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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 6h

We did! First couple of days were foggy, windy and rainy but once the sun came out it was spectacular

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 7h

Sí! Especialmente después de las tormentas!

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 9h

Views of Rapa Nui from our last day

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 21h

Carved our own Moai today! I have named mine Bob.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

And then we had a spectacular sunset!

Sunset along the rocky coast of Rapa Nui, among a low cloud layer

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

More Rapa Nui - rain finally tapered off and sun emerged

A row of Moai, some with top knots and some only partial

A lone, broad Moai with short ears and flat head

petroglyphs in a stone on Rapa Nui - at the top is a tuna and below, a shark

a stone with petroglyphs and small pools of water. the shallow holes to collect water were on purpose so that they could use the water to etch and color the drawings using different tones of earth

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Tonight our Rapa Nui resort invited us to experience a traditional Curanto: an ancestral cooking method using the earth, banana leaves and hot stones. Delicious! (We enjoyed slow cooked chicken, sweet potato and banana cakes)

A man and two women in traditional Rapa Nui costume stand over and near a fire pit with banana leaves. The women hold stringed instruments (one is a ukelele - not sure of the other)

Each guest was given two rocks, each about the size of a russet potato, and we clapped them together rhythmically during part of the performance

The man sings and speaks (in English, Spanish and Rapa Nui) while the women accompany him on their instruments.

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Reposted by Catherine Bannister

WGN NEWS @wgntv.com · 08/10/2026

If your blood pressure rises when you step inside the Dirksen Federal Courthouse, Chief Federal Judge Virginia Kendall has a pair of pups that might help you calm down a bit. Read more: tinyurl.com/5ded65b9

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Hello from windy, rainy Rapa Nui, the most isolated inhabited island on the planet!

A huge carved wooden whale just outside the airport building on Easter Island (Rapa Nui)

The ocean is churning today with huge rolling waves under gray rain clouds

Seven Moai statues in a row, facing the sea.

Closer shot of four of the Moai. The Moai were sculpted to pay homage to ancestors and so their spiritual energy could continue after their deaths.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Along the river in Santiago is a lovely sculpture park. These were a few of my favorites

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Santiago, like Berlin, seems to be reckoning with its difficult past in very moving ways. Here is the building where, during the Pinochet coup, people were tortured, killed and disappeared

A plaque in front of No. 38 Londres indicates the building in which the secret police kidnapped, tortured and killed 98 people on September 11, 1973 (2 of which were pregnant women)

Markers scattered among the cobblestones near the building show the name and age of the individuals who suffered

Palacio de las Monedas, which was bombed during the 1973 coup and where Salvadore Allende was found dead

The building of the Socialist Party of Chile, with a large banner hanging from the top floor’s balcony of Salvadore Allende that says, “1970 Chile eligio democracia, Chile eligio Allende” (In 1970 Chile chose democracy, Chile chose Allende)

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Catching up on posting Chile pics! While in Santiago, we explored the Barrio Paris-Londres with its cool street art

Wire framed sculpture of a person on a high platform in front of a white building with a small cupula

Another mostly wire sculpture but this one has a more constructed head wearing a beret and two large feet at the bottom (partially obscured by the truck with traffic cones)

Another mostly wire frame sculpture of a bull, with copper portions of its snout and horns and “filled” with moss and plants

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Both are on the agenda! First we’re heading to Easter Island for a few days, then back for more Santiago surrounds and wine country, then the Atacama Desert and finally Valpo. Can’t wait!

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

But my absolute favorite piece in the national art museum of Santiago is this gem that I have now renamed the “WTF Painting” LOL

Madonna de Foligno, artist unidentified, shows a Madonna and chile floating on clouds over an assembly of folks on the ground (mostly bearded white holy guys and an obligatory naked cherub of sorts) but over on the left side is a scruffy dude looking straight at the camera and pointing over his shoulder toward the floating mom and tot like he’s saying “WTF is this??”

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We also visited the Museo de Belles Artes (the national museum of Fine Arts) - which like the other was free! It’s a beautiful Beaux Arts building filled with a wide variety of sculpture, paintings and prints across movements.

The main foyer and sculpture exhibit space glows under a heavy iron and glass ceiling

La Miseria by Ernesto Concha is a windblown woman and child that really captures desolation and sadness

Niños Peleando (Children Fighting) by unknown artist could be of any siblings in any age that are wrestling over some perceived wrong

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

We went to the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos (the Memorial Museum of Human Rights) which was outstanding and maybe hit a bit too close to home.

“The Wake” is a place of recollection and silence, which remembers the non-surviving victims of the Pinochet dictatorship in a large photographic mural with their faces. On a self-consultation screen you can locate their names and know what happened to them, according to the reports of the Truth Commissions. The entire exhibit is named for September 11 (1973) - a sad shared date of tragedy for Chile and the US

A wall in the exhibit about the Pinochet coup and dictatorship says “De la censura a la desobediencia cultural” (From censorship to cultural disobedience) and has an English translation of an entry that says “Several military orders and legal decrees are directly focused on the cultural sphere. In addition to presenting false information to install fear among the public, they attack freedom of expression and justify violence.”

A sign in the exhibit asks, “Que tan peligrosa puede ser una cancion o un libro?” (How dangerous can a song or a book be?)

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

First impressions of Santiago are muy bueno! The people are incredibly warm and welcoming (and forgiving of my stuttering Spanish) and the architecture is an eclectic mix of Spanish Colonial, meh mid-century (imo) and funky post-modern.

2 buildings next to each other in Santiago, Chile with a curved trunk tree basically between. The 2 story building on the left is stucco and wood with multi-paned windows. On the left the building’s facad is white concrete with geometric shapes “cut out” for glass behind.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Muchas gracias, ave de la playa! 😊

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Adios, amigos del cielo azul! Voy a Chile! Publicaré fotos de todos los lugares maravillosos.

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Just noticed that the Curb app has my address in “North Side, IL”. Hadn’t realized Cubs fans now have their own city! 😝

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Let’s go, Sox! As a Cubs fan I know something about cheering against Cleveland in the post-season. 😆

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Very young neighbor just had a total meltdown outside my open windows: “I don’t wanna go home!!” and I had an instant flashback to being that little kid with same reaction after a really fun day. 😃 (They’re still bawling, btw. They REALLY don’t wanna go home!)

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Catherine Bannister @cbannister.bsky.social · 02/10/2026