December 22, 2007 - Easter Island, Chile

December 22, 2007 - Easter Island, Chile
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Post breakfast I picked up my laundry. Although the total was CLP 8300, as they did not have the required change, they knocked off 300 pesos thereby saving me $0.65! The clothes were washed, dried, folded and packed neatly into a plastic bag. All I had to do was stow this into my duffel bag.

I headed to an Internet cafe around 11 AM and spent 2 hours blogging and checking my e-mails. I was current with my blogs (I have since slacked off!). I have not bothered to check the news at all. I am quite oblivious to whatever is happening in the world. I don´t think I am missing much.

Post blogging, I tried (yet again) to do some souvenir shopping. HOTU MATUA´s favourite shop had some nice shirts with Rapa Nui designs. They were priced at US$40. I finally settled for a fridge magnet. My grand contribution to the souvenir industry at Rapa Nui was $5.

I met Cecilia at the hotel. She informed me that she would take me to her office after a few hours so I could settle the bill by using my credit card. I listened to some Spanish lessons on my IPOD for about 2 hours. Pimsleur´s living language is pretty good. Anyone interested in learning a language should check out the Pimsleur options first before trying out other language programs.

Cecilia picked me up at 3 PM and we headed to her office. On reaching the office, she punched some numbers into her calculator and showed me a total price of CLP 180000! (about $388) The receipt she had issued me on arrival last Sunday showed CLP 163,000 (about $350) for a 7-night stay. She attributed the difference to the 10% charge - ahem, supposedly - levied on all credit card transactions.

I told her that this was not told to me during our numerous e-mail exchanges and that if she had told me about the $35 extra charge, I would have carried adequate cash to pay her. We went back and forth for few minutes and finally agreed to split the difference and settled on a final charge of CLP 170000 (US$ 365) which worked out to an extra $2 per day of stay.

I still think this is a fast one pulled on by folks here. Restaurants and shops in Easter Island accept credit cards without any surcharges. Looks like this is yet another way of gouging the tourist. I was told my some fellow guests at Cecilia that car rental companies in Easter Island also pull this trick.

I got back to the hotel and tried to listen to more Spanish lessons and have a siesta at the same time. The convenience of a Walkman / IPOD. I got up around 6 PM and went through all the memory cards used so far (for taking pictures) - roughly about 17 GB - and selected a handful (2 dozen) to upload for avid readers of my blog to view.

I left the hotel around 8:15 PM and headed to Ahu Tahai for some sunset pictures. I tried a different location this time. This place was also less crowded. I setup my tripod and waited. I took a few pictures of the setting sun and the Silhouetted MOAI after 9 PM. On my way back, I looked up and saw that the moon was almost full and looked great.

I setup my tripod and camera yet again and took about a dozen pictures. It was after 10 PM when I finally reached the town centre and the only place open to east was - Cafe Raa! Had a vegetable sandwich and fresh juice (yet again). Towards the end of my meal, the French/Chilean couple (I have no idea what their names are!) joined me for coffee. While they had large slices of watermelon with their tea, I had chocolate brownie with ice cream along with my Cortado (that is coffee, water and milk - all in equal quantities).

On paying up and leaving the restaurant, we ran into Nil on her way into town for a drink on her final night in Rapa Nui. I agreed to accompany her provided we headed to my hotel first and dropped off my camera gear. We set off once again to the town centre towards midnight. Cafe Te MOANA was the only place open and it was filled with locals. It looks like the evenings (until 10 / 11 PM) are for tourists and the locals come out after that. We had a decent cabernet-sauvignon and chatted a bit about our travels and interesting experiences on these travels.

I got back to the hotel around 2 AM and went to bed shortly thereafter.