Easter Island Day 190 27/03/2015

We walked across the road to the airport terminal to check in for our flight to Easter Island. After a bit of confusion as to where to go (check in was in international departures even though Easter Island is part of Chile) we dropped off our bags. Unfortunately the lounge is in international departures and we were boarding in domestics so, after security, we went to a cafe for the most disgusting cup of coffee we've had so far on our trip and a muffin. Just before boarding was due to commence it was announced that our flight was delayed to 12. We wandered around a bit (there's not too much to see) and then settled down for the wait. Just before 12 we boarded, found our seats at the back of the plane although this time on the right hand side and they had more leg room and a leg rest as, apparently, they are used by crew if the plane isn't full. We watched the engineers look under the wing, the captain joined in and looked, more engineers came and looked and then after about an hour we were asked to disembark the plane. We were given a meal voucher that we redeemed at Starbucks for juice and a sandwich and then wiled away the hours reading, people watching, wandering around, reading..... until we boarded just after 6pm and finally took off. We landed on Easter Island, 3760km west from Santiago and over one third of the distance back towards Auckland, just after 10pm local time after a 9 hour delay and nearly 6 hour flight (appreciate we won't get a lot of sympathy from people at home but perhaps from our fellow travellers!). One of the many good things about being away for a long time is that losing a day due to delays becomes insignificant in the grand scale of things. We collected our bags and were met by the owner of the cabanas where we'd booked to stay, with a customary Pacific Island flower garland. The drive to the Cabanas Ngahu was only a few minutes away and we were greeted by the joint owner, Kathy and a half bottle of red on arrival. What more can you want? We sat out on the terrace enjoying the sound of the sea, exhausted but very glad to have finally arrived.

Arriving at Easter Island