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Kevin and Joannie on tour
After breakfast we told Javiera that we would be leaving and explained that she was fantastic but we had not liked the owne'rs attitude. We also gave her a bottle of wine to show there were no hard feelings. She said we could stay an extra night azs there were no extra bookings or even at her house if we liked. She gave us her email so that if we ever visited the island again, she would put us up. Similarly we said that if she had ever the opportunity to come to England we would accommodate her and help out. To make things worse, there was no water at the cabana because of a burst main so we couldn't wash up from the night before or have a shower. Javiera insisted that we left our cases at the cabana until the check in time at the new cabana, Pumakari which was about ten minutes away and nearer town. We walked in to town and it seemed quieter. Perhaps all the new tourists were on trips and there were only a few of us stragglers left. The weather has changed. On the quay it was blowing a gale albeit warm, and the clouds were threatening. There were no turtles to be seen, only a shoal of cute balloon fish. The waves were choppier and there were no surfers. At a café we order a couple of "jugos" - Kevin had pineapple and Joan had chimimoya which in English is custard apple fruit - so none the wiser there! We went to the church and looked at the nativity and statues of Jesus and the Madonna and child in Rapa Nui style. Slowly we made our way back to the cabana to await our transfer to the new accommodation that Javiera had arranged for us. The new cabana was very new, maybe it opened this year. It is three adjacent cabanas in a terrace with a veranda where one could sit out in the shade. The kitchen and the bathroom were in rooms to the rear and the kitchen door opened on to a large grassy area with a BBQ, cockerels, hens and chicks. There was a fully equipped kitchen with a cooker with a real oven as well as a microwave and a blender for making "Jugos." In Chile one doesn't get much 100% juice. They tend to blend juices with ice, water and sugar and make a longer drink. To welcome us there were slices of banana cake and a jug of guava "Jugos" in the fridge. There was also a bowl of fruit and veg and a few nice touches like tea, coffee, salt, vegetable oil, soy sauce to help you settle in. It was a much better equipped kitchen which Joan appreciated. If we had known about this place before, we would have preferred it. The only thing was that there was no internet. The owner, Victor, popped by to great us. He had waited at the airport for us though we had said we would be going directly to the cabana. When we said we were going to walk to the airport to collect our boarding passes, he offered to run us there. The airport is very small and a flight was about to leave so we waited until people had checked in before going to the LAN desk. We passed the time with a "queso tostado" - a grilled cheese toastie and an Austral lager. We walked back through the town debating whether to eat out or not. We've checked out most of the restaurants' menus and pasta and risotto seem to be the standard veggie options. A bit like at home. In a cavelike supermarket, Kevin, who has a taste for brassicas, spotted a huge cauliflower and some oranges. Joan had already bought cornflour for sauces, so cauliflower cheese it was for dinner and fresh orange juice for breakfast (we brought our own juicer.) Jean, the wife of Victor, came to speak with us and we talked about the many different fruit trees near their house, such as guavas, bananas and avocados. We ate dinner on the veranda whilst some very heavy showers passed over. Water poured from the corrugated roof and bounced off the track.
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