They are getting a bit boisterous (in a general way, not sexually!) now and the owners have just sort of separated them. The little white one seems to be called "Blanca". Maybe they are owned, although they may just have given them names.
Fri, 11:20pm. There are a couple of biggish cockroaches scuttling around. (I am sat on the terrace, so I don't think this reflects badly on the bar.) They weren't bothering me until the small white dog turned one over and it lay there kicking its legs on its back. In the end - call me a sap - I flicked it upright with a handy menu. But although I don't have a massive problem with the damn things - they're infinitely preferable to spiders - I now have a nasty vision of one climbing up inside my trouser leg. I suspect they are not overly prone to do that, but it's not a pleasant thought. (I now observe one on a nearby wall, so I suspect they're capable of it, although I already did suspect that.) I guess most people would just have trodden on the fuckers but the idea sickens me.
I do wonder how they compare to the British article in size. I've never seen one in the UK. I guess in the UK you only get them in dirty houses, here they're more a fact of life.
11:30pm. Just ordered another beer which I think will be my last. I'm not remotely drunk - they're 350ml cans and this is only four - but that's probably a good thing and I do have to be up earlyish. Can't help having nagging doubts about getting back to the hotel and getting in but it should be fine.
Fri, 11:55pm. 13200, call it 15000 with tip. Seems OKish, by local standards, I can't believe how much it was the other day for the meal with two beers and two juices. Asked them to call me a cab. (I wonder if the old joke works in Spanish, I suspect it does, the verb being 'llamar' in both cases as I understand it, I must ask a native speaker next time I get a chance.)
Sat, 12:05am. Back at the hotel, no problem. The cab turned up within about a minute of being called, I guess it's not too surprising in a place this size. We passed Marau on the way back, a few people in there but nothing like last night. A bit odd given it's Friday. Maybe it's too early for it to be busy tonight, or maybe by this time the local drinking population have mostly hied it to a club. I shall probably never know. I may go there tomorrow night and see what happens, I still have a 9:40am start on Sunday but it's only a half day and I can certainly cope with being out as late as I was tonight as it's only a half day tour on Sunday (though I hope to do a bit of walking in the afternoon). I just may get some clue as to the local population's plans from that, even if I don't join in it would be interesting to know.
(Oh, just to water down my statements earlier, I think I was the only customer at that place tonight. The waiter told me they were open til 1am, and while we hardly talked outside of business, I must admit he didn't seem particularly unfriendly or to resent my interrupting his web browsing to ask for another beer.)
Anyway, a quick shower and then to bed.
Sat, 9:50am. Dragged myself out of bed about 9:15 and now waiting out at the front of the hote by reception to be picked upl. Some people are checking out and seem to be saying something about not having a flight. It's far from clear.
Guy at reception just saw me writing this on my phone and asked me in English if I 'had internet'. It transpires that they do apparently have wi-fi here, although I think they have to turn it on explicitly for some reason (maybe it's something to do with the way internet access is billed out here). I told him I didn't need it now but apparently if I ask later I can get wi-fi access. That will save me having to do the round of the net cafes again when I finish the tour, assuming it works.
(I did ask - in Spanish - at reception yesterday afternoon and I was told they had 'a computer' but it didn't work. So this is a step up.)
Just been interrupted by being collected for the trip. Was a bit freaked out that the woman who turned up spoke Rapa Nui (I assume, I caught the word 'iorana', 'hello') to the nearby hotel staff. Not exactly surprising but I do find it strangely disconcerting. My shoestring guide implies you should use a few words with the locals but I figured that would be patronsing when I don't actuallly speak the language, even at the 'a beer please' level, and my Bradt guide doesn't imply any such thing.
Sat 3:45pm. Tour fairly interesting today. We are technically still on it, they have brought us to one of, if memory serves, the two beaches on the island. We have an hour here, well, 45 minutes now. I doubt I would have anyway, but no one told me to bring any appropriate clothing so I won't be going in. So I am just killing time here until we are due to return to Hanga Roa. A bit like Pan de Azucar beach in Chile I guess.
We went to the place where the statues were quarried out where there are loads of unfinished ones lying around. Also a few other places with statues left toppled over and where they have been reconstructed. The names totally escape me but in theory I have photographs of them. Have taken an insane number of photos of course.
In a strange way the toppled statues are more appealing. I think it's because they seem a bit more 'authentic' than the ones which have been set back upright.
Sat, 4:50pm. Just got dropped off back at the hotel. Asked at reception if the wi-fi was working and told not yet. It was some woman, it's a shame the bloke who told me this morning I could use it wasn't there. Still, there is a slim chance it will start to work shortly. I probably won't drag myself off to an internet cafe tonight, although it would be good to get these damn accommodation bookings sorted out. Both are a bit tricky - Santiago because I need cheap but as near the airport as possible, Buenos Aires because I want to get somewhere 'comfortable', preferably a serviced apartment, but know nothing about the city except that Cristian vaguely recommended the Palermo district. I guess I could put in a few minutes with my guide book now, since I probably won't go out for dinner and drinks til about 7. On the other hand, the only guide I have covering Argentina is my shoestring guide, and I suspect its budget-conscious nature may skew things. Still, I suppose any idea I obtain ab
out the city is an improvement on my current knowledge.
Sat, 8:30pm. It started to rain about 6:30pm. Walked over to the restaurant on the corner at about 7:30pm, forgetting my damn cap. Had a milanesa de pollo and chips there, then walked practically the entire damn length of the main street to come back to Tavake. Just got here, vague plan is to stay here for a few and maybe pop into that 'proper' bar at about 10 or 11. Moderately damp but it could be worse. Shame about the cap. They are playing Morrissey's "I just want to see the boy happy" on the radio here, which is kind of a nice surprise.
Sat 8:45pm. I hate to say this, but there's a bloke sat at the next table (it's very quiet here) on his own who seems to be enjoying the music just a bit too much (though he seems to have toned it down lately) and he's creeping me out in some strange way. I'm sure I have been that guy, which is why I feel bad saying it, but still. I just hope he doesn't talk to me.
Oh shit, he just called over to some bloke at a nearby table and asked where he's from, i.e. he's not talking to a mate and he may talk to me. He clearly speaks English at least a bit so I can't be uncommunicative and blame it on not speaking much Spanish. Fuck fuck fuck. Come on Stevie boy, you can do it, pretend you're stood at a busy bar and magically invisible to the bar staff. Turn that talent to good use.
Oh, as I was walking over from the hotel to the restaurant (in the rain, remember), I encountered the first complete bastard of a dog I've seen on the island. Of of nowhere there was this mad barking right in my fucking left ear. Turned out a flat-bed lorry was going past with two dogs in the back and one of the fuckers was going bananas in what struck me as a vaguely menacing way. The damn lorry slowed down to turn a corner just up ahead and I had visions of the fucking thing jumping out. But it didn't.
Sat 9:05pm. So far so good and some bloke has just pulled up a chair at his table so maybe I'm off the hook.
It's not really cold but I'm just that tiny bit damp which makes all the difference to how you feel. I may have to go in at this rate, though I'd rather not.
Oh, one reason I didn't want to get up this morning was that it was, or I imagined it would be, cold in the room. As best I can remember it wasn't boiling but then it hardly ever seems warm anywhere when you get out of bed. In any case you can't win, as it was far too warm for me at times during the day.
Shit. My fleece is damp enough that putting it on makes things worse. I will persevere with it on the offchance it improves. I seem to recall wool is supposed to have some special properties which allow it to help you retain heat when damp, and maybe whatever material the fleece is made of shares the same properties. It may even be made of wool for all I know, though probably not as it isn't itchy.
Sat 10:30pm. No problem with blokey. Had a couple down at Tavake but it was a bit dead, walked down the street to Marou. A few of the places down the street seemed a bit more lively than Tavake but I figured I'd come here as it's more of a bar. Maybe 20 other people here, so there's a bit more atmosphere. The waitress replied to my request for a beer in English, which always throws me. It had at least more or less stopped raining a minute or two before I left, so I didn't get any wetter coming here.
There were a couple of cats at the statue quarry place we went to earlier. A nice change from just seeing dogs. I stroked one a bit, and when we had lunch in the picnic area round at the back there was a black one running round miaowing under the tables.
I am sat on the terrace here and through an opening in the wall there is a single palm tree silhouetted against the almost dark sky. That is quite picturesque I must admit, I whipped my camera out but I don't think it has come out, the image on the camera's own screen just looks black, even with a 1/15 second exposure.
It's pretty green here. In places it looks tropical but in other places, at least to my non-tree-distinguishing eye, you could believe you were in some English country lane.
(Just tried a couple of doubtless shaky 4s exposures, I don't think they worked either but they just may look OK on a proper screen and if I can be bothered they just may be manipulable into showing something approximating what I am seeing.)
Sat, 10:45pm. Californian waiter just came past, evidently off-duty, and spoke (in English) to a group of guys at the next table. Apparently there is a new disco opening (out down the road next to the airport, which is where my hotel is and my 2005 Bradt guide says there are two clubs down there - way past the hotel I suspect, but on the same road, not that it matters as it would be a cab job anuway) which has lingerie modelling on tonight (that's how he described it, without any obvious indication he was using that description as a joke, which sounds slightly odd but still). He said it gets going about 2am and then something about how they should get a cab down there at 1am. I have no plan to go - 9:40am start making even a 1am visit a bit dubious, plus it sounds a bit naff to be honest, especially as I'm on my own, and I suspect (whether it's meant to be or not) it will be about as titillating as a cheap strip club in London, i.e. not very, even if I was looking titillation - but a
t least I do know to a certain extent 'what people are doing' this Saturday night.
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