Easter Island Shopping Tips by wadekorzan

Fabrics are a great buy

Walking around Hanga Roa, you will find lots of small places selling fabrics with typical Easter Island motivs on them. These fabrics are inexpensive and are handmade, and make great souvenirs or gifts for people back home. They are not heavy, they are easy to pack, and they are unique. We especially liked the fabrics showing the "Birdman of Orongo".

Theme: Other

A visit to the supermarket

Hanga Roa is such a small village, if there is another supermarket besides the one in the picture, we didn't find it. However, we had a really interesting experience talking to the lady who runs the small supermarket and also to one of the customers (well, the only customer, in fact). Only about 4 people actually fit in the supermarket at a time, but it was intersting to see what is available and also, it was another chance to speak with the locals.

It turns out that the customer with whom we spoke had a niece working as an airlne hostess on Lan Chile. After talking to her and explaining that we would be going on to Tahiti with Lan Chile, so told us she would have her niece take good care of us on the flight. Then we said our goodbyes. Some days later when we were seated on the plane to Tahiti, the airline hostess came and introduced herself as the niece of the lady with whom we spoke, and she was so nice and we had some great conversations about life on the island. She made a point of saying good bye to us when we arrived in Tahiti, and then some days later, when we were flting back to Santiago from Tahiti, we had to stop again in Easter Island. Again, the niece came to us in the airport and again we had a nice long conversation while waiting for our flight. It was a great cultural exchange and it all came about because we had gone to the supermarket!

What to buy: WATER, AND LOTS OF IT!!!!

Theme: Food and Drink