April 16 and 17 - Arrival in Thailand

April 16 Day 60
We got packed after breakfast and put our bags out of the room.  We then headed to the library to get work done that we had tried to do but couldn't done.  The librarians were very helpful and patient as a few of the users appeared to be homeless or have other issues.  It took 5 hours to get our Indian Visa applications in.  They had strange questions and choices (identifying marks?  Illiterate as a level of education?  Our parents' birthplaces? specify religion?) and I had to resize and reformat pictures to suit their download profiles.  We took a lunch break in a really nice local cafe but most of the day was spent doing this.
Richard met us for dinner and a lift to the airport.  Meg had forgotten to pick up Vegemite but found it at one of the many shops there.
Our flight was at 11:45 and so we were pretty tired.  We sat next to an old New Zealand guy with a strong accent who was going to a wedding in Hong Kong.  He brought nothing to do and didn't use his console for the 11 hour flight.  He spoke to us a few times but his hearing was bad so conversation was difficult.  Maybe he was meditating the whole time.
We had a meal at about 1 am and watched movies and slept.  It was a long time to be in a plane.   You find one position but wake up half an hour later and have to find another.  It's certainly a situation where you envy the people flying first class, all nice and horizontal, but I doubt it would have been worth an extra $5000.

April 17 Day 61
Hong Kong airport is huge and they don't tell you that you need to redo security but everyone does and is forced to deal with grouchy, frustrated agents struggling to deal with all of the languages and situations that go through the country.
We survived it but the water bottle refilling station there needed a filter change, the water smelled of mildew.  Their wifi was also slow to the point of uselessness, it wasn't strong enough to deal with gmail.
Another plane, more movies and an easy arrival at Bangkok airport.  We both were braced for the stereotype of Bangkok being chaotic and overcrowded but everything went relatively smoothly.  We got a train from the airport to downtown and a taxi to our hostel.  The only snag was getting a taxi, as the first 5 or 6 we approached refused to use the meter and gave us ridiculous prices.  Once we got a good one, it was no problem.  Traffic was slow but not crazy.  This isn't a difficult city.
It's a hot one though, high 30s with humidity.  Our room was nice, large and easy on the pocketbook (just over $20).  It was on the 4th floor so we were puffing and sweating once we arrived but the AC did its magic and Meg had a nap while I booked another night and caught up with stuff.  The place seemed to be run by a pair of middle school aged kids but they called someone and had me speak to them when it came to booking issues.
Every time we opened the door to our place it was like hitting a wall of jungle air and so we retreated until mid-afternoon.  Our host warned us that the streets around us would be closed from about 4 pm until 9 pm for the ceremony of the new king rehearsal day.  As we headed out, almost no cars were on our formerly busy street.  The sidewalks were lined with people in blue and yellow outfits and a smattering of the military.  There were some ceremonial guards in tall wooly caps, initially black but we saw some purple ones later on.  The fences in front of temples were decorated with yellow fabric and speakers were set up everywhere playing military marches or barking orders.  It made walking easy but certainly had weird vibe.
As we got closer to the temple we were visiting the military presence got more pronounced until the sidewalks were fully crowded with people, all waiting.  We began to get nervous crossing wide streets as no one else was and it felt like the king might round the corner at any moment.  No one stopped us, so we and a few others tried to enter the temple, worried that it might be closed like the majority of shops along the trafficless streets.
We saw lots of people in the temple from the same groups that were lining the street but were told that the entrance was "the next door" six times until we found it.  Entrance included a small bottle of water, which was welcome after a sweltering walk.  They had refill stations but they tasted as bad as Hong Kong Airport water.  I guess no one takes it upon themselves to change the filters once they buy these things.
Wat Pho is beside the Grand Palace complex but is open to 6:30 pm and so a better choice for late starters.  It's smaller than that complex but is still huge and impressive.  The large building close to the ticket counter which has the largest reclining Buddha in Bangkok (#4 in the country) with beautiful mother of pearl patterns on the bottom of its feet.  The walls, pillars and doors were all covered in ornate decorations or frescoes depicting famous Buddhist tales.  After that we headed to the main temple with an elaborate Buddhist altar but the attraction her was a large group of monks chanting and praying in the space, which gave it great presence.
The wat was huge, with symmetrical alcoves leading into the temple stacked with Buddhas and other decorations.  There were odd statues around fountains and planters and huge leprechaun-like guards beside a massive entryway.   Areas contained nothing but elaborate stupas which were ornate and sparkly in the light.  The place was also full of guards and yellow-shirted volunteers hanging around in clusters waiting for their turn to practice greeting the king.  The crowds were small here and navigating the grounds was easy.
We walked back to our hostel and saw a few displays of military marching along our street.  We stopped at a 7-11 (they are everywhere here) to get water and a thin old man collapsed into me while I was buying water.  The staff got him a chair and helped him on his way but he still looked pretty unsteady.
We cooled down in the AC in our room and then headed out to dinner.  The street we walked along had large groups of marching soldiers and it was difficult to make our way along the sidewalk.  Both of the guidebook places were closed so we picked a restaurant at random and had some pretty good food.
On the walk back things weren't so crowded but the military music continued to play and people were standing around in groups, apparently strategizing on how it all went.  Most places were closed but with so many soldiers about we felt pretty safe.
Back in our room we tried to stay awake until 10 pm (3 am to us) but only made it until 9.  We had a long, exhausted sleep in AC comfort.

Wat Pho's reclining Buddha's elaborate feet.

A Buddhist leprechaun ?

Stupas!

April 13-15 - Auckland interlude

April 13 Day 57
We got up and had breakfast with the Easter Island Girl's soccer team.  We shared a taxi to the airport with two other people from our hostel and got there in plenty of time.  Meg had to submit her tax free form for the pearl she bought and I changed our money into New Zealand dollars.  Giovanni was at the gate and sat with us.
We boarded the plane, had functional entertainment pads and were given a huge brunch.

April 14 Day 58
We crossed the International Date Line, so now it was Sunday.
Landing in Auckland it took a long time to get through their bio-security centre.  Immigration was automated, with a passport scanner and a few questions asked on a tablet.  The bio people had us remove our hiking boots and pole and have a look at the 6 months worth of med we needed to take.
Once we eventually got through, our friend Richard met us at the gate and drove us to our hostel at a Buddhist Centre.  They didn't bill us for our missed night and showed us to a very homey room in a nice space.  The kitchen was full of food and the idea was that you took what you wanted and placed money you felt appropriate in the donation jar.  There was lots of space there and our host was very friendly.
Richard drove us around and we had a nice lunch at an open restaurant in a big park.  We talked about Heather, his wife who died of Huntington's, who was the sister of our friend Darrin, who died the same way.  We had a nice walk and noticed that the park had sheep that roamed across roads and hung out in fields with the other park users.  It felt nice to have a cool breeze and no humidity after sweating it out for the past week or so.
We went to his place and had a good chat and then were dropped off at the centre.  Meg enjoyed some Vegemite and we had tea and snacks.  We had planned to get some trip work done but the wifi didn't work and no one was around to fix it.  After being reminded that multiple channels doesn't mean there's anything worth watching on tv we went to bed.  It was so nice to be in a warm bed in a cool room and we slept well.

April 15 Day 59
We woke up and had a good breakfast in their kitchen.  Cereals that weren't Cheerios or Corn Flakes!  Bodums!  Fresh fruit!  It was all good.  We chatted with our host, who also wanted the wifi to work and had a technician coming in, and did laundry.
We walked downtown to do some errands.  They have a public scooter share and people were zipping by on them all the time.  Some were weaving dangerously through pedestrians, much like the worst Toronto cyclists.  Other than that, it was nice to be in a city without a language barrier for us.  We found books, a food court, a post office and a few shops.  There was some shock ($7 for a roll of masking tape?) but for the most part the city appeared to be quite livable with many parks and public spaces.  There were many op shops on our way back and a surprising number of Turkish restaurants.  Maybe the Anzac Day effect still influences the relationship between the two countries.
We headed back to our place to take down our laundry which was strung across the Buddhist book store.  it was only partially dry so we left most of it up.  Back in the room, I found a dead giant cockroach that must have crawled into my bag and gotten crushed when some books moved around.  A solid violation of New Zealand law, I'm sure.
Richard met us and drove us around the city.  We saw several nice parks and the waterfront, with yacht clubs that continued for as far as the eye could see.  The amount of green space was impressive.  Meg got a swimsuit and I considered some Merino wool stuff that was on sale but decided not to add to my backpack.  We had a fine dinner of roast chicken and salads and then he dropped us off back at the centre.
The Zen group were meditating as we came in so we kept quiet.  The wifi still didn't work so we read quietly in our room until bedtime.

Meeting with Richard at the park.

Sheep wandering about in the public park.

April 10-12 - Lounging in Tahiti

April 10 Day 54
The next day we decided to try the public beach which had a larger area clear of coral to swim in.  It was fairly busy with families and such and there wasn't much space in the shade.  Meg researched black pearls and I got a snorkel to go with my mask to we could see what was in the water.  There were quite a few colourful fish and some huge anenomies with orange coverings and yellow tentacles. 
Other than that we did lots of reading, hanging out on the beach, eating and talking with our fellow campers.  We picked up a big bag of local mangoes that kept getting better as we ate our way through them.  We gathered to watch the sunset, ate and everyone went to bed early again.

April 11 Day 55
I saw two rays while snorkeling and we spotted some crabs skittering around.  Otherwise very relaxing and similar to yesterday.  One bit of excitement came when Giovanni talked about how we lose a day crossing the International Date line and I checked our plane ticket and found that this was so.  I immediately tried to change our Auckland booking, but couldn't, and message the place we were staying to let them know that we would be a day late and they could make the room available.  It also meant that Meg would miss the Sunday service close to our hostel and we would only have two nights there.  So it goes when travelling.

April 12 Day 56
It was our last day at the campground so we went for a final swim at the public beach and then packed up for our check out.  We called the motor scooter rental guy and he said he'd drop off a scooter at our campground at 10 am.  I called every 5 minutes starting at 10:20 and no answer.  Meg eventually walked there and he said that he didn't say anything about a drop off and was waiting for us.  Another woman was there complaining about him misusing the $900 deposit on the scooter and Meg gave up on the guy.  Our plans for exploring the island were dashed.
We decided to take an early ferry back to Tahiti and our campground host said there would be a bus between 1 and 1:30.  We had a final swim, ate our last mango and headed to the bus stop at 12:45.  No bus.  We looked into getting a taxi but they were prohibitively expensive so we hunkered down and waited for the 3:30 bus. 
There were a group of people that were just hanging out in the shade of trees and drinking beer all day.  We ate our baguette and cheese and were talking to the Australian couple from the campground when a bus showed up at 2:25.
Of course, we got on it but no one else was expecting it and we had it to ourselves for the entire 45 minute trip to the ferry terminal.  There we met Giovanni again, who had gotten there quicker than us by hitchhiking.  We got our tickets and waited for a bit.  Before letting us board, they had us go into an area which was hot and humid for half an hour before the boat docked, which didn't improve our mood.  Also, we were hauling our bags and no one told us about the baggage depot until we were on the ferry.
The trip over was uneventful and we were within walking distance of out hostel (Microsoft maps gave us a completely random location for our hostel, good thing we double checked with Google maps).   We checked in to our tiny, windowless room and heard clusters of giggling girls about.  We got settled, had showers to make us feel human again, and headed out for dinner. 
Downstairs we met Kai, who we had talked to on the ferry to Moorea.  He was staying at the hostel and told us the girls were with the Easter Island Girl's soccer team, who were playing in a tournament in Tahiti.  We headed out to the food truck area by the water, which was apparently the place to eat.  About a dozen trucks were set up serving French and Asian food with tables and plastic chairs.  The food we had was fairly expensive (apparently still cheap for Tahiti) with mediocre food in large servings.  We had trouble paying as our waitress was so busy she didn't notice us.
On the way out we saw Kai and Giovanni together and Kai was going to feed him some local dish involving raw fish and coconut milk.  We took a walk along the shore and saw the marina was well lit and even had racks for coral to grow on with the corresponding fish all viewable from the shore.  The boats were all huge, many of them ocean-going.
When we got back the girls had calmed down and we had a good sleep before our early flight.

Another Tahitian sunset.

A look at the mountains on Moorea.

Meg and the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) Girls' Soccer Team.

April 9 - Arrival in Tahiti

April 9 Day 53
We landed at 2 am in Tahiti (Papeete) and were greeted by two musicians and a dancer on a small stage.   Customs was quick and we were amongst the last to get our bags off the carousel.  We were staying at a motel just across from the airport but online some people said it wasn't accessible.  We saw it and it was less than a 10 minute walk but it was 2:30am and the groups of guys hanging out were pretty creepy.  The traveler ahead of us at the desk had taken a cab and the 5 minute ride was $20.  He then was told that there was a problem with his credit card and his reservation was cancelled.  He was using their wifi to try to book another place.
After so many hostels, our room felt like pure luxury.  Lots of space, soft toilet paper, AC and drinkable tapwater!  What more could you want?
We slept until 7 or so (noon to our jetlagged bodies) had an excellent breakfast (2 croissants!  Real coffee!) and did some shopping.  The neighbourhood was less creepy during the day. 
We then got a taxi to the ferry terminal.  French Polynesia was like Montreal: I'd try to get things done with my French but they would switch to English as soon as they heard my accent.  We were both tired and stayed inside during the ferry ride.   A local guy and his son sat next to us.  He was Kai, a high school teacher who live don the island and spent half an hour giving us suggestions as to what we could do in Moorea.  Many were far out there (8 hour jungle hikes in dripping humidity?  Not again!) but many sounded good.
After the ferry ride we found the local bus and Meg took a honeymooning Korean couple under her wing when they were overcharged by the bus driver.  She offered to walk them to their resort but they insisted they were okay.
We were staying at Camping Nelson, pretty well the only place in the area that charged less than $300 a night.  Our room was basic but clean, with a mosquito net and a ceiling fan.  There were shared facilities in outdoor buildings with the tenters that were in pretty good shape.  The area was right on a white sand beach lined with palm trees and blue water, very much eye candy.
Moorea is surrounded by a reef so you can hear the rumble of the open Pacific waves all of the time and see them break on the reef far out to sea.  The water close to shore is calm and protected, warm and easy to swim in.  In front of our place was a rock breakwater parallel to the shore, with a few gaps to allow people to escape it.  Past the breakwater there  were a few clear paths for swimming but most of it had coral mounds that you had to watch out for.  This meant that you could snorkel straight from the shore but you had to watch yourself if you were swimming.
We enjoyed the beach anyway and then went strolling to find 3 shops within a 10 minute walk that stocked most of the food we were interested in.  We settled down to cook dinner and met our fellow campers.  There was Giovanni, a likable but flaky Italian guy who was always looking for bargains, a French family and an Australian

Our beach in Moorea.

Our campground.

Sunset on our beach.

couple who were just starting their travels and were doing much of our trip going the other way.
After a good dinner it was dark by 7 and most people were asleep by 8.  I managed to stay up until 9 but then succumbed to the sound of the fan.

April 8 - Last Day on Easter Island

April 8 Day 52
We got up, had breakfast and headed downtown to run some errands.  We were trying to contact our hotel in Tahiti to let them know our flight was landing at 2 am but they had no e-mail and when we tried to Skype them we found that some update or settings change had convinced our computer that it didn't have a microphone.  We did what we could in the shared wifi of a public park but didn't really get anywhere.  We were able to confirm that Easter Island had fallen back in their time change the night before, and when one has a tour and a flight one wants to know what time it is. 
Back at our place we ate the dinner we didn't have last night (due to bbq) and made sandwiches for tonight.  We also asked our host for help contacting our hotel and she hauled out an ancient laptop with headphones but our computer didn't have a headphone jack and we had to leave to meet our tour, so we asked if she could help us when we got back.
Our tour was very different from the last one.  There was an English guide and a German guide, each with a group of 3 people.  We were with an Australian fellow who was decked out in full safari gear and barely spoke at all.  Our guide was eccentric, with strange interjections and facial expressions but he seemed to know his stuff and loved questions.
We started off at caves by the shore, where the champions of each clan would star their journey to become the birdman.  We then headed to the crater lake in the caldera of an old volcano beside the sea.  This was the most impressive view as the lake was colourful and otherworldly, our guide said it was his favourite place on the island.
Next, we headed to Orongo Ceremonial Village, the real reason for our trip.  It was a collection of stone huts which would allow the clan leaders to watch the islands where the champions would swim to to try to get and return with the first egg of the season.  The site had lots of reconstructed buildings and some clear petroglyphs but the views out to sea and back into the caldera again stole the show.
Speaking of stealing, a lot of the info inside the interpretation centre focuses on the first ships who came here and took many paintings and sculptures away from the area, including the moia in the British Museum.  Many are lost or have their return refused.
Our last stop was at another area where the row of statues was knocked down.  Our guide picked out how stone laying technology improved over the years but we didn't stay there long.
We were dropped off back at our hosts' place and I tried again to contact our hotel.  I couldn't get into Skype on their machine after half an hour of security questions because it was an old version that Skype wouldn't accept.  I then looked at online help forums and downloaded a new driver, which took 45 minutes on the slow wifi.  The driver worked and we called the hotel and they were cool with the late arrival.  Solved after hours of technology frustration.
We walked down to the water to catch the end of the sunset, looked at a neat protected swimming area for the locals, got an ice cream and walked back.  It's amazing how short a walk becomes when you know it and the landmarks along it.  The first time we took it we didn't know how far it was or even if we were on the right street and it seemed like it took forever.  After we returned, our hosts drove us to the airport and gave us seashell necklaces as a goodbye. 
At the desk they gave us seats that weren't together.  We found out later that we had the ends of a row of 3 with no one in between, so it was good.  We were 2 hours early for our international flight but security wouldn't open for another hour so we burned through some of the last of our pesos and split a coffee.  The waiting room after security was unique because it had a large outdoor area where you could cool down in the evening air.
Boarding started with no announcement and we got seats with full entertainment consoles that worked!  It was very unlike Latam.  We also were given a meal with complimentary wine, also very unlike them.  I finally got to see The Favourite and then managed to scrounge a few hours sleep before we landed.  It was one of the most turbulent flights we've been on but we eventually landed safely.

The caldera lake.

The islands for the birdman competition.

The ceremonial village site.

April 7 - Another tour of the isalnd

April 7 Day 51
We got up a little later than planned and so Meg didn't get to the Easter Island Sunday service that she wanted to.  After breakfast, we got the keys to the truck and an invite to join our hosts for a bbq at 5 pm.
This was only my fourth time driving a standard (all the automatics were monster suvs which cost twice as much) but the traffic was light over the few roads that exist on the island so it wasn't a problem. 
The first site we visited was the quarry where they made the moia hats, which were consistently made of red, bubbly volcanic rock.  Some large ones littered the ground and the hill had obviously been mined but there wasn't a whole lot more to it.  The views of the surrounding countryside were nice, though.
Our second stop was to a group of 7 moia in a field.  It sort of felt like being in Egypt and seeing your tenth temple.  They were impressive but once you look at them it was pretty much time to go.
We had a long drive across the island back to Ranu Rirake to hike up and see the inside of the volcano.  We weer only supposed to be allowed in there once but the gatekeeper let us in again, which was nice.  What we were told was a steep 30 minute hike was a 10 minute stroll which we could easily have done on our tour.  The inside of the volcano had a large number of moia sitting around (apparently these are the earliest ones).  It also had a dried up lake full of tall, dark grass and some nice places to sit and have your lunch.  You could imagine how many statues had been taken from the chewed up edges of the caldera.
After walking back we took some pictures of the site from the parking lot.  The buses hadn't arrived yet so there were only about 20 people there.  Along the driveway were a few statues which had been left there after a short drag from the quarry.
Next, we headed to where Meg wanted to see the sunset, the row of 15 moia, but we were told it was closing at 5:30 and the sunrise was what you came to see here.  The sunset was to be better at the other end of the island.
We drove up to the beach area, this time with proper towels and attire, and found a spot in the shade.   We had our lunch watching people splashing about and then took turns having swims.  The water was a perfect temperature and so clear you thought you could put your feet down but the water was actually far over your head.  Only a few people swam out far, most people played in the waves which regularly broke close to the beach.
After hanging out awhile, we headed back and were surprised that the sand was comfortable to walk on, not the expected scorching surface.
On the drive back we stopped at a spot that had a largest petroglyph on the island and many others.  They were so eroded that if we didn't have the signs there to show us what the patterns were we wouldn't have seen them.  As we left, a desolate looking hitchhiker asked us for a lift and so we gave him one.  He was Italian, so he and Meg had lots to chat about and we dropped him off at the platform of 15.
We had one more stop on the way back at a platform where they left all of the moia knocked over.  What was even more impressive was the coastline, which was constantly being battered by huge waves that hadn't seen an island in thousands of kilometres.
On our way back into town we were stopped by the police, who kept us for a few minutes but only wanted our licence plate and info.  We then gassed up the vehicle and headed back.
We had time to freshen up before the bbq, 5 o'clock wasn't hard and fast.  The language gap was deep but we managed to have some communication as they heated the wood for the bbq, made a salad and put the meat on.  We sipped beer and made small talk using the few words we could make the other understand.  He showed some of his carvings he had made and book where he was presented as being a local artisan and fisherman.
The other couple staying there joined us and we got started with the meal.  We brought a nice bottle of wine from our winery trip but we opened their bottle first, which was completely corked.  I was a good sport about drinking it, as our host was glad to have someone to drink with and kept refilling my glass.  Later on, he wanted to open our bottle but the evening was done and we dissuaded him by bringing our already open bottle from our room.  I split what was left with him, but he immediately poured some Coke into it, which he said was good for his singing voice.  We just wished we hadn't brought such a nice wine to the event.
The food was excellent, with chicken, chorizo, beef, pork all being delicious as well as a local fish (pesc), which was among the tastiest I've ever had.  We ate the meat with a good salad and french fries and kept having more meat put onto our plates.
After most of the eating had stopped, our host, who had been in several bands, got out some instruments.  He started with the accordion and then traded for a guitar and a local 8-stringed ukulele (with doubled strings like a bazouki). He did a bunch of songs and was very good, his playing of everything was excellent.  We did a version of Barrett's Privateers, which he liked, but the rest of the songs were his.  Meg was asked to put on a grass skirt and dance for one number, then the other woman staying there did the same.  We were stuffed and entertained and the whole thing was a great opportunity that we were glad we took. 
We went to bed spent and slept well on our last night on Easter Island.

Inside the crater.  The black dots on the hillside are the earliest unfinished moai.

Moai and their hats knocked down during the civil wars.

Our host and his mighty bbq!

April 6 - Busy in downtown Hangi Roa

April 6 Day 50
We got up, made ourselves breakfast and headed out to the museum on the edge of town.  The maps here are definitely not to scale as it took more than 30 minutes to walk there and it was hard to find, again no street numbers.
It was worth the walk.  It had bilingual information panels and an assortment of artifacts that explained the history of the island better than our guide did.  They also had a temporary display of current artwork and a slideshow contrasting pictures from 70 years ago to the sites now.
We watched a video of western scientists trying different methods of hauling statues around and then the museum closed for the day.  The walk back took us along the coast and we saw an impressive site with a moia which had its eyes put it, which they all had at one point. 
We found a spot on the coast and sat and ate our lunches looking at the waves and the surfers trying to ride them.  The waves were huge and we wondered how they were avoiding the nasty volcanic rocks they were surfing so close to. 
We got some groceries and headed back to our room for some downtime.  We had decided to eat a nice dinner downtown and looked in our guidebook for recommendations.  The place we chose was right on the water, built on the rocks so that one protruded through the floor next to our table.  We had more passion fruit pisco sours and split octopus pil pil and an excellent seafood soup while watching more surfers and landscape.  The credit card had the weird Chilean custom of asking if you wanted to pay for everything or do it in installments.  If you tried the latter, international credit cards no longer worked.  A strange little foible.
We walked up to our dance performance space.  Meg wanted to get in early but I didn't want to wait an hour for the thing to start.  We had a coffee and then got in a very slow moving line to get in.  It took us 25 minutes to get to the front of it but the woman who took our names for us yesterday had saved excellent seats for us, so all was not lost.
We went to the dining area and met up with our New York friends, who had the dinner that came with the show.  We knew it cost more than our meal but heard that it wasn't any good, so we made the right decision.
The show started with a 30 minute documentary on how the group recruits young artists and tries to preserve local culture.  The show had a large band of musicians who were able to sing along and change instruments regularly.  The dancers were very fit and wearing little.  They were able to perform moves that regular people would hurt themselves badly trying.  There were at least 16 dancers and they varied the centre stage performers and were much better than some of the amateur night groups we have seen in other places.
Twice during the show they pulled audience members onstage to dance with them, which was amusing.  At the end they invited everyone on stage to have pictures taken but it was a huge scrum and so we decided to leave with our New York friends.  We hung out at their hotel (much fancier than ours with a garden and hot tub) and had a good talk. 
We said goodbye to them and made our way home in the dark.  This was less perilous than we thought as the streetlights were well lit.  We got home late but well-entertained.

This moai has eyeballs!

Happy hour next to the sea, note rock next to Meg.

The cultural show.