Easter Island - Another Tongariki Sunrise and Breakfast with the Locals

It started pouring at about 8pm.......but it was the wind that was quite impressive. I decided to hang out on the porch and have a brew. Suddenly, this little orange tabby hops on the porch and onto my lap....purring away like crazy! Strange..... So I gave the little fella' some TLC and the little cat just ate it up. By now I had finished my beer; it was time to call it a night. I put the cat down and it turned and sunk its claws into me and then bit a nice little chunk out of my leg! Geeeez! It was bleeding pretty good....I washed it out; the Missus was worried about some of the rather common cat bite infections or even...no not that "Cat Scratch Fever", but actual CSD. Luckily, nothing really happened except I bled pretty good. The other strange thing was that the cat would now stalk me....we'd park the SUV and as we would be getting out, the cat would come out of nowhere.....the Missus was terrified and she'd run into the cabanas. I'd wake up in the morning, open the front door and the cat would be there! I actually think this was fairly humorous, but the Missus wasn't amused...... No good deed goes unpunished I guess?

Anyway, the Missus wanted to head back to Tongariki and watch the sunrise yet again. Well, we were on an island, what else would we be doing at 5 in the morning? So the Missus starts pushing me awake....I swear, it's like 230 am and I ask Her what the heck is going on? She shows me Her phone, it says it's 430am, we're going to be late! I show Her my phone, which says 230.....it's that crazy thing where my phone is on Hanga Roa time and the Missus's phone is on mainland Chile time.....

Anyway, we do get up and make it back to Tongariki. The weather says it's going to be a beautiful day; the storm has passed.

The sky is bright and clear....I dunno, I kinda liked the deep red sky we had on the previous morning. This time around there are a few more folks milling about. Also, there's a Park Ranger at the entrance of the place checking passes.

You could tell that it was going to be a bright and clear day.

As on the previous day; there's a good bit of chatter while things are still rather dark. Then it gets quiet, almost solemn as the sun slowly rises over the 15 Moai.....

You realize that you've seen something special. And to see it twice.......

The drive back to Hanga Roa was just as beautiful as the previous morning......

The backdrop has the ability to turn every photo into something special......

Meanwhile, back in Hanga Roa it was morning rush hour.

Looking around, we noticed there wasn't much open at this time of the morning. However, on the previous day, I'd noticed a little coffee stand inside of the "Feria" (fair) building which was full of stands selling all sorts of tourist and other goods. Indeed, the place was open on this morning and full of locals.

 

The place had a simple greaseboard menu; with items like empanadas (2000 CLP - $3)....you know the Missus was not having that. Coffee, 500CLP (80 cents US), con leche (with cream) 1000CLP. Huevo Frito, fried eggs, 500CLP.

So we got two coffee.....they basically gave you a thermos with hot water and passed the jar of Nescafe to you.

They love Nescafe in Chile, you'll find it everywhere, even here on Isla de Pascua.

And when in Rome and all that, right?

And of course we had two eggs......

I loved this place.....for some reason, it brought back memories of S&T Properties on Lanai, which is now long gone.....Island life......

Outside of the building produce and meat stands were set-up.

We stopped by one of what seems like one of many mini-marts in the town and picked up a few things. We then headed back to the cabanas to drop said items off before heading out to our next destination.

As we neared the airport end of Atamu Tekena, we noticed this dog tailing the red SUV........

He would not let it out of his line of sight.

Finally the vehicle made a stop at the has station and the guy driving came out and gave the dog a big hug....... I guess it's his dog and he follows him to work every day. Must be some kind of daily ritual?

Meanwhile, we got back to the cottage, stowed things away. The Missus opened the door and out came an "eeeek"!

Guess who?

It looks like we were trapped by the "Killer Pussy".......

Stay Tuned!

Comments

[kat]

scary krazy cat! sunrise still beautiful.

[Soo @ hungryones]

Thanks for getting up early and taking awesome photos! Interesting cat. Might be a fatal attraction thing...

[Jason]

Haha, that cat thought you were his now. Nice little breakfast place you found.

[Ed (from Yuma)]

Fascinating posts.

Maybe the cat was just hungry and you tasted OK.

Were you there off season (is there a season?) or is there another reason why so many eateries were closed?

[Caninecologne]

The cat adopted you, heh heh.

[Kirk]

That sunrise is just plain magical Kat!

I dunno....that cat was totally bipolar Soo.....

Maybe Jason.....

I think the cat was just lonely Ed....and a bit crazy. Maybe you should drop by and see??? ;o)

Yeah, she wanted a pet...lol!