Today is Day 4 of the 5 day tour and is a “day at leisure”. The sea is too rough to go diving, hiring a car would see us driving to places we have already been and we have visited at least ¾ of the shops in the village. There is not a lot to do but sit around in the sun/shade and read. This is very relaxing but has an underlying feeling of constriction.

Day 5 of the tour is ‘Depart Easter Island’, but since the flight is at 2130 (pickup at 1900), it is another free day. I still have 400 pages of a new book to finish but Sue is down to 200 or less on hers. Although there are a wide variety of stone statues for sale in the shops and the local supermarket has such obscure items as Bart Simpson masks and Spiderman costumes, books seem few and far between. The only available ones are about Easter Island. The next 36 hours could prove to be excruciatingly slow.

Today we have two half day tours with the two remaining Australians. There was a three hour break in the middle. We visited more huas and the ceremonial village of Orongo. It was just near here that I failed to find my second cache on Easter Island. Ground zero was an opening under a pile of rocks, but the cache was not to be found. The travel bug will now have to returned to Australia. Shame. So many near misses.During the 3 hour break we tried to change our flight to an earlier one, only to find that the flight we are on is the next west bound flight.

At sunset we went to the nearby hua to take photos of the sun setting behind the Maoi, but the cloud conspired to block most of the light.

We had a simple meal before going to bed.

Today we had a tour a tour with the six other Australians. Every site seeing spot involved stone statues in one form or another. We began at the sparse but interesting anthropology museum to learn all about the Rapa Nui people and the main periods in their history. (Before the Maoi, building the Maoi, smashing the Maoi).

We went to the quarry where the statues were shaped before they were moved into their final locations. (There are over 800 on the island). We saw the biggest Maoi yet formed (over 200 tonnes, but not completely cut out of the quarry).

We then went to several sites where the Maoi were erected. There have been restored as most were toppled during the “smash the Maoi” period of history. We have another full day tour tomorrow (with a pack lunch) and hopefully the opportunity to find the other Easter Island cache. It will be the last opportunity to dispose of the ‘travel bug’ before we go home. The duty free Absolut Citron is helping the assimilation process.