Monday, September 14, 2015

Easter Island- last morning

The animal kingdom here isn't cooperating at all with my sleep. The night before last I woke to barking dogs for quite some time, and last night it happened again. Only it sounded like a large pack that ran very close to the house. They started with barking but then started howling like a wolf pack hunting.. It was really unnerving The dogs woke the @#$% roosters who started right around 3:30 and even got the sheep to rally. [sigh]

The airline strike with LAN starts tomorrow so I'm glad our planned date was to leave today. It has been amazing here overall. I'm thrilled with the place we stayed (except for the night life!) I think three days would have been enough but it was nice to relax for a day. Enjoying a lazy morning of packing and getting ready.

Was debating going to the post office to have my passport stamped but decided not to-- no one will see it anyways. Chris and Stacey got one, and they show three of the Moai heads. They are on our flight returning to the mainland, then tomorrow head to Mendoza, Argentina for more wine and malbec. Yum. The young two from our day tour (from Germany and Switzerland) were scheduled to fly out tomorrow. I wonder if we'll see them or if they are taking their chances and are staying longer. They don't have a time constraint as they both have months left on their trip so they may stay.

We fly back this afternoon to Santiago and arrive at 9 pm. Get a car to one night for an apartment with the last owner (hopefully this one is better, and he said he upgraded us to a 2 bedroom as we requested a one.) Then the bus to Valparaiso, which I'm excited to see. Our guide in Santiago said it's his favorite city, and knocking off another Unesco World Heritage Site. I'm excited to see it! We'll get our workouts in as it's a very hilly city.. it has three funiculars, so you know there's some height!

We just learned the strike isn't LAN but the air traffic controllers in Chile. So all airports are impacted. Apparently they are fighting for retirement benefits (ability to retire by a certain age for the work they do.) We are scheduled to leave on the 18th so hopefully we won't be impacted-- but if we are, better to be on the mainland where we may have more options to return home when the strike lets up.

Camilla stopped by with our boarding passes. She is so sweet. She loves living here but does miss shopping. She came here on holiday just over a year ago and met a guy she liked. Nothing happened, and she went home but they kept in touch. In December she came back here for a few weeks, then went back to Santiago, quit her job, packed up her life and moved here with her boyfriend. Her mother is really unhappy about it. They are flying back for a few days in October for her to see her Grandmother and for her family to meet him. It's so nice to talk with her to understand how living here is.

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