Cyclone at Hanga Roa

May 31, 2024

The aurport at Rapa Nui (1) is the most remote airport on the world (2) (3). Upon boarding at Santiago, a man greeted the crew with good morning in Russian (добре утра). He saw my sneakers and top and asked if I were going to run the island's marathon on Sunday. The flight was uneventful as the plane scooted around some storms en route. Disembarking, I was greeted with a flower lei by someone from the hotel, a short walk away.

Plan A involved a sunset paddle today, and a visit with the kayak guide to plan a paddle tomorrow. The weather did not cooperate; the sea was roiling with a passing storm, with winds gusting to 50 MPH, and thunder storms (4). Upon enquiring about tomorrow, the kayak guy told me he was repairing his seafront house, which had been damaged in the storm.The wind forecast called for sustained wind between 25 and 35 MPH all weekend; good time to explore the land.

Going to rent a bike, the sky opened up; locals were taking pictures of the torrent flowing down the streets; I skipped the bike. Walking along the sea front of Hanga Roa, the island's only town, spume was spraying off the waves. Metal roofs were flapping in the wind, and dining canopies were shredded.

This evening's entertainment was the Kari-Kari ballet cultural, featuring live music and Rapanui dancing in traditional dress. Wind and heavy rain pounding on the metal roof added to the atmosphere (5).

(1) Known in English as Easter Island (Isla de la Pasqua in Spanish) because Dutch Admiral Jacob Roggeveen stumbled upon the Island on Easter Day in 1722.

(2) At 2,336 miles from the airport at Santiago, Chile (a). Chilean aviation regulations do not permit planes to be more than halfway to the island if another plane with the island as the destination (or alternative destination) has not already landed, just in case. At this time of year, there is only one daily flight. In the Austral summer, the (up to) three daily flights need to be spaced out to comply.

(a) The nearest inhabited land (no airport) is Pitcairn Island, 1,135 miles away. Most of Pitcairn's 67 inhabitants descend from Fletcher Christain, mutineer on the Bounty (i).

(i) After the mutiny, The Bounty's Captain Bligh, with 18 loyal crew members, navigated over 4,000 miles across the Pacific to the Dutch East Indies (known as Indonesia today) in an 23 foot open boat. They had a compass, but no nautical charts on their 47 day journey. 

(3) The US NASA space agency funded a runway lengthening as an emergency landing spot for the space shuttle.

(4) I would call it a gale; they referred to the storm as a cyclone. In the southern hemisphere, storms rotate clockwise, so the storm winds were from the southwest.

(5) Thankfully, the rain stopped before the end of the show. My hotel was about a mile outside of town and it would have been a long walk in the rain.

Iorana (welcome) to Rapa Nui

Map of island at Hotel. 

The island outline looks much like Martha's Vineyard, tilted about 30° counter-clockwise, although Rapa Nui is smaller than the Vineyard.

Roadside flowers, Hanga Roa

Moai at seaside

No sunset paddle today 

The Kari-Kari dance troupe

Cerro Santa Lucia, Santiago, Chile

May 30, 2024

A midday flight (1) (2) passed over the expansive salt flats of Bolivia heading SSW toward Chile. The snow-capped Andes were on the left on the descent to Santiago.

The Cerro Santa Lucia (St. Lucy Hill) is the historic center of the Santiago. A lovely urban park here offers views over the city. The park reminded me of NYC's Central Park and Montréal's Mount Royal Park, both designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (3) in the late 1800s. While not an Olmstead park, Santa Lucia was designed contemporaneously (1872).

I climbed up and down the modest hill (about 200 feet above the city) a couple of times. The sunset was at 5:45 on this late Austral autumn day. The fading light cast intersting shadows on the high Andes to the east as night settled in.

(1) On the ride to the airport in Santa Cruz, I figured out the traffic rules I had been observing in the city:

● At the many uncontrolled intersections: the more aggressive driver has the right of way.

● At smaller intersections with traffic lights: stop on red, then look and go.

● At bigger intersections, obey the traffic lights (except late at night when follow the rule above).

● Entering a rotary: completely ignore red lights; don't even slow down.

● When already in a rotary, stop and wait on red regardless of other traffic or time of day.

In contrast, the roads in Chile felt more like Europe.

(2) The pilot made announcements in Spanish and English (as expected) and then, unexpectedly, in French.

(3) Creator of landscape architecture, designed to provide a natural sense of outdoors for city dwellers.

Bolivian salt flats visible from the plane

At Santa Lucia park

Darwin did spend time in Chile during the voyage of the Beagle en route to the Galapagos

The torre mirador

Burial place of Benjamin Vicuña MacKenna, first mayor of Santiago and the park's founder

Poking about waiting for sunset 

A hummingbird enjoyed the nectar of this candelabra aloe at the summit

Sunset over the city

The high Andes at dusk through the haze

Twilight

Back at street level

Sloths at the Botanical Garden, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

May 29, 2024

Not having seen sloths before, I organized a visit to the Botanical Gardens in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the largest city in Bolivia (1). My guide was Nicholas, a biologist who has studied Bolivia's bats, is fascinated by birds, and works to rescue sloths which sometimes wander into people's houses, much to the consternation of the resident dogs.

Three types of sloths (2) live in Bolivia (from least to most common): the one, two, and three-nailed varieties. We soon found a few three-nailed sloths hanging about on some pink-flowered trees near the park entrance. They were near the tree tops, trying to reach the warming sun on this cold day (3). 

The name sloth was given to the animals due to their relative torpor. They move quite slowly and rarely go far (4). Algae grows on sloths, helping with camouflage, and ticks live on the animals symbiotically, protecting the slots from fungus infections. The animals descend from the trees once every 8 days or so to defecate (5).

Further into the parks and listening carefully, we spotted a crimson-crested Woodpecker, a Cocoa woodcreeper and a colorful Amazonian Motmot. No luck seeing a toucan, despite Nicholas playing the toucan bird-call on the Merlin ornothology app (6).

Monkeys are also present in the park. Vocalizing monkey calls, Nicholas spotted a white-eared marmoset and a squirrel monkey moving about in the trees (much faster than do the sloths).

Walking by a pond on the way back, caymans (a type of alligator) and turtles were absorbing the warm sun.

Next stop was Plaza Principal in the town of Cotoca. This seemed an odd choice, until Nucholas said that 5 sloths live in the trees of the town's central square. Again looking to the treetops, we spied 4 of the 5. A German couple (7) were also looking for the animals and Nicholas was glad to help.

Dinner at a sidewalk café does not seem to be a thing in Santa Cruz. Restaurants seem more likely to have an internal courtyard. Dessert was called "quiero mas" (I want more), a milky pudding with caramel and cinnamon. I did (want more).

(1) The original Bolivia travel plan went through the capital city of La Paz. However, the city's elevation of 14,000 feet convinced me to fly to the lowlands city of Santa Cruz (elevation 1,400 feet) to avoid altitude headaches.

(2) As in English, the Spanish word for sloth also means lazy.

(3) Cold for here. Temperatures this morning were in the 50s°F, with many locals sporting puffy coats and knit hats.

(4) I had first thought that Nicholas was particularly clever or eagled-eyed in spotting the sloths. While he is both, the sloths are most likely in or near the same tree where he last saw them.

(5) If a baby sloth falls from the tree, the mother may abandon the baby rather than risk predation on the ground. Nicholas told stories of people restoring the babies to their mothers.

(6) I had told him the only toucan I had ever heard of was Toucan Sam. While he did not know the name, when I showed him a picture later, he said "Froot Loops!" for which Toucan Sam is the mascot.

(7) Europeans, especially Germans,  are common visitors to Santa Cruz.

Three-nailed sloths in the trees 

Heliconia rostrata/False Bird of Paradise, containing the colors of the Bolivian flag 

Cactus area

Crimson-crested Woodpecker

Colorful Amazonian Motmot 

Cocoa woodcreeper

White-eared Matmoset in the trees

Squirrel Monkey warming in the treetop

Caiman soaking up the sun

Turtle on Caiman's back 

Santa Cruz at dusk

Sierra de Montserrate, Bogota

May 28, 2024

Rising abruptly from Colmbia's Capital city of Bogotá (elevation 8,700 feet) (1), La Sierra de Montserrate offered a chance for some higher altitude hiking (2). Approaching the path to the summit, a dreaded "Martes Cerrada" sign ended my hiking plans; the trail is closed for maintenance on Tuesdays (3).

The summit was opened today, and the funicular was operating. A modest hike up and down a few times at the summit tested my endurance at 10,500 feet, fortified by some coca tea to ward off altitude sickness (4). Bogotá lies below. The city rose on a flat-bottom bowl at about 8,600 feet, surrounded by Andean peaks exceeding 10,000 feet. 

Wandering past the church, I tried a perro caliente (hot dog), which the docile stray dog was glad to share with me. As a light rain approached, I headed back down to the city on the finicular.

The Emerald Museum had no signage. Located in the Avianca (5) Building, I asked where the museum was. The security guard gave me a pass based on my passport, and I was escorted to the 23th floor. The museum entrance was pitch black, so I tripped over the chairs at the entrance, to the delight of the tour group just ahead, which I joined. The modest museum display recreates a Columbian Emerald mine, where emeralds took longer to form due to the lower pressures. The tour was soon over, and we ended at the (pricey) Emerald jewelery store.

Across the street is the larger and more visible gold museum, advertising free admission for those 60 and over (6). The collection is impressive and the text provides good context of the historical and cultural context for the items presented. Afterwards, back to the airport for a night connection to Bolivia.

(1) In Bogotá for a 23 hour layover enroute to Bolivia.

(2) And to test my readiness for a hike at similar altitude planned for Bulgaria next month.

(3) Ignoring the signs is not advised due to crime in the capital. I was not the only one disappointed on this Tuesday; a group of young men in black cassocks (presumably novitiates studying for the priesthood) had planned to make a pilgrimage hike to the church at the summit. 

(4) At 10,000 feet, there is about 25% less oxygen than at sea level.

(5) Colmbia's national airline.

(6) Luckily, one of the few things I know how to say in Spanish is "Yo soy viejo" ("I am old").

The destination: Sierra de Montserrate

So helpful to translate the Spanish "funicular" to the English "funicular"

Views of Bogotá below

View east

View west to Nuestra Señora de Guadeloupe 

Inside the church

Jesus statue as homeless man

The last supper

The Black Madonna

Red floripontio

Ubiquitous Andean Sparrow

Display at the Emerald Museum

Clay mold for gold to create necklace

At the gold museum

On the streets of Bogotá