A flight to Madrid from London was followed by a much longer flight to Santiago, Chile and then after a day or two I continued flying west across The Pacific Ocean for 2500 miles until the legendary little island appeared in view - The Navel of the World and arguably the most remote inhabited island on our planet.
I know I was there but even now I have to pinch myself to believe it. I even got to blog from Easter Island and this is what I wrote on October 28th 2009:-
"So dear visitors, I made it to Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua, Easter Island which ever you choose to call it... and I am not disappointed I can tell you.
On Monday I scrambled down inside Ranu Kau crater to a unique microclimate, sheltered from the worst of Pacific gales and from the encroachment of disease and human interference. I felt like Simon in "Lord of The Flies", gasping in the thick green jungle undergrowth and further along the crater lake´s tangled edge I discovered a huge rock inscribed with petroglyphs from long ago.
For the first people of Rapa Nui, this was their entire world and I feel privileged, even a little humbled to have this opportunity to witness first hand palpable evidence of those lost and distant times. I´ll tell you more when I am not in an expensive little internet cafe where speed of internet access is clearly not a priority but hey... blogging from Easter Island.... isn´t that just amazing anyway!"
I walked for miles in the week that I was there and saw as much as I could - even hiring a vehicle for a couple of days from the owner of the little lodging house where I stayed - in Hanga Roa which is the island's only settlement. How I would love to go back there and see some more - perhaps join an archaeological expedition - but I guess I never will. But I have been there and I will remember it to the end of my life.
Offshore islets
from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/meav5r6