Santiago, Valparaiso and Easter Island

Day 1: Santiago Airport / Santiago

Reception at Santiago airport and transfer to selected hotel.
By the afternoon city tour in Santiago.
Santiago is a mixture between the old and the modern, features that we invite you to know. Our tour through Santiago will show the immensity of the city, its varied geography and civility. We will guide you through Plaza de Armas, (Main Square of Santiago), where the Cathedral, Main Post Office and the City Hall are located. You will be told about the origins of our city. Next stop will be the civic neighborhood and the surroundings of La Moneda Government Palace. After that we will be driven through some of the old neighborhoods of Santiago, such as the Republica and Concha y Toro neighborhoods. Later, we will visit the eastern part of the city and we will see the modern buildings and the changes that they have brought to this district. We finish our tour in a handicraft store, located in an exclusive neighborhood, where we'll appreciate with a Pisco Sour, Lapizlazuli masterpieces, made with this stone that just exists in Chile and Afghanistan.
Return to the hotel and lodging. 

Day 02: Santiago - Valparaíso - Viña del Mar - Santiago

We begin the route from your hotel, in a 120-kilometer trip to the Pacific Ocean.
Our so-called "Garden City", Viña del Mar, will charm us with its architecture, its streets, palaces, and the Quinta Vergara amphitheater. We will have the possibility to know a Moai from Easter Island and a handcraft store of lapizlasuli. 
We will be driven by the coastal border to visit the Port City of Valparaiso dating back 1536. The city was declared World Heritage by Unesco and it is currently the sit of the legislative power of Chile. It is a magical place of unique and unforgettable landscapes with colorful neighborhoods and picturesque funicular elevators. We fishish with a visit to the Sotomayor Square and the port, where we will be able to navigate through Valparaiso.
Return to Santiago.

Day 03: Santiago - Santiago Airport - Mataveri Airport - Easter Island

Breakfast. Transfer to airport to take your flight to the Easter island.
Reception at the Mataveri Airport and typical welcome. 
Transfer to hotel. Rest of the day at leisure. Overnight.

Day 04: Easter Island - Orongo - Ahu Tahai

Breakfast at the hotel. Half day excursion to the ceremonial city of Orongo. We will begin our tour at about 8:30 am (to be confirmed) from Hanga Roa to the Archaeological Center of Tahai, made by 3 Ahu: Ahu Vai Uri with 5 Moai statues, Ahu Tahai with 1 Moai, and Ahu Lo Te Riku with 1 Moai. From this site, we will be able to appreciate wonderful landscapes. Then, we will go to Orongo Ceremonial City, ancient ceremonial city located in the west summit of the Rano Kau volcano. It is composed by approximately 53 houses of elliptical shape with flagstone walls and a small square access looking at the sea. In this place were realized the most important ceremony of the second period of the island, the Tangata Manu (“the Birdman”). It was carried out until approximately 150 years ago, with the arrival of the first Christian missionaries. 
Return to Hanga Roa, total duration 3,5 hours.

Day 05: Easter Island - Ahu Vaihu - Ahu Akahanga - Ahu Tongariki - Anakena 

Breakfast in the hotel. Full day tour. Departing from Hanga Roa town at 9:30 am, heading southeast and northeast coast of the Island visiting the Ahu Vaihu temple, which is located 10 km from Hanga Roa. It consists of a stone platform with 8 Moais and 8 pukao dispersed in the proximities. Then, we will go to Ahu Akahanga, the so-called the "Platform of the King". The legend tells that Hotu Matua'a's tomb is near this place. There, we will find 4 platforms, 12 Moais, 8 Pukao and towards the interior of this Ahu; it is possible to see the best preserved village of the Island.
Later, we will go to Ahu Tongariki, with 15 Moais being the biggest Ahu of the Island. Then, we will meet Ahu Te Pito Kura, which possesses the highest statue of the island raised in an Ahu, the Moai Paro (10 meters of height and 85 tons with a Pukao of 11,5 tons). Close to this ceremonial temple is the great spherical stone that is identified as the center of the universe (Te Pito o Te Henua), as the legend tells, it was brought to the island by Hotu Matua'a in his boat.
Later, we will arrive in Ahu Nau Nau, temple of a complex construction due to its different levels where we will find 5 Moais with Pukao. There, we will see petroglyphs in the backs of the statues. We will continue our excursion to the volcano and quarry Rano Raraku, where there was carved most of the moais of the island using the volcanic rock of its hillsides. There are an estimated number of 400 Moais in several stages of carved.
To finish our adventure, we will go to Anakena's wonderful beach. It is a beach of white sands chosen for the arrival of the Ariki Hotu Matua'a and his sister Avareipua. Anakena corresponds to the name of a small cave of an adjacent gully.
Returning to Hanga Roa, we will realize our last stop in the Fundo Vaitea, country estate with an extension of 6.560,80 hectares, which represents 39,6% of the total surface of the island and it was created to achieve an agricultural production capable of sustaining the needs of the whole island, which was achieved years behind.
Return to the populated Hanga Roa, total duration 8 hours.

Day 06: Easter Island - Ahu Akivi - Te Pahu Cave

Breakfast in the hotel. Half day tour. We initiate the tour about 3:00 pm from Hanga Roa's settlement visiting Ahu Vinapu. It was used by the islanders in the year 1.200 A.C. it includes 3 Ahu. The first has 6 Moai statues demolished and painted in red color. The second one has a supposedly female Moai which had two heads. Finally, the third and the oldest Moai only remains as removed stones. We will continue our way to the quarry of Puna Pau, archaeological site to the east of Hanga Roa. It is a small crater of red dross, from where were obtained the Pukao or hats with which were crowned the Moais. Along its exit path, there are some incomplete and abandoned Moai statues. We will go on our tour towards Ahu Akivi, the first Ahu restored by the science in the Island in the year 1960. The platform with 7 Moai is characterized for being one of the few ones located in the center of the Island, with its statues facing the rising sun. According the legend, these 7 Moai would represent 7 exploratory young men sent before Hotu Matua'a's arrival to investigate the Island. Our adventure takes to us to the cavern of Te Pahu, a place used as housing and as temporary refuge in war times. Then, we will return to Hanga Roa, total duration 3,5 hours.

Day 07: Easter island - Mataveri Airport - Santiago Airport - Santiago

Breakfast in the hotel. 
Transfer to airport and typical farewell. Flight to Santiago. 
Transfer to hotel. Lodging.

Day 08: Santiago - Santiago Airport

Transfer to airport for international flight.