Hola América Hispana - Day 8 🇨🇱

We had a packed morning today with a couple of back-to-back tours before flying out in the afternoon to Santiago. We got up early to get ready and we could hear the noise of rain outside. The guide for today got in touch with us asking if we could do the tour the next day. However, we weren’t going to be here. After some back and forth, it was decided that we’ll go ahead with the tour as planned. Luckily the rain was gone by the time the bus picked us up. We drove to Āhu Toŋariki and were there for a little less than 2 hours as we watched the sun rise behind the statues. Rano Raraku also looked nice in the morning light.

We were dropped off and had time for breakfast before the next tour. We had packed our bags and decided to carry them with us on the tour so they could directly drop us off at the airport at the end of the tour. Since there were only 2 others apart from us, the tour company had sent a SUV. We picked up the other couple and reached our first stop Vinapū. This was an ancient ceremonial complex with Inca style walls and two monumental ahu.

Then we drove towards the hill and parallel to the runway of the airport as we climbed. The next stop was the Ōroŋo Village. This was a restored ceremonial village of the Tangata Manu cult. We saw the islets Motu Nui, Iti, and Kao Kao. This group of islets, located off the coast of Easter Island, were famous as the site of the annual Birdman competition.

Men would swim from the Orongo village to the islets to find the first egg of the season from the nesting birds and carry it back. The clan of the man who successfully returned to Orongo first would win and would rule the island for a year.

The Orongo village was on the edge of Rano Kau, an extinct volcano in the southwest part of Easter Island. The crater is almost a mile across and has its own micro climate. It looked quite different from the landscape and vegetation seen on the rest of the island. On the way back, we stopped at another vantage point to get more views of the crater.

Our guide dropped us off at the airport. We were auto-assigned window seats in the same row on either side of the aircraft. We tried to get seats together, but the only ones available were at the back with less legroom. So we decided to keep our existing seats for this flight. There was a police verification before security check. The departure area of the airport had an open garden with an assortment of poultry running around, which was something we had not seen before. It was nice to spend time outdoors while waiting for the flight. The garden also had very nice views of the tarmac and the aircraft when it arrived.

The flight was smooth and comfortable. There was a small lunch and beverage service. We landed at Santiago on time. We picked up burgers for dinner in the arrival hall. The fast food at Santiago airport was quite expensive compared to airport food we had at Buenos Aires in Argentina a few days ago.

We had booked Hilton Garden Inn Santiago Airport and also made a reservation for their complimentary shuttle from the airport to the hotel. They had sent clear instructions by email on where we were to wait for the shuttle. The shuttle arrived a little later than expected but the ride to the hotel was very quick.

An interesting twist was that apparently all visitors to Chile were given an police verification slip (similar to what we got when we went to Easter Island). We had not got this when we entered the country from Buenos Aires. The hotel front desk requried this to complete the check in process for us as international visitors. They also told us that it would also be requried when we leave Chile at immigration again. Luckily I had taken photos of the slips we got when we went to easter Island before we had handed them back. The hotel front desk was able use that and complete their process, how I don’t know. But this left a lingering doubt in our minds about what would happen at immigration the next day when were were to leave Chile. After doing some research some sites suggested we apply for duplicate online or from a police center which is authorized to issue it in person and some sites said that as long as there was a stamp in the passport the slip would not be needed. We decided to figure this out at the airport the next day before departure.

we had the burgers we had picked up for dinner and called it a night. Our hotel room window gave us nice views of the rising moon.