The service was beautiful. Islanders and tourists filled the pews, side aisles and there was barely standing room left at the back of the church. There must have been 400 people there. The church was adorned with beautiful carvings of Rapa Nui style religious figurines and lots of flowers. We did not understand the Rapa language in which the service was conducted, but we did listen in total awe to the harmonious singing which oozed out from all around the church. Mass was conducted but we did not partake. Mary continued to hack away, which embarrassed me profusely and caused a few stares. However a lady next to us, obviously also a tourist, kept digging in her handbag as though looking for something each time Mary coughed. Eventually she pulled out a lollipop and handed it to Mary. She looked at Jude and shrugged and put up one finger, indicating she didn't have another. Jude took it well, fortunately. It certainly did the trick in stopping Mary coughing for the rest of the service, to my relief. At one point she did drop it on the ground, then looking at me for approval, picked it up and put it back in her mouth! I could just see the disapproving faces that said "No wonder your child has such a bad cough".
People poured out of the church at the end of the service and there was much activity outside with locals greeting one another and hopping in and out of cars. We made our way slowly back to the hostel, Jude and Ross stopping en route to pick up a lollipop for Jude. Only fair!
The previous day we had organised to go on a horse ride at 11am, but this has been postponed to 2.30pm, so we had some time available to do an activity before lunch. Unaminously, it was decided that we should go for a family snorkel. The place where we had been diving previously was an ideal spot for the girls. Calm, sheltered, shallow, and with fish that came right in near the shore. Mary was game, Jude a little more reluctant. I suited up, today the suit feeling much more comfortable having been stretched the day before. Ross then helped Mary to get on her wetsuit and mask and snorkel. She opted to climb on my back so I could swim and she wasn't fully immersed. She felt safe like this and could still put her head in the water and see the fish. I swam out slowly and calmly towards the opening where the waves were breaking gently. Fish were already visible and I started to hear muffled shrieks and giggles through the snorkel. At first I wasn't sure if they were unhappy noises, so I popped up to check that Mary was happy - not an easy feat with her laid out along my back! Yes, she was definitely happy. We swam around for a short while, but Mary was shivering badly and soon asked to go back. I have never heard a 5 year old wax lyrical quite so much, but she really tried to sell the snorkeling to jude. Mary thought it was just amazing. Jude was keen to try but the water was just too cold for her. She did put everything on ready to go but she shrieked when she felt the temperature of the water. Not having a wetsuit was of no help to her either. There was no way of persuading her, so I swam out for a quick dive by myself before swapping with Ross and doing my turn of watching the girls on the shore.
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| Snorkeling at Tahai |
Everyone was happy as we walked back to our hostel, and most definitely ready for some lunch! Ross had “borrowed” the owners kitchen and prepared a delicious lunch of mince stew and rice. It was quite late when we started to eat and just as we were taking our last mouthfuls the man arrived to take us riding bang on time. Our host was at our heels saying we needed to go so as not to make the man wait. Ross was trying to tidy up the plates, but she was adamant we must just leave everything and go. She would clear away. At this we were most surprised. Punctuality is not much of a heeded word in Chile and obviously we have adjusted to this more than we were aware!
The man waited at his 4x4 looking impatient as we grabbed our things and sent the girls over to him. He introduced himself as Pantu and smiled, welcoming us to ride his horses. Vicky had said that we all could ride as their were ponies for the children. Beginning to wonder what was in store for us, we felt a little foolish not getting more information before hand. We had no idea how long a ride we were doing or how much money we were in for. But, we decided it didn’t matter now, we were committed and as we love riding it wasn’t going to be a hardship. We arrived at a lovely establishment overlooking the sea, which had very modern cabanas and a nice riding ring in the centre of a pretty garden. There were 5 horses tethered and no ponies in site. When I saw this I decided that Jude could not ride by herself under any circumstances. We were happy to try Mary on her own horse, and I assumed that the guide would lead her on a rope. She had at least been on a horse a few times before. Their equipment wasn’t lacking much. They had riding hats for all of us and even chaps, which is always a nice treat. Pantu assured us the horses were calm and Mary would be fine riding by herself. Our guide, whose name I forget, was a young lad who was very friendly. Once we were mounted and ready to go Mary had to learn quickly how to get her horse to move. There was no leading rope which made me a little nervous, but the guide seemed perfectly relaxed, so I decided to leave it in God’s hands that she would be safe. Jude was mounted with me, sitting on a blanket just on the front pommel, which I suspected might get uncomfortable. Never having ridden more than a few metres with a child in the saddle with me I wondered how I would feel after an hour or more of riding. Jude’s weight in front of me was pushing me backwards, but it was a lovely feeling to be helping my little girl ride a horse. Mary was very proud to be riding by herself and the horse looked steady and firm under her. Leaving the paddock we headed down the dirt road to the coast, just a short distance away.
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| Horse ride to the banana cave |
The other detail we had never established was how long the ride would be. I did my best to ask the young guide how our long our trip would be and was certain that his answer was an hour to an hour and a half. I thought Mary would manage that without getting too tired. It was a very special ride and we enjoyed viewing the coast from our elevated positions. The relaxed pace of the ride (no cantering with Mary on her own horse) was obviously very relaxing for Jude as the nodding movement of the horse had caused her to nod too! She was fast asleep in front of me and I was trying hard to stop her from falling off. I was very relieved that she had not gone on her own horse. Our route took us past 2 caves, and we entered one of them called the banana cave. It was a welcome relief to climb down off the horses and stretch, particularly easing the pressure off the knees. Whilst in the cave I heard a shout “hello Mary!” which took me by complete surprise. Who could it possibly be? My sister has always joked that I know enough people to be recognised anywhere in the world, and now I was starting to think that Mary is following in my footsteps. Well, with her social abilities it is no surprise, she makes friends wherever we go. It turned out to be the owner of the cafe where we had eaten dinner on the first night with Hema. Her other job was as a tour guide and she was guiding a party around the island. Climbing back on to our horses I passed Jude over to Ross. We had already been riding for over an hour and a half and we had to get home. I was feeling a little nervous that Mary would be tiring by now. Each time I questioned if she felt ok, she assured me she was fine. I just hoped that the horse didn’t spook suddenly, something which once happened to me after 3 days in the saddle. I was so exhausted and focused on getting back to our lodge that when my horse suddenly jumped sideways I was left behind with no horse underneath me. I ended up in a heap on the floor, rather embarrassing as we were only a short distance from our lodge so we had a good audience, and as women don’t ride horses in Africa I felt like quite a spectacle. The worst that happened to Mary was that her horse wandered off on his own path at one point, so our guide had to go and herd them back to us. By the time we got back to the ranch it was 3 hours later. The price was acceptable, considering on Easter Island all activities come at a premium.
That evening we took a walk down to the harbour in Hanga Roa at sunset.
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| Ahu Tautira at sunset |
Whilst I was taking photos of the changing colours of the landscape, Jude and Mary went off with Ross to admire the fishing boats moored in the harbour. There was much excitement when they discovered 3 large turtles swimming under the boats, eating the fish heads left behind by the fisherman. We sat and watched them slowly cruise under the boats, pecking small chunks of flesh off the unwanted carcasses, coming up for air every few minutes. That was a real treat. I had, just that day, heard that if you swim off the beach next to the harbour, you often find turtles that you can swim with.
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| Turtles swimming under boats |
As it was Sunday, the choice of restaurants to eat at was limited. Being right outside a restaurant that was open, I popped in to see what their menu and prices were like. The facade suggested a very upmarket and probably expensive restaurant, so I was pleasantly surprised when I found the menu to be comparable to most of the other restaurants we had seen. Anyway, the view out over the ocean alone was worth any hike in prices, so I called in the troops and we settled at a table to watch the last of the glorious sunset as the sky oozed flame reds, oranges and yellows. The food was good, but didn’t quite meet the same standards as the location. I ordered a fish soup and Ross ordered tuna with sweet potatoes and dill sauce. Whilst we were waiting for the food to arrive we both suddenly thought that any kind of fish soup usually contains seafood to give it more flavour, so we decided it best that Ross would eat the soup and I would have the tuna. Ross had a vantage point towards the kitchen and suddenly made a disapproving groan. Intrigued, I asked what it was about, but he said it was nothing. Then after a pause he said “well, as you are no longer having the soup, it won’t hurt to tell you that I just saw the chef take a big spoon, taste the soup, then put the spoon straight back into the pan! I thought it might put you off if I told you..” obviously different levels of standards!
After another full day the girls crashed into bed with us following closely behind them.
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