Re: Your travel in 2006...monthly updates
Kiwi Flyer said:
Has the road to CCS reopened? If you don't mind sharing, I'd like tips/info on Easter Island.
CCS - The road that bypasses the bridge that fell down was effectively closed last week. It took a colleague 9 hours to get from the airport to the city!
Easter Island was well worth the visit, even though I thought that I would get bored with Moai after a short while. I stayed 2 nights with a one day tour, and I would have liked one more day just to see the basics. It would be also a great place to just sit back and relax for a few more days. The island has a population of about 3500 and in the high season can have 2000 tourists as well. May was good because it was not so crowded. Apparently the tourist numbers have jumped from 2000 a year 15 years ago to about 50,000 today, so the island is on the cusp of losing the "unspoilt" environment. At present, you can still get up close and personal to some of the moai, but I have no doubt that in years to come it will become more like the better known destinations where all the attractions are roped off and you feel that you would have done better to stay home and watch it on TV.
A friendly place, and better Spanish would have been a help to me, but I managed, especially since the people who own the hotel I stayed at spoke English (one is Australian (which I know is not quite Kiwi English)). If you are interested, check out their website
www.tauraahotel.cl or send an email to Edith at
tauraa@entelchile.net.
Any other questions - just ask. If I get time I will do a trip report.