Visit Puna Pau, where the red scoria topknots for the stone figures were quarried. Toppled in the wars, the statues now lie with their noses buried in the ground surrounded by scattered topknots. At Akahanga are numerous large figures and the remains of a village with the foundations of several boat-shaped houses on a hillside nearby. Return to the village via Vaitea, the historical sheep ranch. Return to Santiago, and the Hotel Carrera with dinner free.
Today visit two outstanding museums in Santiago.
The Pre-Columbian Museum catalogs 4500 years of South American civilization before the arrival of the Spanish. The Museum of Natural History contains artifacts found on Easter Island. Other exhibits include the body of a sacrificed twelve-year old child whose body was preserved in ice on a nearby peak for over five hundred years. Enjoy fabulous views of Santiago during a special luncheon at Enoteca restaurant and wine tasting bar overlooking the city. In northern Chile, soaring volcanoes, stark lava fields, and rolling, trackless sand dunes give startling contrast to a seemingly endless desert.