From Easter Island to LA

Missing Sunsets and Goodbye to Rui Napa

We aimed to finish our stay on Easter Island with a sunset tour. Unfortunately the clouds had different ideas so we saw some more Maoi including the only one on the island with full eyes. Although they painted on rather than the coral and stone of the originals.

After that we had dinner at a sea front restaurant, almost romantic, food and cocktails with the waves crashing in on the rocks across the road. We have a taste for pisco sours.

Rui Napa isn't the easiest place to get to or as we were about to discover from, but it has been a great place to stay. After the last couple of months of being on the go, these 8 days have been a perfect mix of seeing the fantastic island and resting.

Arriving in LA....eventually

The next day we were picked up by the bus for the airport. At one point the driver was watching out for a van at the side of the road and went over a speed bump without fully slowing down us and guide all went a foot in the air! The rest of the journey the driver spent apologising!

The flights from Easter Island to LA were torturous, 3 flights around 6,7 and 7 hours. I don't think a stopover would have been worthwhile but maybe a mini-upgrade on one flight would have given us a chance to get some better rest. Karen wanted to upgrade at $115 dollars each, no doubt I won't hear the end of this. Budget over comfort doesn't always go the best way. We were both pretty knackered by the final flight and 90 minutes waiting in a queue to go through US immigration didn't help.

We also had a nervous moment, we have electronic tags on our cases and for our first hour in the above queue the App was telling us our luggage was still in Panama. Luckily they turned up but not before we had mentally worded our complaint to Copa airlines.

Cultural Shift from Easter Island

Our hotel in LA is nice, very modern with small rooms. The area nearby is bit ropey and summed up when we were in the Post Office and a homeless chap came in, let his dog have a wee and then walked out! The people behind the counter went mad but he had left before they realised. They did have an air freshener spray so maybe it's a regular thing. It did amuse me that there was a sign saying guide dogs, I don't think the little rat dog the guy had could be classed as a guide dog!

Also in the chemist near enough everything is in locked cabinets, and you have to press a customer service button for someone to come and open the glass door and get what you want. As we were stocking up on toiletries for the cruise we had to get into various ones and call the bloke across around 10 times. The locked items aren't just more expensive ones it includes bars of chocolates! we did see someone get thrown out as he just started throwing stuff around.

We did find a nice restaurant in the evening for an Italian it was busy and probably the quickest turn round we've ever had. The restaurant was close to the hotel but to be fair although a lot of homeless and strange people about it doesn't feel a risky place.

We have tomorrow for a look round the downtown area.