Days 13 & 14 - The long way home

A wind-blown landscape worthy of the most remote inhabited island in the world - Easter Island aka Rapa Nui

Day 13 - Rapa Nui / Santiago / Miami

Hotel Manavai courtyard

In the night I woke and couldn’t get back to sleep so I packed.  I’ll be glad to be back among my own closets and cupboards and Stuff, but I’m sad to leave all this behind.  Especially my new friends Kim and Hugo.
       In addition to the Michigan Theater hoodie that I gave Kim for her son, I’m leaving behind my two pairs of Levi’s, which are now too big for me, thanks to all this exercise - and I hope that will be a condition that lasts.  I’m also leaving behind my Nikes - I have another pair at home - and the two pair of socks that went with them.  Unfortunately there was no way to wash them in time, but Kim tells me people won’t mind and that they’ll make someone very happy.  Which is only fair. They all made me happy here.
       I sit at my table on the terrace after breakfast and finish my book.  I trade it for one I found in the TV room, a TV I didn’t watch because reception here is so bad. Of course, you’re 6 hours off the coast of Chile with no relay points in between except for satellites which may not circle often this far south (27°S).  A chance to say good-bye to Kim, and we’re both choked up and in tears.  Hugo is on a half-day tour, so I ask her to say good-bye to him for me.

       The van comes and we guests are given a moai necklace that will travel the world with me as of this point - France, Jordan, Cuba...  We're dropped off at Mataveri Airport the requisite 2½ hours early, which is ridiculous for an airport so tiny.  To register, I have to put my suitcase through the x-ray machine and I’m pulled to one side.  It’s the Andean sea salt, which I had totally forgotten.  Boy, customs in the States is going to have a field day with that!  The officer takes a look at it, squishes it around and puts it back, satisfied it’s not cocaine.  I palaver with the desk clerk - my suitcase is pretty empty but weighs 12 kilos instead of the requisite 8.  I explain about the tight turn-around time in Santiago and the mishap on the flight in. She may have suffered the same problem because she lets me keep it as carry-on.
       The flight from Chile will arrive at 1, refuel and turn around to leave at 2.  I’m going to be cooped up in a tin can for many, many hours in the immediate future so I decide to go read outside the airport, in the shade and cooled by a South Pacific breeze.

       Which is a good thing because suddenly Hugo appears.  He’s there to greet newcomers to the hotel - something I missed out on, thanks to being a supposed “no-show” - and he came early so he could say good-bye in person.  I’m very touched.
       After that, it’s just the flight back over the waters, and a change of plane for an even longer flight.  It’s been a long day and it’s going to be an even longer night.

Day 14 - Miami / Charlotte / Detroit

Upon arrival in Miami, I have to go through customs.  No problem with the Andean salt here.  That happens when I try to check in for my “final flight” to Detroit.  The woman officer pulls me to one side and I tell her where the offending package is and what it is and she totally believes me with one look at it.  She’s either very experienced or very naive.  Maybe I missed my calling as a drug mule.
       There’s an undocumented change of planes on what was supposed to be the last leg of my homeward trip. This plane is headed to Charlotte, not Detroit.  First I’m told we’ll stay on the plane.  Then that I have to change planes but that the gate is nearby.  Finally it ends up being at the totally opposite end of the airport, and the cart they said would be waiting doesn’t appear because there aren’t enough of them.
       My final “final” plane arrives in Detroit at 4 p.m.  It’s a domestic flight, so no customs this time.  I head straight for the taxi stand and the driver delivers me to my door.  First thing is to order some Chinese from the restaurant just down the street, pick it up and eat it.  Then a quick shower to wash off my day’s travels and then to bed.  The return has required four planes and 30 hours in all.  I don’t remember my head hitting the pillow.
       I will end up sleeping 14 straight hours.