My Winter Boots

I know some barefooters who try to keep their feet in shape over the winter by keeping a pan of gravel in the garage. They then spend a bit of time doing the old gravel massage. It’s not like walking, but at least it keeps the soles thick, exercised, and (mostly) in shape.

I’ve tried something a bit different.

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What Am I Doing Wrong?

As I think about much of the advice that I keep seeing coming from podiatrists and other experts, I figure I must be doing something wrong.

Their admonitions just aren’t coming true.

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Leaving Easter Island

I suspect that there are few high-techology places left in the world that are not only barefoot-friendly, but in which you will actually see other barefoot people on a regular basis. But that’s Easter Island.

Eventually it was time to go, so here are a few wrap-up pictures.

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Hangin’ ‘Roun’ Hanga Roa

I thought I’d give a bit of flavor on how I saw things around Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and particularly around the main town, Hanga Roa. There are obviously only my Americanized observations, and I realize I probably have all sorts of weird biases (along with not really being a “world traveler”). But they might be interesting for anybody else heading there.

This really doesn’t have barefooting content, except for the fact that I was continuously barefoot there, without even worrying about what somebody might say.

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Caldera

When we went to Rano Raraku, the quarry from which the moai were taken and carved, there is also a volcanic caldera there. (Rano, after all, means “volcano” in Rapanui.)

The inside of the caldera was also quite interesting (and barefoot-friendly).

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Haere Va’e

When we were on Rapa Nui (Easter Island), we were of course barefoot.

But what about the inhabitants of the island? They have a long history of going barefoot. What did they do?

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Quarry Quarry

The quarry that the moai were “mined” from was at the volcano Rano Raraku, over on the east side of the island.

We visited it now a week ago (but I’m still catching up wih the blog entries).

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On a Wing and a Prayer

There are of course plenty of tourists on Easter Island. Most arrive via the LAN daily flight.

But that’s not the only way to and from the Island.

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I’m On Top of the World

On Tuesday we headed up to the highest point on Rapa Nui—Easter Island. It was maybe a 4 mile hike up the side of an old volcano.

I figure I was the highest person with his feet on the ground in 2,200 miles.

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Just Like Living In Paradise

On Monday I’ll resume descriptions of the hikes and explorations of Easter Island.

Right now, though, I’ll show you a bunch of pictures that don’t go with any particular theme, except that they are all, in my opinion, spectacular.

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Among the Moai

On Monday we rented a car and started a tour of the island.

There are moai everywhere.

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Orongated

It was time to start exploring Easter Island. We started on the southern point, at the ruins of Orongo. Most folks think of Easter Island in terms of the stone heads, the moai, but before discovery, that was supplanted by a different religion/culture.

The culture of the Birdman was centered at the southern volcano, Rano Kau.

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Whatta Rapa Nui

I ended the last blog entry by saying that we (Machi, Alan, and I) were both leaving Chile and staying in Chile. Well, we left Chile by leaving Santiago and headed approximately 2300 miles across empty ocean to land on Easter Island, or to give it its native name, Rapa Nui.

But we stayed in Chile since Rapa Nui is part of Chile.

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Worry-Free Restauranting

When you’re a barefooter in the U.S. you end up creating all sorts of strategies to be able to eat in restaurants. Most times it is not a problem, but with a restaurant you’re much more likely to have something go wrong.

But there are places . . .

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Saturday Comic

Let’s try this one out.

Moai

 

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