A New Favorite

We spent 17 days in Chile, August 29th to September 13th… and we wish we had more time! We really liked Chile and only scratched the surface on what it has to offer. We were pretty skeptical after Argentina and Uruguay, but something about Chile just felt right. It was really comfortable for us. Our major highlight of Chile was Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. It was the perfect mix of outdoor adventure and history. It was tropical without being too hot and was simply breathtaking. We’ve also added Valparaiso to our list of favorite cities.

Ahh… Paradise

Chile – Rapa Nui (Easter Island) – Tongariki

When we were first planning this year, we each listed a few things we really wanted to see, which we called “pillars.” One of Lindsey’s pillars was Rapa Nui or Easter Island. This was a really exciting week because we spent most of it on Rapa Nui. It is seriously remote – 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from mainland Chile and the closest populated island is 2,075 km (1,289 miles) away and only has 50 people. The remoteness doesn’t quite sink in until you fly on a Dreamliner for five and a half hours and every time you look out the window all you see is blue ocean. But the long trip was well worth it. Everything about it is paradise. The weather is 65 degrees every day with scattered clouds (and it only rains when you are inside… or maybe that was just our good luck) – not too hot and not too cold. There are enough tourists to have an infrastructure, but not enough to create crowds. And best of all, it’s the perfect mix of history and outdoor adventure (similar to our first pillar, Machu Picchu). Just perfect.

(more…)