Even though presently we are full speed ahead for Peru, today I am finishing our visit on Rapa Nui. After a tremendous tour on our first day, which encompassed the entire island, we felt we had missed nothing, so yesterday was a final walk from the pier into town.
The main street of Hanga Roa runs parallel to the ocean and is comprised of mainly tourist shops, with a few supermarkets and pharmacies thrown in. There is a very relaxed pace here, where most stores don’t get up and running until 11:00 only to close for three hours at 1:00. It gives one some time for a trot down main street.
There are a lot of hand carved wood and stone products available in the shops. They can get pretty pricey and there is no bartering here. At one particular shop the carvers were working on the patio. Some of their products are shown below.
The most interesting shopping display today was two tables of fish set out without any ice on the main street. The locals clearly knew about this vendor, because in about an hour, the guy whose job it was to swat the flies that tried to land on the fish, was almost out of work.
For we landlubbers, the surf here has been mesmerizing. It pounded on our tenders as they made their way through the narrow passage to the dock. It pounded on the shore nonstop, with thundering acclaim. And, the surfers loved it.
We’ve rarely ever seen the sustained surf they have here and this gives rise to a generation of pretty capable surfers. I caught three guys in the act who were not rookies.
Returning to Hango Piko Pier for our last tender ride of the cruise, we came upon some fishermen who had just come ashore with a pretty nice specimen. We’re not sure what kind of fish it was, but it weighed in at 27 kg. When we checked out the back of their truck, there was another fish of comparative size - nothing in coolers, nothing on ice.
Back on the Marina we sat on our balcony watching the tourists descend on Tahai to see the only moai with eyeballs - it’s the one on the far left by itself. We felt pretty fortunate to have such a great seat looking out on to one of the more historic sites of Rapa Nui.
By the time we weighed anchor last night, we were with other couples sharing our favourite stories about the island. Without a doubt, this has been a highlight on the cruise for most passengers. We will never forget the moai.
The main street of Hanga Roa runs parallel to the ocean and is comprised of mainly tourist shops, with a few supermarkets and pharmacies thrown in. There is a very relaxed pace here, where most stores don’t get up and running until 11:00 only to close for three hours at 1:00. It gives one some time for a trot down main street.
There are a lot of hand carved wood and stone products available in the shops. They can get pretty pricey and there is no bartering here. At one particular shop the carvers were working on the patio. Some of their products are shown below.
The most interesting shopping display today was two tables of fish set out without any ice on the main street. The locals clearly knew about this vendor, because in about an hour, the guy whose job it was to swat the flies that tried to land on the fish, was almost out of work.
For we landlubbers, the surf here has been mesmerizing. It pounded on our tenders as they made their way through the narrow passage to the dock. It pounded on the shore nonstop, with thundering acclaim. And, the surfers loved it.
We’ve rarely ever seen the sustained surf they have here and this gives rise to a generation of pretty capable surfers. I caught three guys in the act who were not rookies.
Returning to Hango Piko Pier for our last tender ride of the cruise, we came upon some fishermen who had just come ashore with a pretty nice specimen. We’re not sure what kind of fish it was, but it weighed in at 27 kg. When we checked out the back of their truck, there was another fish of comparative size - nothing in coolers, nothing on ice.
Back on the Marina we sat on our balcony watching the tourists descend on Tahai to see the only moai with eyeballs - it’s the one on the far left by itself. We felt pretty fortunate to have such a great seat looking out on to one of the more historic sites of Rapa Nui.
By the time we weighed anchor last night, we were with other couples sharing our favourite stories about the island. Without a doubt, this has been a highlight on the cruise for most passengers. We will never forget the moai.
No comments:
Post a Comment