We cruised to Easter Island on Discovery World Cruises’ Discovery in February ’05. Dissatisfied with the excursions being offered by the ship, I arranged in advance for two half-day tours of Easter Island for our party of six. I had a list of eight sites I wanted to visit and allowed enough time to explore and photograph.

I contacted several tour agencies and selected Patricio Ballerino (e-mail patricio@aotour.cl or visit www.aotour.cl), based upon his responsiveness to my requests and upon the very reasonable price. For our party of six, we paid $45 per person for the two half-days.

Patricio is originally from Chile but has lived on Easter Island for 30-plus years. He is married to a native Easter Islander.

His VW Combi worked well for the six of us. It is not air-conditioned, but none of the vans I observed being used for the ship’s tours were either.

Patricio’s knowledge and his ability to communicate in English were outstanding, and he was very simpatico!

MARGO WILSON
Scottsdale, AZ