Easter Island

10pm local time. Well I just got to the hotel.

Had a certain "what the fuck am I doing here" feeling while waiting to collect my bag at the airport.

It took me a while to get a taxi, a couple of people offered (although I mostly stood around feeling disoriented and left to my own devices) but the first was some old woman in the passenger seat of a car driven by someone else which made me a bit edgy, so I ignored the next guy and waited for it to quiet down. Got a taxi in the end, CLP1500 although I gave the guy 2000. It was about a two minute drive, tops, maybe a minute, seriously. Checked in OK and bought a bottle of water for CLP1000. Hotel seems fairly nice and the room is large, but it's dead. Greeting card on the bed says it's a 20 minute walk into town or they can call you a taxi. I doubt that applies at this time of night and to be honest I doubt there is 24h reception, although we shall see. This is all a little bit too much like Hotel Lakutaia on Isla Navarino for my tastes. I think six nights of this may kill me. Still, at least there *are* taxis, which has to be a good sign.

The receptionist did seem to say something about a transfer, although it was far from clear. I refuse to believe the old woman was it, and I didn't see any other evidence of anyone waiting to pick me up. I didn't expect it anyway, although if I did miss it it's a bit annoying.

The road from the airport seemed relatively unlit, I have no idea what the walk into the town might be like.

Anyway, I am here and I suppose I will have a shower and go to bed and see what it's really like tomorrow. I will hopefully feel a bit more positive then.

First impressions of the island are minimal. The air had a slightly humid quality and a strange but not unpleasant smell which I noticed as I got off the plane, although that (apart from the humidity, assuming it's not just that I need a shower) may have been something about the airport as I have ceased to notice the smell. I haven't seen a great deal yet of course. There are palm trees but then again they have those in Santiago, so that's not particularly amazing.

So yeah, I'm on Easter Island. Whoopy-do.