Day 25 – Cancun to San Francisco

We had a nice breakfast and then headed to the Cancun airport. We made our connecting flight in Salt Lake City with only 8 minutes to spare! The attendant at the gate smiled and said, “Congratulations, you just made it.” We arrived home around 10pm and since Delta serves no food, we were starving. The only place still open on a Sunday night was the Taco Bell in Matt’s neighborhood. We calculated that in 24 days, we had been on 12 flights, visited 4 countries, two continents, got 10 passport stamps, and flown over 23,000 miles. It was a good trip…an earned trip…a trip we will always remember and appreciate.

Day 24 – Cancun – The Wedding of Nick & Dana

The wedding was not until 4pm, so Matt and I took some time to explore the intricate labyrinth of swimming pools and the swimming canals that flowed from each pool. We also decided that we had to experience the swim-up bar and discovered that Matt has a talent for swimming with 2 drinks in his hands.
At 2pm, Matt headed off to meet the girls and photograph them getting ready. At 3pm I met up with the guys and photographed them. By 4pm, we were all standing on a beach, with the waves crashing behind us, under a perfect sky, and watched happily as Dana and Nick said their vows to each other. After the ceremony, we headed over to bar for some matching blue drinks and then the magic hour hit…sunset. Matt and I stole Dana and Nick away for some more photos hoping for the perfect Mexican sunset. It truly was Magic! As if on cue, the sky became bright pink and Dana and Nick started having a lot of fun being photographed. The light was perfect! After sunset, we met up with the rest of the party, enjoyed an incredible dinner and danced until 11pm. We felt really happy to be apart of such a special day.

Day 23 – Cancun

We spent the day exploring the resort and scouting out photo locations. It was very warm and humid. The surf was too strong for swimmers, so most of the guests were bobbing around in any of the 30 pools on the property. We ended up getting about ½ hour after sunset to splash around in the big pool and then met everyone for the rehearsal dinner.

Day 22 – San Francisco to Cancun

We were up at 4am and in the airport taxi by 4:30am. It feels like we just left this airport…oh, wait a minute, we did! Our final destination was Cancun, Mexico. Matt’s friends, Nick and Dana, are getting married, and we are their wedding photographers.

In Cancun, we landed with about 6 other flights, all of us funneling our way through Mexico’s immigration line. It took 90 minutes to get through immigration. We emerged from baggage into a deluge of aggressive tour and time share operators and found our way to a shuttle bus. Our destination was the El Dorado Royale Resort. The resort is a 25 minute drive south of Cancun. We passed through the exclusive security gates and were verified as guests. It was hard to take in the massive, all-inclusive, no children allowed, resort.

As soon as we walked into the main lobby, we were handed champagne and a helpful porter took my grubby backpack. The porter drove us via golf cart to our suite. Matt laughed because he and Nick (the groom) had met as bell-hops at a resort in Carmel where they both drove guests around in golf carts. The resort grounds were gorgeous. It was really warm and humid, and when the porter opened the door to our suite, we were hit with a blast of cold air conditioning. The suite was such an extreme to everything Matt and I had experienced the past 3 weeks in South America. I just started giggling uncontrollable over such excess. We had gone from sleeping on a cement slab with a thin mattress stuffed with hay to the biggest 4 poster king-size bed I had ever seen. Next to the bed was a Roman style spa tub. White linens were draped around the bed and spa and also hung from the ceiling. It was completely unreal! The bathroom was like a Roman bathhouse, complete with arches. It was all very overwhelming for me. The size of the shower itself could have housed a Bolivian family of 4.

We headed out around sunset and met up with the bride and groom, Dana & Nick, as well as the other friends and family members who had just flown in. It was nice to meet everyone and their families were great.

Day 21 Santiago to San Francisco

Our flight departed at 9pm last night from Santiago and we landed in Dallas at 6:30am. I slept most of the time which was good, because our take off from Santiago was kinda bumpy due to the bad weather and that did not agree with my tummy. When we landed in Dallas, we had to pick up our bags and re-check them for immigration purposes. It was interesting watching all the Chileans from our flight getting confused over all the US security stuff like taking off your shoes, jackets, laptops, etc. There were some confused faces and non of the Dallas security staff spoke Spanish, they just yelled out directions in a thick Texan accent. Our flight to SFO landed on time. We had some lunch, did laundry and re-packed for the wedding in Cancun.

Day 20 - Santiago

Last night we found the indoor pool and hot tub in our swanky hotel. We had a fun time splashing around and finally got some use out of our swimsuits. This unusually ritzy Holiday Inn is like an oasis after 3 weeks of backpacking. After dropping our packs of at the airport storage desk in the morning, we ran the gauntlet of aggressive taxi drivers and tour guides waiting for us outside the airport doors. Good grief! I got so annoyed with all the drivers jostling to take us to various places, that I just turned around and went back inside to the safety of the airport. However, that safety zone did not last long due to the aggressive tour agents inside. We turned our backs on all of them and went for a walk. We found a taxi driver standing quietly in the corner, just holding his taxi sign, not hustling anyone. He became our taxi to city center and along the way pointed out areas of interest and helped us get our bearings in city center.

We climbed up Santa Lucia mountain for a nice view of the city, found the artesian market, and then made our way through the pedestrian shopping district. Santiago is a huge city, with 4 million people, all of which seemed to be walking and smoking in city center. Since neither of us care for big cities, smoking, or shopping, Santiago was not our type of travel destination. It was just another city. We both arrived at deciding that hanging out in the airport for a few hours was better than being in downtown Santiago, so we flagged down a cab and went back to the airport. Also, at some point, someone tried to get into my backpack while we were walking and a nice gentleman stopped me to point it out. I then got further warned by his spouse and a newsstand lady who told me to wear my backpack in front. Nothing was taken-- the only things in the pocket were some lens filters, and they were tightly stuffed in the pocket.

Back at the airport, we dropped our bags off at the airline counter, got our boarding passes, and then immediately left the airport once again, to walk back across the street to the unusually swanky Holiday Inn. Matt purposely kept a room key from this morning and just flashed it as we walked in, so instead of spending the next 3 hours in the airport, we are in a nice bar, sitting on a poofy couch, sipping an entire bottle of champagne waiting for the tasty restaurant to open.

Day 19 – Rapa Nui to Santiago

Today is Matt’s birthday! After breakfast Biki gave us puka shell necklaces and wished us “safe travels.” Our flight to Santiago was only delayed by 90 minutes. We arrived in Santiago around 7pm. Matt had his birthday steak-dinner. Tomorrow we will spend the day in Santiago, however, it is predicted rain. Oh well, at least for tonight, we have a nice place to stay.

Day 18 – Rapa Nui

I’ve never heard wind Howl so loud like it did last night. I felt like at any minute we would be lifted up inside the cyclone just like Dorothy Gale. At breakfast I asked Bike if she had seen La Pelicula de Mago de Oz. She laughed and said she felt scared like Dorothy too. Despite last night’s crazy weather, there was a mix of blue sky and storm clouds in the morning. We headed up to Oronga Volcano to peer over the crater’s rim and then onto the village of Oronga were the Cult of the Birdmen lived up until 1865. Every now and then the road would be blocked by the biggest cows you could imagine. They made our dairy cows look like little miniature cows. The huge cows had no fear of us either, but they had big horns, so we gave them the right of way on the road.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring caves, lava tubes and looking for petroglyphs and we ended the day by watching the sunset over Tahai.

Day 17 – Rapa Nui

The monsoon last night was crazy…wind and rain like I could not believe! In the morning, Biki told us that those types of storms don’t normally come until July. During breakfast, the weather began to show some signs of improvements. We asked Patrizia if she had a cousin who had a rental car place and she said, “You can rent my car. We don’t have insurance here, so if you hit something, you pay.” As she handed us the keys, she looked out at the storm clouds and just laughed. We hopped into the 4WD jeep and took off with the hopes of clearer skies.

We ended up getting a perfect break in the weather for most of the day. We went to all the stops we had visited the day before on our tour, only this time we could take our time and enjoy finding some beautiful photos to capture. For the most part, we had all the sites to ourselves. The only sound was the crashing surf. When we arrived at the quarry, it was a completely different experience without the rain and tour groups. We hiked up and over, into the quarry itself which held a lake, totora reeds and Moai in all stages of completion. The trail is not clearly marked, so finding the route into the crater took some trial and error. Inside the crater was truly a unique experience.

We hit some other sites and then headed back home for sunset. The storm clouds were blowing in, the wind was strong, and we could see sheets of rain over the ocean. Just as we were ready to give up on any hopes of a sunset, the cloud burst of rain stopped, the heavy clouds parted and the most spectacular show of crimson color appeared!

Now back in our room, the monsoon winds have returned. It feels like our little bungalow is going to blow away.

Day 16 – Rapa Nui and the Monsoon

We overslept this morning and quickly got dressed for breakfast. Bicki, the owner of the inn, has breakfast ready every morning promptly at 8:30. While we were eating fresh pineapple and an omelet, a tour van drove up. I figured the van must be for the French couple that was staying here also. I told Matt that our tour was not until Friday. His response was, “This is Friday.” We had 5 minutes to grab our belongings from the bungalow and then loaded into the van. We both grabbed our rain gear since the clouds were looking ominous. Our guide’s name was Sabrina. She is cousins with Bicki and her Uncle is Piti with whom we went horseback riding with yesterday. The van driver was Juan. He and Sabrina were also cousins and Bicki is Juan’s aunt. After this quick family tree, I asked if everyone on the island was related. Sabrina said that all 2000 Rapa Nui inhabitants are descendants from the 111 Rapa Nui who survived the Small Pox plague in 1862. She said it was nearly impossible for her to find a boyfriend since everyone is related, so she went and found a boyfriend from Chile who is a journalist and now lives here on the island with her.

As we drove along the coast, the waves were enormous. Sabrina said they were abnormally large, possibly due to the earthquake in China. Our first stop was at a site in which the Maoi were toppled from their Ahu (the ceremonial platform). Around the site were the stone outlines of homes from the first inhabitants. The wind was starting to pick up, so we went into a cave and Sabrina told us the stories of the first and second migrations to the island. This history was all passed down through oral tradition. The stories were really beautiful. Sabrina was truly our “Professora de Rapa Nui historia.”

Upon leaving the cave, it started to rain, but nothing too heavy. I had on my full rain gear, which at the time seemed a bit overkill. We continued on to more sites, including the most famous one which is the platform with 15 Moai restored to their positions. The restoration was a joint effort between Japan, Chile, Australia and the US which occurred in 1994. Behind the 15 Moai was the crashing surf. They really looked like they were protecting the island people.

Next stop was the quarry / volcano where the Moai were carved from. We walked up the sides of the quarry learning more about carving techniques and the meaning of the Moai. The rain was steadily increasing and then quite suddenly a wave of heavy rain came which only got worse as it combined with the strong winds. As we continued our tour, we would get to a site, jump out, run over, learn something, and then run back to the van due to the high wind and heavy rain. The final stop was at Anakena Beach. It is famous for its white sand and beautiful bay with palm trees which were a gift from Tahiti. However, today the rain was coming in sideways, the palm trees were bending in the strong winds and the surf was pounding. We ran across the beach, looked at the Moai and all quickly ran back to the van, while dodging random chickens that were also trying to find some shelter. Everyone was completely soaked. I may have looked like an ad for REI, but I was dry underneath the rain gear.

Back at the bungalow, we turned our bed to face the big bay window and watched the storm increase in strength. I’m not sure if it actually qualified as a monsoon, but it sure felt like it. At sunset, there was a brief break in the storm and the clouds became pink, but that was really brief and then the high winds brought back the torrential rain. The power went out once. Bicki just brought us a flash light in case it goes out again. Dinner tonight will be Cliff Bars, cookies and Coke Zero. No one is going anywhere in this storm.

Day 15 – Rapa Nui

This morning I opened the door, hoping to find “Chile Dog”, but he was gone. After a breakfast of crepes with fresh mangos, we were at the horse stables of Piti Pont by 10am. There were no horses or people around, only a friendly German shepherd. Then in the distance we could hear a herd of horses. As they came closer they were corralled into their pen. The horses were beautiful, but very spirited. The owner’s name was Piti and his Spanish had a very thick Polynesian accent and he spoke no English. As Piti tried to lasso a horse for us to ride, he asked Matt if he wanted a fast horse. Matt said no. I told Pete, “El prefiere un cabello tranquillo,” so Matt got a horse named Torre who was 10 years old and the most mellow of the bunch. Pete chose an 8 year old horse for me named Eva who had some spunk, but was very sweet. Once all of us were mounted up, we made our way to the highest point on the island that can only be reached by horseback or an extremely long day hike.

It had been about 5 years since I rode a horse, but everything came right back and I was totally comfortable riding Eva while we galloped along. She took direction really well. Matt and Torre were another story. Matt instantly earned the nickname “ciudad chico” as he bounced along in the saddle trying to maintain some control over Torre. Sometimes Torre would just stop and no matter what Matt did or said, Torre would not move. Piti would have get them moving. It was an incredibly funny site watching Matt stuck on a horse in the middle of Rapa Nui.

We wandered up and over the mountains and through pastures with herds of wild horses. Rapa Nui has as many horses as people. Piti and I spent a lot of time talking and sharing stories. Every once in awhile, he would say the simplest word and I would not understand due to his accent, but then I would finally figure it out and we continued chatting. Matt enjoyed himself when the horses were quietly walking, but when we had to kick it up a notch and ride at a gallop, he was not happy. He was hanging on so tightly to the saddle, that he got a blister on his thumb. Piti tried to tell him to relax and to go with the movement of the horse, but he just bounced along in the saddle. His effort really meant a lot to me though. Matt knew that I really wanted to see the island on horseback. When we got to the highest point on the island, the 3 of us dismounted. Matt took all the photos while I sat with Piti and we shared stories about our families and what life was like for him on Rapa Nui as we looked out over the ocean. The one place in the world that he wanted to visit someday was Switzerland.

The ride back to Piti’s ranch was along an easy trail. We opted for the trail instead of off-roading again with the horses in order to give Matt’s cuelo a rest. Before reaching the ranch, we rode up to a set of Maoi that were really impressive. They were just standing there in the middle of nowhere looking out towards the sea. This set of 7 Moai are the only ones which look out to the sea. All the other Moai look inwards towards the island in order to protect the people. The 7 Moai that look out towards the sea face the Maldese Islands, and the oral history of the Rapa Nui people says that this is where the 7 brothers who founded the island came from. When it was time to leave the site, Piti and I started riding off, but Matt and Torre were not moving. We both yelled, “Ciao Matt y Torre!” Torre just snacked on the grass while Matt kept saying his horse was broken.

Once back at the ranch, I hugged Eva goodbye and we went to Piti’s orchard and picked a bag of mangos. They were sweet like candy and were not stringy inside like the mangos I’ve had back home. We said our goodbyes to Piti and walked back into town. The walk was nice after 4 hours of riding. Along the walk, we stopped at the Rapa Nui Museo and had a crash course in the archeological history of the island.

At sunset, we walked down to a Maoi site, and each went off in different directions for the perfect sunset photo. I got side-tracked when I walked down to the water and watched a man fishing from the rocks. I got a few photos of him silhouetted against the sunset. He finished fishing and walked over to me. I thought he was going to be upset that I photographed him, but instead, he just wanted to visit. He showed me the type of line and hooks he uses with Chicken as bait for the large Tuna they catch from the rocky shores. I told him that in America, tuna is called Chicken of the Sea. He thought that was really funny. If I understood him correctly, we are meeting tomorrow at the same time and he is going to let me fish. They don’t use a pole to fish. Instead, the line is wrapped around a piece of metal piping…that’s it. So you spool out some line, throw it like a net and then quickly wrap it around the spool by hand if you catch something. The fisherman’s name was Gahgi and he insisted on walking me back to where Matt was sitting with his tripod and camera.

After sunset, we walked into town for some dinner. During dinner we met a lovely couple from New Zealand. Jenny and Robert had been on holiday for 2 months and were making their way back to New Zealand. They had some great travel stories. On the walk home, I kept an eye out for “Chile Dog” but we never saw him.

Back at the bungalow, it was easy to say, “Today was an excellent day!”

Day 14- Santiago to Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

The alarm went off at 6am and we were walking across the street to the airport by 6:30am. As I crossed the road, I had some worries due to the thick blanket of fog, but the LAN counter seemed confident that everything would be fine. At the gate, we learned that the Santiago Airport was closed due to the fog. Every hour, more updates came over the loudspeakers until finally we were given the green light for departure at 11:30. After a 5-1/2 hour flight, we made a bumpy landing onto Easter Island. Patrizia was waiting for us outside the terminal and after a quick tour of the little town, we were at our bungalow overlooking the ocean. To the right of the bungalow on the cliffs are the Moai stone statues. It is quite a site and it is hard to believe we are actually here.

After getting settled, we headed out to the cliffs for sunset and an up close look at the giant guardians of the island. When sunset was over, we wandered into town for supplies and grabbed an empanada for dinner. Neither of us finished our empanada. It seemed like every stray dog could smell our empanadas in our bags as we walked home. Finally we caved and fed 3 dogs, and one of the dogs ended up escorting us all the way to our front door. He looks like a small version of “Old Yeller” and barked at all the other dogs. He was our own little guard dog. Right now he is camped out on our doormat on our little porch leaning against the door. If he is there in the morning, we will give him a name.

Day 13 – Antofagasto to Santiago

Last night was rough. I did not sleep much. Police were called twice to the front of our hotel. We were safe behind the hotels locked doors, but out on the sidewalk was another story. The police first responded to a major argument between a woman and 2 men. I could not understand what they were screaming. Then police response followed a loud crash. A car crashed into something followed by more yelling and police sirens. The night security guard certainly had a busy night. There were also people ringing the bell to come into the hostel at all hours. I could hear the night staff telling them to “vamos.” Another ‘guest’ got majorly scolded for coming in really late. I think he was drunk, because the exchange of words as they came up the stairs by our room was very belligerent.

We decided that hanging out at the airport was a lot safer than hanging out in our room, so we took a 40km cab ride to the airport and waited 4 hours for our flight. We took photos of Antofagasto through the cab windows. That is the safest way to see the city.

The flight was fine and upon landing in Santiago, all we could see was smog. The Andes were hidden behind a thick blanket of brown haze. Directly across the street from the airport is a Holiday Inn. Since we have to be at the airport tomorrow morning at 6am we thought staying here was really convenient. Wow….this is a swanky Holiday Inn! Everything is muy limpia with extra blankets and pillows…what luxery!

Day 12 – Antofagasto

Maria made us a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast and then sent us on our way with hugs and kisses. We booked first class seats on the bus to Antofagasto. What a treat in luxury. It was a 5 hour bus ride, but our seats reclined, we had leg rests, a movie and air conditioning, plus a bathroom that was actually clean. During the drive through the desert, we passed by many ramshackle pueblos. Despite being the second largest city in Chile, Antofagasto is very poor. Getting off the bus was a bit of a culture shock. The city is really dirty and smelly with a ton of traffic. The city instantly put Matt and I on guard and we opted for the closest lodging that the Lonely Planet book recommended. Hotel Fontana is cheap, but secure with 2 big iron security doors. The rooms resemble small hospital rooms, but they each have a bano privado even though we can barely fit inside it with the door closed. If you sit on the toilet, you have sit sideways and drape your legs into the shower area to fit.

After we put down our bags, we walked out to the busy city streets and found the pedestrian shopping district. That area felt a little – very slightly– safer. Probably because of all the police that were on guard, including the armed guard in McDonalds. We had some lunch and then decided that the remaining part of the late afternoon and evening would be spent in the safety of our room watching re-runs of CSI with Spanish subtitles (it’s an easy way to learn more Spanish words). The only reason why we found ourselves in Antofagasto was because we needed to catch a flight to Santiago from here. The flight was originally supposed to leave from Arica, but since we never made it to La Paz, we had to change our flight plans. Tomorrow morning we will be out of this city and one flight closer to Easter Island.

Just a side note, we have spent almost all of our days in the middle of nowhere, so internet connection is impossible. We did have cell phone reception in San Pedro, so I was able to let mom know we were ok. I’m doing well with my Spanish. I think Professora Guzman would be proud. The Chilean accent is tricky sometimes and they use some different words than I am used to. They speak really fast, so in a complicated conversation (such as border crossing negotiations), it is easy to get lost, but I’m doing my best.

Day 11 – Salar de Tara

With the promise of large Salt Lagoons of Flamingos, we left San Pedro for another day trip into the Atacama. During the entire day, we only found 2 lone flamingos, but we also got to walk through some imposing rock structures. The wind made it bitterly cold. I think Matt and I have seen enough lakes and salt by now. Back in San Pedro, we had a nice dinner and then went back to the hostel to packed our gear for our morning departure to Antofagasto via bus.

Day 10 – Valle de Luna

Since we ended up returning early from Bolivia, we had to completely re-arrange our schedule, including a flight. Everything was out of whack. We decided to keep San Pedro as our base for 3 more nights. There are so many things to do in the Atacama that we decided we could easily fill 2 more days. We were also happy to be in a safe home with Maria. In the morning we spent some time with Greg-- he was heading off to Valpariso via an overnight bus later that day. We were sad to see our friend leave, but hopefully, he will make his way out to San Francisco in August. The joke is we will have a root beer gift basket waiting for him. We met up with Jose for lunch and then the 3 of us went on a tour of the Valley of the Moon and Death Valley, with the hopes of a spectacular sunset. On the bus we met two American girls, each traveling alone, and preparing for the same Salar de Uyuni crossing. Caroline was from Santa Cruz and Courtney was from New York. Courtney was worried about the crossing since she gets majorly car-sick and Caroline was worried because she had no warm clothing. We spent the afternoon sharing stories and climbing down the steep sand dunes. The valley looked like a lunar landscape. We walked quietly with our guide through the Valley de Luna, including long runs down very steep sand dunes, as our guide said, “bare feet in sand—it feels very nice.”

Sunset was nice and the Volcanoes put on a good show as they turned various shades of pink and purple. Back on the bus home to San Pedro, I started to notice many red bumps forming on my hands (the only area exposed to the sand). The spots kept increasing, so that by the time we got to the Hostel, my hands looked like I had leprosy. Between my hands, cracked/chapped lips, sun burned face and dry skin, I felt really pretty. Courtney walked back to the Hostel with us. I was feeling extremely sympathetic to her due to our shared propensity of getting car sick. I gave her two of my motion-sickness patches. It was like I had given her gold. With all that we went through on that trip, I could not even imaging being car sick on top of everything. For me, I would have been so sick if I had not worn a patch each day. I was happy to help Courtney.

That night we met up with Jose, Caroline, Courtney and two other backpackers for dinner. It was a nice dinner with a firepit blazing in the background. We shared travel stories and Jose generously treated us all to dinner. Seven people, full meals and wine was less then $100USD.

After dinner, we said goodbye to our friends and gave a big hug to Jose. Hopefully we will see Jose in June when he will be in Sunnyvale for work.