South America-Day 23- Easter Island

Big hike day! No Paul today and we hiked the uninhabited northwest corner of the island from Anakena Beach to Hanga Roa. We took a taxi up to Anakena on the north side and got dropped off to do our six hour hike. We've been amazed how empty it is here-- even when a site is crowded, it has been like ten other people, and most of the time, we're totally on our own. Unreal. That was the case with Anakena as well. The biggest beach on the island, it is beauitful with nice sand, palm trees, and a well restored ahu with several moai. We stopped by the park ranger station to make sure we set off on the right path and he made me a little nervous by saying that you need a guide and people get lost etc. Clearly we were totally fine, but it was a more nervous way to start the hike than we imagined.

The hike basically follows the coast from the northern beach around and back down to town which is about two thirds of the way down the western coast. For part of it you're up on the side of one of the mountains/volcanoes. It was a completely isolated hike; we saw no one for several hours and tried to follow the path that was sort of there. We think we actually ended up on a horse trail since we followed our usual "stay high" logic but ended up in a slightly different spot than we expected. All worked out and was amazing though! Very sparse with lots.of volcanic rock as well as wild horses and a few cows, there's not much to describe and the pictures will do a better job I'm sure. The water was beautiful as were the cliffs and the weather held out the whole time. We also passed a huge cave, but otherwise it was up and down hills and a lot of trying to figure out where to aim next.

Once we got off the trail, we joined the dirt road circuit that goes by a few sites on our way into town. With another 6 miles to go, we stopped first at Ana Te Pahu, a cool cave with a long cavern. Next we headed closer to the coast and saw a lava tube called Ana Kakenga (but actually missed the dos ventanas, which ended up fine since we wouldn't have really wanted to climb down a hole at this point anyway! We saw another ahu called Akapu then wound our way back to our hotel where we changed to flip flops to give our feet a break. Headed into town to the handicraft market and then to Makona, which Paul had recommended for dinner.

Dinner was really awesome-- an asian inspired tuna tartare followed by two different preparations of the white local fish; one which was their house preparation, the other in a pineapple/mango sauce. So so good. Right as we were finishing up, the power in the town actually went out. I thought it was dark the night before, but without power in the town, the stars were absolutely extraordinary. We could again see the milky way and it was truly a full blanket of stars. We grabbed a cab back and enjoyed the view a bit, then early to bed since the lights were out!