his house and see if he was home or possible try and come up with a plan B, once again life was looking out for us. Moments after we arrived there, who should drive through the intersection and see us but Napohe himself? He stopped and said that he was leaving and wouldn’t be in the house for a bit, but we should head on up and let ourselves in.

We walked up to his house and sat down on the front porch, where we only waited a few moments before he returned. He asked us all about our trip and invited us to use his shower, but this time the shower in his house instead of the shower in the cabaña. Whatever, a shower’s a shower, so we both took one and drank a cup of coffee. We told him all about what we had seen and done, and he offered to drive us up to Rano Kao and check it out that night. However, when we left the house it started to rain pretty insistently, so instead of going to Rano Kao in the rain we just ended up driving around the town and talking to people he knew for most of the night.

At one point he told us that he had a friend who grew some really huge, awesome avocados at his house, way better than the little ones in Napohe’s own garden, and he wanted to go get some for us, his “amigas.” We drove up to the friend’s house, picking the best bananas in the world off the roadside along the way and stopping to be introduced to nispero.

Nispero, by the way, had a strong enough impact on me that it deserves an explanation. I’ve seen in various famous works of art different portrayals of Eve picking the Forbidden Fruit, and often times it doesn’t actually look anything like an apple. If you think about it, there are definitely fruits in the world far better than apples, and therefore probably more deserving of being the fruit responsible for the downfall of mankind. Although up to this point I’d never encountered anything amazingly good enough to be a potential candidate for the role of the Fruit of Original Sin, everything changed when I tried nispero. I don’t have any idea how to describe it…the flavor is unlike anything else on earth. It’s sweet, and tangy, and kind of pops open with juice and flavor when you bite into it. There’s a bit of sour flavor, but balanced out with a succulent taste reminiscent of the best tasting apricot you’ve ever eaten. But better. Much, much better. Quite honestly, the first thing that came to mind on my first bite of nispero really was that Eve was in the right; this taste was worth everything that’s evil in the world. Immediately after thinking that, I became conscious of the fact that anything which would make me think such a strong thought must be somehow associated with the devil, and by eating this fruit I was probably starting down a path that can only end in selling my soul for more nispero. And even as I processed these thoughts I continued eating them, a burst of joy filling my body with each bite.

We drove around for a little bit and me a few of Napohe’s friends that evening before going home, making dinner and going to bed. Another successful day on the isla!