Tuesday, May 6

Every Rotary trip we have a day where we do community service of some sort, and today was that day. We were taken to this place on the island that was in need of restoration, and told that the guys would be left there to plant trees, but that the girls would be given some easier job. A lot of girls were really angry about the sexism that was being shown, and internally I was too, but I also know that the Chilean culture is a lot more sexist than the US culture, and that I shouldn’t criticize that or try to change what isn’t mine to change, so I went along with the women to this greenhouse nearby.

We repotted a bunch of plants that had gotten too big for their pots. Those plants would eventually be planted in the same place on the island that was in need of restoration, so we were still helping a lot.

After the job was done, we went to the only jail on the island, which has this cool program where the inmates make woodwork and then tourists can go in and buy from them. There were a few guards around, but overall it was very relaxed and basically just like any other feria I’d ever been to. We got back to the hotel just in time for lunch. After lunch, we got back on the busses to go up to the big volcano on the island.

We took pictures looking down into the volcano and of the primitive houses that the first tribes who arrived on the island used. We also got a lesson in the culture of the Rapa Nui people. There were many tribes who lived on the island, and in order to choose the leader of the island, there was a competition every year. A representative from each tribe would meet on top of the volcano to compete. They had to swim to a tiny nearby island and bring back the first seagull egg of the spring, risking their lives on shark attacks and strong waters to return first to the volcano and win the competition. The winner became leader of the tribes for one full year. This is called the legend of the hombre pajaro.

lookout spot on the island where you can see both sides of it at the same time, showing just how small the place is

After we got back to the hotel, we had free time. I went down to the moai statues with a group of people and we talked for a while and then watched the sun set. It was absolutely gorgeous to watch the sky change colors behind the moai statues while I was surrounded by my best friends from all over the world.

We walked home afterward and changed into these red t-shirts that said END POLIO NOW on them in big letters, and then we all piled onto the busses for a special event. We went back to that super famous row of 15 moais, where a band had been set up and a bunch of people were milling around in the same rotary t-shirts.

They explained to us that Rotary’s main mission is to end Polio, and recently, Polio has been discovered in 11 countries where it didn’t used to be, so this campaign that we were to be a part of was going to be important. We were the first group in history to be given to light up the 15 moais at night (with a projection of the same END POLIO NOW logo) and take a picture in front of it. That picture would then be circulated throughout the world as motivation to continue Rotary’s goal. After the picture was taken, we went back to where the band was playing to watch a traditional Rapa Nui dance show.

It was very similar to Polynesian dance, with lots of energy and yelling from the guys and lots of calm hip movements from the girls.

After the dance was over, a few people came up to us and asked who was confident in their Spanish, and everyone pointed to me. They took me aside and interviewed me for the Easter Island radio station. I was pretty scared about making a bunch of mistakes in Spanish especially since I hadn’t spoken at all in 3 days, but I just said some general things about how happy I was to be able to give my support to ending polio and how beautiful this island is and they seemed happy enough with my performance. We traveled back on the bus while singing Taylor Swift at the top of our lungs (I still can’t get over how cool it is that people from Denmark, Finland, Germany, and France know the same childhood songs that I do). We got back to the hotel around 10, ate dinner, and went to bed immediately.

Monday, May 5

Today we woke up at 7:30 and were all eating breakfast by 8:30. After breakfast, we all got on the busses to go see the moais all over the island.

We went first to the site where the moais were made. As we walked through the trails looking at the finished and partially finished stone heads all around us and taking a million and one pictures, the guide gave us some history on the place.

Rapa Nui had different tribes on it, and each tribe made the stone heads as a way to honor their ancestors. 80 people worked 24 hours a day (40 for 12 hours and the other 40 the other 12 hours) for 9 months to carve a single moai.

Then, they placed them in lines on the coast of the island, always looking inward because there were no enemies that came from outside because the island is so remote. The only enemies were the other tribes, as way proved when a bloody war crippled the island and left all of the moais knocked down (to make their ancestors “kiss the ground” was the most insulting thing one tribe could do to another). Now the moais have been restored and the majority is back standing up, although they have been damaged. We then drove a little more down the island to a row of 15 moais, which is the longest and most famous row on the island.

We took pictures there before the busses took us to another spot on the island. It just looked like a round rock in the middle of a circle of other rocks, but apparently it is a fallen meteor that is said to have special properties. It is called “the bellybutton of the world”, so naturally all us girls had to take a picture showing our belly buttons with the rock.

Then we went to the beach. It is the only sandy beach on the whole island, but it was absolutely gorgeous.

They prepared an asado for us at the beach, and we ate purple sweet potatoes and grilled chicken out of banana leaves instead of plates. Then we looked at the moais overlooking the beach, and finally put on our bathing suits and went for a swim.

The water felt amazing, and we all stayed in for a really long time laughing and talking and enjoying the paradise we were currently in. The girls even had another failed attempt at a topless back-facing-the-camera picture that once again was embarrassing and hilarious and not at all cute like we wanted it to be. Then, as we were getting out, it started to rain really hard, and so we ran to the busses and they took us back to the hotel. We all showered and relaxed some more before dinner. After dinner, we stayed around talking for a little while, but it had been a huge day and I was tired, so I went to bed pretty early.

Sunday, May 4

We had to wake up at 5:30 today to be out the door and on the way to the airport by 6. We got to the airport by 6:30 and began the happy greeting process with the exchange students. It’s great that we’ve been able to see so much of each other lately. We checked in, went through security, and then waited at the gate to get on the plane while drifting in between groups and catching up with everyone. There were also new people to meet—the district from the north of Chile had sent about 10 people on the trip whom we had never met before. They fit in pretty quickly though because all exchange students are just automatically friends by nature. We got on the plane and it just so happened that Katie W and I were sitting next to each other.

We talked to the people around us while the plane took off, and then everyone stopped talking and settled in for the 6 hour ride. There was a personal screen in the headrest in front of me with movies on it, so I watched We Are the Millers and then The Invention of Lying. They were both hilariously funny and I couldn’t stop bursting out laughing and distracting people around me from their movies. After a 6 hour flight completely over the water, we finally caught sight of a tiny island. When we landed on literally the only tarmac there, we started to realize just how small and remote Easter Island really is. We got off the plane and it was humid, sunny, and raining. The tiny baggage claim building made out of wood was cramped with people. When we got out bags and got outside, they put leis around all our necks before we got into busses to take us to the hotel.

We drove across the island to the cabanas where we would be staying the week. In my cabana were Katie W, Madison, Ruth, and Kyla. We claimed beds quickly, changed into shorts, and went to eat lunch because we were all starving. Lunch was good but dessert, this awesome island fruit called Guyaba (or something like that), was better. After lunch they gave us free time to go down to this pool nearby and swim and explore the island. We walked down to the coast from the hotel (5 minutes), and saw our first moais.

They are literally everywhere along the coast of the island. We took pictures with the moais, and then went swimming in this natural pool even though the rocks on the bottom hurt my feet and the water was incredibly salty.

After I got tired of swimming, I got out of the water and joined Katie H and Ruth on their island exploration.

We went up this little cliff and looked out over the water, and then we walked a little ways down the coast to this line of 5 moais and sat in front of it and marveled at where we actually were for a little while.

I kept having to pinch myself to realize that I was actually seeing these moais, the things that you see on TV and in pictures all the time, in real life. Also, the island in general is just absolutely gorgeous. The greens are greener, the sky is a gorgeous blue, and the water literally sparkles. I had already fallen in love. We walked home and hung out by the pool talking to people for a while before dinner. After dinner, we all stayed up until about 11 just talking to each other and enjoying each others’ company. I love all the exchange students so much, and it’s hard to think that this trip is the last time that we will all ever be together.

Saturday, May 3

Cata and I woke up around 10; I ate breakfast, and then got to Terminal O’Higgins in micro by like 12.

Katie and I had agreed to meet at that time, and although she wasn’t there when I got there, I assumed she would arrive soon, and I didn’t have a working cell phone to call and ask, so I just sat and waited. After I had been waiting for about an hour, I went over to the pay phone and asked a man nearby how to use it to make a call. He was super nice about it and let me borrow his cell phone. Katie’s dad had been late in taking her and she apologized a lot and said she was on her way. She arrived pretty soon and we got on a bus to Santiago. We spent the whole bus ride to Santiago, metro ride to Baquedano, and pizza (and pina coladas because we were feeling 18 and daring) lunch talking about how we were both having crises because we are leaving Chile so soon. The time is starting to pass by really fast and I just want to slow it down and have more time to do cool things and to spend with the friends and family here whom I’m going to miss dearly. It’s weird that when I think about my home and my family and my best friends, I think first about Chile before remembering that all that stuff also exists in California and is waiting for me. Anyway, after lunch, Katie left on the metro to go to Madison’s house, and Lily came and met me at the restaurant. We met up with her boyfriend Joaquin, and all 3 of us took the hour long trip to Lily’s house in the metro to drop off my suitcase. Joaquin was a really cool dude, but I kind of just wanted to catch up with Lily. I made the best of it anyway, and said yes when Joaquin invited us to the mall to meet up with one of his friends. Basically, I hung out with his friend at the mall while Lily and Joaquin were all gross and couply. I wasn’t really that sad when we had to take a collectivo home and say goodbye to Joaquin and his friend. At Lily’s house, we hung out with her family, ate chips and dip for dinner, showered, and then went to sleep in sleeping bags on a big air mattress in the living room.

Friday, May 2

Today I woke up at 6:40 like normal, but I was so dead tired that I went downstairs and asked my parents if I could skip school and sleep some more. They agreed easily, and I went back to sleep until 9. Then I went with Manuel into the center to fix my phone. It is a prepaid phone, and I have tried recharging it twice (a total of $40), but it only worked for about 24 hours and then went back to saying I didn’t have money on it. We went to the Movistar office and they said that I had used my phone continuously for 16 hours and that’s how the money got used so fast. That is just plain impossible, and Manuel got angry and said they were cheats and decided to change me to an actually plan with a different company called Claro. We went to that office to sign me up. Then we ran a few more errands before returning to the house. I worked on my blog for a little while, then ate lunch with Manuel, and finally around 3 he dropped my off at my friend Camila’s house. It was raining outside, and I felt really hilarious showing up at her doorstep with my Easter Island suitcase in hand, but she just laughed and let me in. We hung out in her house talking and playing with her bunnies until like 8. Then her mom dropped me off at the Jumbo where I stood under the overhang avoiding the rain and waited for Cata and Pablo. We met up and Cata’s brother picked up Louis and then dropped us all off at this train car in the middle of the street (like in the median) that is apparently actually a bar. We sat and talked and Pablo and Louis had some beer.

Then we decided to start an honest to goodness pub crawl, and walked through the center to another bar where Cata had a mojito. Later, we went to another like rocker bar where everyone was dressed in black leather and old rock music was blasting. That was probably the most eclectic place but we had fun there too. We went to another bar across from our school, where Louis ordered a pizza. Finally, around 2, we made our last trip (I was really done walking in the rain anyway), back to the train bar, where they all did tequila shots before Cata’s brother came back to pick us up.

We were pretty proud of ourselves for hitting up 4 bars in one rainy night, but we were tired when we got back to Cata’s (we dropped Pablo off on the way home). Louis, Cata, and I watched a movie while we waited for Louis’s dad to come get him. Once he left, Cata and I turned off the movie, went upstairs, talked for like 10 minutes, and then fell right to sleep.

Thursday, May 1

We all woke up pretty early at Pablo’s house because Fernanda and Vicente had fallen asleep on the floor and Pablo and I had fallen asleep on the couch (Nico was the only one smart enough to go steal Pablo’s bed) and so we were all uncomfortable. We watched some more funny YouTube videos before I decided I should probably be getting home. Pablo walked me over to the Jumbo to get a collectivo (even though it was raining), but Lilian called me on the way there and said that today was Dia del Trabajador, which is why we didn’t have school and also why there would be no collectivos running. She came to pick me up, and after I got home, changed out of my school uniform finally, and ate a late breakfast, Lilian, Manuel, and I drove to Donihue to spend the day with Lilian’s family. I met a lot more of them, and I officially decided that Lilian has the nicest family ever. They always include me, seem interested in what I have to say, and compliment me on my Spanish. I think the thing that I missed most in the San Martin house that I didn’t even realize I was missing was being treated like an adult. There, they treated me like an immature child, and here I am finally back to being considered important in the adult conversations and I kind of love it. We ate once (the food in Donihue is amazing because Tia Mimi spends the entire day cooking a huge variety of delicacies) and drove back to Rancagua around 9. I took a shower, packed for Easter Island (because my parents were going to Vina the next day and I would have to stay in friends’ houses until the trip on Sunday morning), and went to sleep around 10:30 because I was exhausted after going to sleep so late the night before.

Wednesday, April 30

Today at school was an important day. We all came to school looking our best in full uniform including the official blazer (I was wearing Sally’s with my Instituto Ingles patch stapled over the patch of her school). We immediately went to the gym to take the picture of the whole senior class and then pictures of each of the 3 courses.

Then we had 2 classes—calculus (we had a test) and then math. After lunch, we all got ready for the important event of the day—the senior ceremony. Each member of the graduating class had to choose the teacher who has made most impact on their school career to be their “senior”. In the ceremony, each student would be called up to the stage in front of all the parents, faculty, and high school students, to give a pin to this teacher of their choosing. It’s a pretty big deal actually. We lined up at the back of the gym and then marched in to the song pomp and circumstance which was really cool for me because it kind of felt like the graduation that I am missing in the US. We sat in our seats and the class videos started. We had to send in a baby picture and a picture of us from recently, and I sent those in, but when they asked for cute photos from memories people had with their classmates I didn’t send any in because I didn’t want to intrude on a class that’s been together since kindergarten. I was really touched when a bunch of pictures of me with my friends showed up in the video. They thought of me as a real part of their class and it felt really amazing. Then we were each called up to give the senior pin. I had chosen Sebastian Gonzalez, the math teacher, because he was one of the few teachers who believed in me from the beginning. Even though I couldn’t speak Spanish very well, he still believed that I was smart and capable of achieving what the other students could (and I didn’t prove him wrong when I got a 6,9/7 on the first test). We finished giving the pins and taking pictures, and then all the seniors went up to the stage to sing a closing song. We started with “En Marcha Estoy” from Brother Bear, which is all slow and inspirational, and then in the middle we switched to this fast song called “La Guitarra” which is all about not wanting to grow up, and we started shouting and jumping around in circles and throwing papers and it just became this big mosh pit of happiness and I felt a lot of love for my classmates. After the ceremony finished, Chichi and I walked into the center to try to fix our cell phones. A bunch of really weird things happened to us in the center and we ended up laughing our heads off the entire walk there and back. We arrived in time to watch the second half od the teacher vs students soccer game (we won 3-0).

Then there was an asado for all the seniors and the teachers we had chosen. We ate meat (and chicken for me) and talked. I talked with Sebastian and we had a good time together.

Then after the asado ended, I sat outside for a while talking to Pablo, Nico, Bernardo, and Gabs before Nico’s mom drove Pablo, Nico, and I to Pablo’s house. Nico lives nearby and so while he went home to change, Pablo and I walked to the jumbo to buy snacks. When we got back, Fernanda, Vicente, Dani, and Nico were there waiting. We all went into Pablo’s house and ate snacks and watched funny videos on YouTube and talked and laughed a whole lot. We ended up staying up until like 6 am until I fell asleep on Pablo’s shoulder. I was still in my uniform because I hadn’t had a chance to go home since the morning. There was also a big class party tonight, but I’ve realized that pig parties where everyone is drunk are not the place to make friends and have a good time. I had so much more fun laughing and joking around with these amazing people than I would have had at a big party where everyone only wanted to talk to me because they were drunk.