Yesterday a sweet Chilean woman and her husband befriended me and told me what was going on. Because it was a domestic flight, none of the announcements were in English, and the Spanish here is fast and slurred (especially over the loud speaker.) We were in the van together, and had dinner at the hotel together. This morning we met for breakfast and we walked to a tall tower to get pictures. I feel like we’ve known each other forever. Going through misery connected us. In fact ALL the passengers on the flight feel a camaraderie. We greet each other in the hotel and hug on the street. And they always ask if I’ve received my missing suitcase yet. (No.)
Being in the posh hotel in the upper class neighborhood gave us a very different feeling in Santiago than our AirBnB. This area feels touristy and removed from actual Chileans. I’m so thankful for this brief respite. The hotel is so beautiful and I’m surrounded by great new friends. And the huge hotel breakfast was incredible. We were able to change all of our airline tickets and our Airbnb and our guide so that we could stay one day longer on the island, coming home, one day later than planned.
The official name for Easter Island is Rapa Nui, but if you call it that nobody knows what you are talking about, except the people who live there.
On our five hour flight to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Jim and I each had a row of three seats all to ourselves. Since it was a special, added flight there weren’t that many people and the flight staff had plenty of time to meet our needs. When we landed on the island at 11pm, we were greeted with flowered leis and big welcome signs. It was interesting to see 100 Rapa Nui residents standing at the gate with signs, because everyone coming to Rapa Nui needed a driver to get from the airport.
At our Airbnb, the lock was broken and we spent half an hour trying to get into our room. Finally, the driver crawled through a very small window in the kitchen and let us in. It was late and we were so tired.
Marsh Travels 
I think there is a VRBO commercial mocking AirBnB with the guests having to climb in through the window of their accommodations. Pretty funny actually. Well, you arrived…Yay! Perseverance and endurance seem to be a requisite for this trip and I know you have that in spades. Can’t wait to have you share your Easter Island experience. I don’t know anyone who has ever been there. My sister got close, ended up at the Galapagos. ________________________________
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