Easter Island!

We are back from our trip to Easter Island, aka Rapa Nui (it's real name), aka Isla de Pascua! It was amazing. It was exhausting. It made us question our sanity to take two 2-year-olds gallivanting around the world. But it was good.

Ready for pictures? Because there will be a lot. We took over 1000, then whittled it down to a mere 300 or so. They aren't all going on here, but still. A lot.

Santiago, Chile: We got to Santiago about mid-day and our flight to Easter Island wasn't until the next morning, so we got a chance to wander around downtown. We were very impressed with Santiago. It was so...orderly. The highways, the streets. The streets had street signs! You knew what street you were on! Amazing. It was clean, overall. It felt efficient. The airport was great! We felt like we were in the US almost, except everything was in Spanish first, and THEN English. Driving to and from the airport, it felt like we were in Utah, with all the mountains close to the city. We liked Santiago. Nuala and Bran loved hanging out by the fountain in the middle of Plaza de las Armas. Mostly because there were several children playing in it, who were very willing to splash the twins. They were soaked all down the front when we were able to drag them away. Zac so kindly calls this little splasher "Wedgie Girl".

They were good little travelers, for the most part. Yeah. This is our cute boy, after a nice long nap on the flight from Santiago to Rapa Nui. So what that he was stretched out on both seats and Zachariah had to stand for 3 hours? Small price to pay for a more peaceful flight.

They were really excited to get off the plane and still be so close to it on the tarmac. Bran especially loves the aviones, and even had to take a bunch of pictures of it with the camera by himself. Easter Island is officially part of Chile, so they speak Spanish there, as well as the local language, called Rapa Nui, like the island's name. Our Spanish is a lot better than our Rapa Nui, so that's what we stuck with. Also, did you know that Easter Island is the most isolated populated island in the world? Well, now you do know! Wait, did that make sense? It's the most isolated island that actually has people living on it.

This is the cabana where we stayed. It was run by Tita and Leonel, a Rapa Nui woman and her French husband. They were really nice. All the other guests were French, but they were still nice, too ;) We got leis when we arrived. Bran is double pointing at his. We couldn't get him to stay still for a picture, too much exploring to be done.

And the first of many, many tantrums courtesy of Nuala. Wow! That child can be ornery! She'll scream and complain about one thing, and if you are able to fix and/or comply, she'll immediately move on to something else. My goodness!! Do you know how hard it is to bend and buckle an unwilling 2-year-old into a car seat? Of course you do. I know it's not just us. If that were the case, I would have to sever all contact with those of you with sweet and obedient 2-year-olds. Though Bran is usually pretty sweet and obedient. Usually. This is Nuala holding Daddy's snorkelling gear hostage because she doesn't want to wear her shoes. It was actually really funny! We were packing up the first afternoon for the beach, ignoring the tantrum, and when Z mentioned his snorkelling stuff and headed for it, Nuala upped the volume of her screams and hurled herself onto the bag. After extensive negotiations, all parties were appeased and we were able to go on our way.

Every morning we'd walk to Tahai, the moai site that was about 5 minutes away from where we stayed. Well, without kids it would be about 5 minutes away, but still, very quick walk. It was great going there in the mornings. Breakfast wasn't until 9, so usually around 8-ish we'd set out for Tahai. It was nice and cool, and we almost always had the place to ourselves.

And Bob! Bob was a dog who followed us our very first morning to Tahai. And then stayed with us the entire time we were on Easter Island. N&B LOVED him. Zachariah and I did, too. He was a very nice dog, well-behaved. Never tried to come in the cabana, let the twins pet him and play with him very patiently. He was really cute, too. Nuala loved him from the start, of course, and tried to get him to chase her. She kept shoving her hands up for him to smell. That's her automatic dog-greeting, two little cupped hands in the poor dog's snout. His real name is most likely NOT Bob, but it was easy for the twins to say, so that became his name for the week.

Rano Raraku was our favorite spot. It's known as the "Nursery" and is a crater left from one of the two volcanoes that formed Rapa Nui. The moai were all carved from the side of the mountain here, and then transported to other parts of the island. There are still lots of finished and unfinished moai on Rano Raraku. Seeing them dotted along the hillside, and some poking halfway out of the ground, was a really unique experience.

Be careful, Bran just might check your nose next... as good parents, the thought never crossed our minds that that might be the moment the gigantic-ly heavy moai decided to finish his face-plant. Yikes.

We went to Anakena Beach every day. It was great! The waves were bigger than we normally get here, and perfect for bodysurfiing. Nuala and Bran didn't want to bodysurf, but they let Daddy and Mommy take turns while they played in the sand. So nice. It was a lot of fun!!

The moai at Anakena Beach. It was smoky that day, up on the hill. There were some little brush fires or something.

The little harbor by the scuba diving center always had little boats that the twins loved to watch. Our last day there, four big sea turtles came in around the boats. Bran and Nuala were fascinated by them, of course! They were really fun to see. Zachariah was able to go on a dive and had a great time. They took him down by a sunken moai, but we're pretty sure it's a fake. Still, pretty cool.

Enjoying completos (hot dogs with tomatoes...I think they're supposed to have more stuff, but still...) at a little food stand. The senior missionaries walked by while we were eating, so we chatted with them for a while. We also ran into the young missionaries. It's always fun to see the missionaries in other places!

One of Nuala and Bran's favorite excursions was to Ana Te Pahu, a cave where people used to live way back when. They had gardens at the openings with sweet potatoes and bananas. Bran really wanted some of the bananas, but the only ones left were really high up and neither Z nor I felt like climbing a banana tree right then. Poor kid. It was a pretty neat little cave. There was a huge cockroach inside, but that's okay. That's where cockroaches SHOULD be, instead of houses. We had a dinky flashlight, a super bright LED headlight, and Nuala's clip-on, colored-lights-flashing toucan flashlight. It was really fun, the kiddos did great, even when Daddy smacked Bran's head into the cave roof a time or two. He's telling me it's only once, but I don't know...

Ahu Tongariki had the most moai in a row. There are 15 of them here, and probably as many horses, too. And lots of rocks, thankfully, since Nuala loves rocks. She kept collecting them everywhere we went. I'm still finding some as we unpack. It's probably against some sort of code to take rocks, but Nuala is very sneaky.

And the horses. There were horses EVERYWHERE on the island. It was great, the twins loved it. Of course, the horses didn't especially love the twins, but Bran and Nuala aren't very good at taking hints. The poor horsies here were all taking a little break when Nuala barged in on them. They all left, except for one poor fellow who was upwind from her. He must've been really out of it, because when Zachariah and Nuala approached him, he didn't notice at all until they were almost right on top of him. He woke up with a start and realized his buddies had abandoned him, so he jumped up and snorted a long and loud snort at her, which just thrilled her. For the next 10 minutes she was trying to snort just like him. Funny, funny girl! (The snuck-up-upon horse is the one farthest in the back in these 2 pictures. Actually, he's in the picture above, too...)

And there you have it. Or parts of it, at least. We had a great time, but are soooooo glad to be back home again!