Hola,

So we had to kill some time before our flight to Easter Island, so we headed to La Serena, on the coast of Chile. We had wanted to visit the observatory there, as they have 300 days of clear skies a year, unfortunately the 2 nights we were there it was cloudy!!!

So instead we went on a day trip to Dama`s Island to see the bottlenose dolphins, which well made up for it, they swam so close to our little boat, and we nearly tipped over in excitement when everyone shot over to the left all at once!!

There was also a really cute fisherman who showed us his catch of tuna:

We then headed back to Santiago and got our flight to Easter Island, we were so excited, and it didn´t disappoint. We stayed for 3 days, the first day we arrived we wandered around the town and saw our first Moai statue: and watched the sun set.

The next day we went on a organised trip to see the statues around the island and the quary where they were carved.

They believe the Moai were carvings of ancestors which were erected facing villages to protect them and watch over them. They were carved in the quarries by groups of artists which were paid with food. They became so popular tho, that the island began to be engrossed by them making bigger and better than their neighbours, and due to overpopulation and felling of trees for transporting the Moai, they started running out of food, which brought on war among villages. The Moai were then toppled over by rivalling villages.

The most majestic of all the Moai we saw, were the 15, resurrected in the early 90`s:

The photo just doesn´t do it justice!! They are massive and so awe-inspiring. The tallest one (I liked to call Grawp - HP fans will know what i mean) was over 10m tall!

We then went to the quary, where they literally carved into the rock face to create these, and then sat them into holes in the ground to finish them off before moving them to the villages, many km´s away.

We then spent the afternoon on a beautiful beach, it was great weather!

The next day we went diving, around a sunken Moai, which was really cool, and saw some great coral. The waters here are some of the clearest in the world, as it´s the most isolated place in the world!

We then walked up to the top of one of the three extinct volcanoes on the Island for some beautiful views of the Island, and inside the crater.

The next day we were heading back to Mainland Chile, unfortunately, back to the real world of travelling again. But first we decided to hire some skooters for a lap around the Island, to see the seven moai facing out to sea, and quickly pop by the 15 again. Unfortunately it absolutely pissed it down, and we were soaked, but it was great fun, and well worth the wet plane journey!

Back in Chile, we headed straight up to San Pedro de Attacama, the Chilean desert, and then on to Bolivia.