Tag: volcano

Easter Island and the french connection 🏝️

March 1st, 2023

Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island and it’s accessible only by air. There are cruise ships coming every now and then and that’s about it. It was a strange feeling when we landed on this remote island. It truly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere.
Our Airbnb host Patricia came to pick us up at the airport with garlands of flowers. We soon figured out that the Moai monuments can only be visited with a guide or a local Rapa Nui resident. There were very few places we could visit alone.
We began by visiting the parts of the island which didn’t require a chaperon. We ventured to the other parts with French guides!
There are many French people living on Easter Island. It’s not very surprising considering the fact that there were regular flights from Tahiti before the pandemic. One of our French guides came here in the 80s and never left the place. He told us that the island was very wild back then. There weren’t any roads, no television. The islanders favourite hobby was to go to the airport once a week and watch people visiting the island. This was the only way for them to know what’s happening in the world. Women on the island knew of the latest fashion in this way. The French men we met here had fallen in love with the vahines. They can’t be blamed. The Polynesians are good looking… especially the men 🤪😍
One of the places we loved to go was the pea swimming pool which was a rocky beach with gigantic sea turtles. The turtles weren’t shy and they’d constantly come and swim close to us. The other one was the Poko Poko natural pool which was along the shore and enclosed with huge rocks. The waves constantly lash on the rocks, bringing seawater in and pulling the water out. We also went trekking on various volcanic mountains and walked around craters. One of the craters has freshwater inside and supplies drinking water to the island. A lot of fruit trees are grown there by the islanders. We rented a car for a day and came here after nightfall to see the stars. As we lay on our backs trying to identify stars 🤩 it felt wonderful.

There aren’t any predatory animals on the island except for hawks. In a few days we were waving out to the baker, the grocery store owner, the bus driver who gave us a lift. It’s a tiny island with friendly people and everyone knows everyone!

Time flies and it was time to get on our planes to Santiago. We nervously smuggled some guavas and mangoes which one of the guides gifted us from her backyard.
From Santiago we headed to Valparaiso a lazy coastal town. I had booked an Airbnb but the host sent me a message saying that it wasn’t suitable for families. This was the cheapest listing and the rooms looked big, so I insisted. Once we reached the place, I figured why he’d have said that. It really looked like a squat. Except, there was electricity and water supply in the building. Most of the apartments were abandoned and the common area weren’t maintained. There was another bedroom with members of a rock band. Arjun had a jam session with them and we were invited to a charity concert.
Valparaiso looks like a town that has run out of funds. The areas near the coast were particularly run down. The conception and allegria areas were full of graffiti art and looked charming. We had the best empanadas here in Valparaiso. On our last day in Latin America we went to see the dunes near vina del mar. They looked amazing. A large part of the dunes have apparently been destroyed to make way for hig rises.
Leo and I were super excited about going to Asia. We couldn’t wait to try the food in South East Asia! We flew from Santiago via Mexico to LA. Our flight from LA to the Philippines was at night and we had the whole day to kill at the airport. Arjun absolutely wanted to go to the Hollywood walk of fame. Why would anyone want to see names of people written on the floor. I reluctantly agreed and we took two buses to get to a locker. After leaving our bags we took a cab to the Hollywood walk of fame. Then we walked around sunset Blvd before taking a cab to the locker and heading to the airport. Goodbye Americas! Farewell!

Land ahoy!

Arjun and Leo with the turtles

This cat was literally standing all the time

My favourite crater

This is where the birdman competition took place

The majestic moais

This was my favourite site

The only know female Moai

Arjun jamming with our roommates

Inside the squat like building

Cola de Zorro concert

Good bye Valparaiso

Dr Seuss

Michael Jackson
The Big Paddle (aka Rapa Nui)

February 23rd, 2023

Every trip around the world should have its “end of the world” destination! And Easter Island fits the bill perfectly: 8000 souls on a rock lost in the immensity of the Pacific Ocean, 5000km away from the nearest continent and 2000km from the nearest neighbouring island.

We landed on the island, almost like on an aircraft carrier, on a tarmac who’s length is almost the width of the island. Ground control is fairly straightforward here as there is only one flight per day, returning an hour later to Santiago. We got off the plane and passed a big sign saying IORANA. It means hello in Rapa Nui. Conveniently, it also means good bye, so the same sign can be used for arrivals and departures.

Patricia, our host was awaiting us and, following the Polynesian tradition, passed a flower necklace around our necks. We were happy to be picked up, for our heavy bags, but we simply walked with her, for 20mins to the hostel.

Everything is about the same price as in Paris. And much like in Paris, you can easily pay any small amount by card. In the end, the most notable difference with Paris is the total absence of Eiffel tower. And, yes, the fact that Paris is not a 150km2 volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific. Anyways.

The first Polynesians would have reached the island somewhere between 800ad and 1200ad. The name Rapa Nui, meaning « Big Paddle », would be derived from another another smaller island near Tahiti, called Rapa, which also has the triangular shape of an paddle.

Rapa Nui is most famous for its Moais; massive sculptures of men torso and head, varying in size from 2 to 20 meters, often aligned on a Ohu, the platform on which they stand.

Each Moai stands on the tomb of an ancient member of the ruling class and is meant to keep his soul alive, to protect the island.

Much has been devised about how the Moais were transported from their place of manufacture to their Ohu. Turns out they just came “walking and dancing”! This is how the elders described the Moais pivoting on their base, like you do when you move your fridge!

The Moais protection story worked well for the ruling class for as long as the population was small and the land generous enough. After a while, somewhere around 1700, resources became scarce and people realised that the Moais weren’t protecting them much, so the ruling class was overthrown and the Moais pushed to the ground and abandoned.

After that a new system was adopted, sightly more democratic -or meritocratic- where each year,, selected members of each clan (some 20 to 30 on the island) would compete to become Tangata Manu, the Birdman. The one capable of bringing the first egg of a migratory bird from a nearby islet, was turned into a deity. The ceremony, held in Orongo, in the south of the island, turned into a council of the elders.

Oh by the way, don’t take anything I write here for solid truth! I merely report -and interpret- whatever I understood from what some guide told me – which he himself reported and interpreted! .. You know, it’s like that moment where oral tradition is finally written down and makes the history books 😛

Besides listening to Moais stories, we also climbed the 3 main volcanoes that for the skeleton of the island, and visited gigantic underground galleries formed by flowing lava. And of course we bathed in the warm waters of the pacific, while big beautiful turtles came swimming right next to us ❤️

First look at the island from the plane (photo Mary). We see the southern volcano, Rano Kau, where the Birdman ceremony was held.

Hello / Goodbye

Leo in flowers 🌺

Rano Kau, the most beautiful crater 😍

Mary on the edge of Rano Kau, facing the Birdman islet

Leo near the crater of Rano Kau

Leo and turtles 🐢

First sunset on the island

Our first Moais, by the beach Anakena

The “traveler” and the 15 Moais

Buried Moais at the quarry of Raro Ranaku

The tiny dot on the path is Mary walking amongst the buried Moais

Leo and “big nose”, his favourite Moai!

Sitting in front of a traditional hut

Starting our climb of the Poike (northeast volcano)

View of the northern coast

Almost there

Around the crater

Picnic under the Eucalyptus in the crater

Too happy to get back down!

View of the eastern coast from the Poike

View of the Milky Way from the Rano Kau

Top of the Terevaka at 511 meters, highest point on the island – the lion king

Mouth of a lava tube open on the sea, Ana Kai Tangata, where the men where preselected for the Tangata Manu contest

Exploring lava tubes

Exploring Ana Te Pehu

Leo collecting rain water in Ana Te Pehu

Mary looking at the only supposedly female Moai on the island – not much explanation given!

Kids playing in the harbour of Hanga Roa

Kids jumping in the Poko

Last sunset, in the Poko, the natural pools of Hanga Roa

Night shot of the Poko

One last sunrise behind Hanga Roa
From Uyuni to Chile

February 10th, 2023

We were picked up by our guide around 7am as we stepped down from our night bus from La Paz. He took us to a café, for breakfast, and a couple of hours later we were on our way to see the famous salar of Uyuni.

The salar of Uyuni is one of the highlights of any trip to South America. A salt pan of 200km2, 1km deep. Even Belgium could not use all of it on its fries 🤡. And with the rain, it turns into a gigantic 200km2 mirror reflecting the sky. There is no more ground; everything seems to be floating in the clouds. Feels like walking inside a giant kaleidoscope. Feels like walking in heaven!

Before reaching the salar, we stop by the train cemetery. It’s an ancient repair area, abandoned some time after the pacific war, when the line to the pacific got shut. (It’s reopened now, but operated by the Chinese and going through Chile.. pretty hard to bear for Bolivians)

For lunch, and at night, we’re taken to hotels made entirely of salt blocks: the walls, the tables, the beds, the counters.. everything in is salt! It looks nice too, as the stratification creates alternative white and brown layers (for the wet and dry seasons)

It’s a tradition on the salar to make silly pictures, to play with reflections and the absence of perspective!

After the salar, we continue the tour for 2 more days in the 4×4, southwest to the Chilean border. It’s a volcanic region and the landscapes are breathtaking. We go through red rock deserts with lava formations creating beasty shapes, to snow fields 5200m in altitude, to coloured lagunas full of pink flamingos, to steam geysers…

Well, the original plan was to cross to Chile directly at the end of the 3 days tour, but we were discouraged to do so because the border is in high altitude and probably closed because of the snow. So we thought ok, we’ll return to Uyuni. Then on the last day when we reached the border, it was a bright sunny day and the driver said we were just 40 mins away from San Pedro de Atacama, so we switched back to the original plan and we left beautiful Bolivia just there, after barely a week in the country.

Leo was pretty sad though, because we had to skip bathing in the hot springs

The gargoyle

The old man yelling to the clouds

The tree rock

Hot steam geyser in the cold morning

We walked on mars!

Just passed the Chilean border
Acatenango or no go?

December 6th, 2022

We arrived in Panajachel, on the banks of lake Atitlàn and, by one of these magical coincidences (and the help of Zenly to notice them!) we bumped into my ex-colleague Colas, and his friend Thomas also traveling in the region.

Along the lake in Panajachel

Meeting with Colas, Thomas and Stephanie

We got there on a week end so we could witness the outdoor mass and religious bands on the bank on the river on Saturday, and on Sunday we went to the big market of Chichicastenango.

Singing prayers by the lake

It took us 3 different “chicken buses” to get there and as many to get back. After buying an embroided guatemaltese dress impossible to fit in her overweight backpack, Mary solemnly promised this was the last thing she’d buy until the end of the trip!

A mix of Mayan traditions and christianity in Chichi

A sleepy drunk man and the Chichi market

Women in traditional dress

Street scene in Solola

Man waiting to cross the street

Mary admiring the embroidery work

The colourful cemetery in the distance

Cemetery of Chichicastenango

Omnipresent throughout their life, the famous brand often accompanies people in the after world!

The next day we visited the natural reserve and flew over the jungle on big ziplines crossing the valley and offering a spectacular view on the lake and the volcanos! There’s also a mariposarium where we saw big butterflies and their fascinating transformation from worm to winged beauties!

Ready and equipped for the ziplines

A coatis

Transparent wings!

Freshly baked!

So far so good and the next day we were moving to our next chill spot around the lake, in San Marcos.

That’s when Colas said they were going to climb the volcano and we should all do it together. So we said yes of course!

I saw a few volcanoes around the lake and thought it would be a cool hike 🙂

But he really meant the Acatenango volcano, near Antigua, 3 hours away, and we had to sleep in Antigua to leave early in the morning, and stay overnight on the volcano to get back down the next day.

So we barely had time to check in and leave our stuff in San Marcos, then return to Panajachel with empty backpacks to catch the last bus to Antigua, where Colas had booked another hostel for us. The next morning we were on our way to climb the mighty Acatenango.

This hike is notoriously not a casual walk in the park; it’s a 5 hours steep walk straight up over 1500 meters of elevation, up to 3600 meters in altitude.

We were mostly worried for Leo; the poor baby, it’s a tough walk for a 10 year old kid!

Well, the poor baby walked straight up with Colas and Thomas, telling jokes along the way, while Mary and I were painfully lagging way behind, all the hiking groups passing us one by one!

I had cramps in both my thighs and Mary got sick with the altitude; feeling headaches and nausea 😦

We reached the camp an hour after everyone else and poor Mary went straight into the tent to try and sleep.

At least, she didn’t miss much of the view; it had been foggy the whole way up and the camp was inside a big grey cloud so we could barely see the landscape!

The wind was raging and the temperature was below zero. Only once in a while, the wind would manage to clear the sky for a split second and we would get a glimpse of the Fuego just next to us. As I was desperately waiting behind my camera viewfinder, I was quick enough to capture some of these brief instants of clarity!

There was an optional extra hike in the night to get closer to the Fuego. At this point, with the night falling, the dark cloud surrounding us and the wind and rain slapping our faces, it looked very much like a suicide mission. Nonetheless, a small group of intrepid hikers, including our friends Colas and Thomas, went disappearing into the heavy fog.

After 3 hours, I was ready to report them missing, when we saw them come out of the darkness, pale and exhausted. But they actually saw it! They were lucky enough to walk out of our big cloud and get a real view of the erupting Fuego.

Even the strongest hikers of the group said it was probably the hardest walk they had done.

When dinner was ready, I encouraged Mary to try and eat something, to recover some strength.

I the middle of the night, the nausea became too strong and she vomited everything. She didn’t have the time to open the tent! We tried to clean up as we could with 2 rolls of toilet paper!

The next morning, we were supposed to wake up at 4am to climb a bit more and see the sunrise from the summit, but the clouds were still there and the wind was still raging, so that part was aborted.

Mary was still feeling sick in the morning, but she was able to walk, so one of the guides accompanied us to descend ahead of the group, so we’d have time to walk slow.

Walking down was a lot easier than climbing, but still it was very steep and slippery, and after a couple of hours quite straining for the legs.

We made it alive down the volcano and returned to Antigua with the rest of the group. After a good bye lunch with Colas and Thomas, we took the shuttle back to Panajachel and the boat from Panajachel to San Marcos, and finally crashed miserably in our bed!

By chance San Marcos is a good place to relax. It took another 3 days for Mary to get rid of the nausea and finally feel better.

About an hour into the walk. A guide is carrying Mary’s backpack.

Colas volunteered to carry Leo’s backpack all the way up!

First break

Alone after everyone has passed us!

Last stretch

Clearest view of the Fuego for about 2 seconds!

The valley uncovered for a couple of seconds

Trees in the fog

Leo is rewarded for his walk with a hot chocolate

Glimpse at an eruption between 2 clouds

The sun is setting behind the fog

The campsite at dusk

The dogs are curling to protect from the wind

The guides cooking the diner

Thomas and Colas returning from their extra mile

The Fuego as they saw it, the intrepid bunch!

Another brief morning appearance

And a little smoke puff from the eruption !

The camp in the morning

Courageously walking back down

We all made alive! 🙂

Now waiting for the bus in the cold wind

Leo under the colored lights of the boat taking us back to San Marcos