Easter Island and South American Jaunt of 2000

During June of 2000, Shane and Michelle decided to holiday in South America - the other America. Here is the routing of our journey:

The above map has been "hotspotted". Just click Easter Island, Peru, Bolivia or Chile to see larger more detailed maps of those locations.

We boarded the big Qantas plane in Sydney. Flew for a couple of hours to Auckland, New Zealand, and changed planes for Papeete, Tahiti. After 5 or so hours flight we landed in Tahiti only to change planes yet again, Lan Chile this time, for the final 5 hour flight to enigmatic Easter Island. We were on Rapa Nui, as the locals call it, for 5 days. Interesting fact: Easter Island is probably the most isolated permanently inhabited place on earth. Oh, and don't forget the big statues. From Easter Island we traveled another 3500 k's (another 5 or 6 hour flight on a big Lan Chile 767) to Santiago, Chile. Santiago was only a transit point like Auckland and Papeete. From there it was only a few hours north to Lima, Peru. From Lima "we travelled all over the countryside" by plane, train, automobile and boat to places like the Amazonian jungle (Puerto Maldonado), Cuzco (old Incan capital), Machu Picchu (specatacular Incan ruin), Lake Titicaca and ended up in La Paz (the highest capital city in the world), Bolivia (Bolivia is where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their untimely end, supposedly). From La Paz we flew back to Santiago via Arica and Iquiqui, staying overnight in Santiago. Then back to the Land of Oz via Rapa Nui, Papeete and Auckland; almost 24 hours to get from Santiago to Sydney!

To peruse our pictures and learn more about our trip, just click any of the links below: Easter Island Peru Bolivia Chile Tips For Travelling In South America

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