Hotumatua Easter Island

... to relax and enjoy the feeling that time has stopped. In our 5 days here, we spent 2 days walking the Island, 2 days in miniature 4x4 and I spent a day relaxing by the ocean (which Paul decided to cycle the island!). A beautiful, beautiful enigmatic island – we spent days looking at statues depicting long forgotten ancestors, made by a forgotten culture whose people left the quarries as if they would return tomorrow – hundreds of statues in various ...

... ready it was almost midday. We made a stop off at the internet shop to sort out some bits and pieces before taking a walk alone the coast to Tahai. We spent some time walking around here looking at the different moai and taking pictures before continuing on to the museum. We were informed the museum didn't open until 2.30pm but when we got there just after 2pm it was open so in we went. Everything was written in Spanish but you could pay to borrow a booklet which ...

... it was then supported on rocks while the keel was chipped away - I wouldn't want to be the one to crawl underneath to do the final chipping. The statues, when erected at their final destination, had a top-knot, made from red rock, balanced on the head. White rock eyes were added, at which point the Moai became sacred. We climbed up the volcano into the crater which contained a lake & many more finished Moai. It was quite a climb but as we ...

... authorities that we had not brought any food products with us and then it was off to meet our local guide. A young girl in her early 20's who had lived most of her life on the island - she had moved there with her parents when she was 5, had spent a couple of years living in Australia and had returned to the island to work as a tour guide. Her command of the English language was excellent and she had a wealth of knowledge about the history of Easter Island. We were driven ...

... After cresting a third such terrace I was finally standing at the edge of the drop from where, several hundred meters below, I could see a real seaside terrace with a trail hugging the coast. Fortunately at that very place the drop was still descendable while to the left and to the right stood broken volcanic cliffs. At the bottom I picked up a trail and started a slog towards the village past numerous shelters made from accurately carved rocks and past less obvious ...

... of their boats and decided not to go. hehe. Got back latish at the hotel and then went out for a drink with some of the guest, a french researcher and a french policewomen, lol. Had a nice evening but only ahd two drinks seeing htat one cocktail was over 5euros. Next day walked up the volcano south of the city. Nice walk up and on the way back a local kindly offered to talk me to town with his car. Then prepared to ge the plane in the evening. With my newly met ...

... town, stopping at Rano Raraku. This is the volcanic crater where all the moais were carved. There's plenty of statues to be seen here up closed, and because of my time constraint, I've decided to come back ...

... to tourists. There's also one bank, one post office (from which we got some very cool stamps in our passports for USD 1), an interesting museum and a hospital. The town's harbour was filled with many fishing boats. When we walked by, we spotted several large green turtles which, we later found out, live in the harbour. That evening, we had dinner at a quaint restaurant at the harbour called Taverne du Pescheur. The owner, a temperamental but entertaining ...

... stopped at the most famous sight...15 maoi standing in a row. Here we stopped and sat on the grass to eat our picnic in front of our 15 giant friends. Apparently they had been swept inland by a tsunami in the 1960s but the Japanese had repaired them in the 1990s.....only their polynesian topknots (most moai actually have these hats) hadn´t been placed on top again. We literally just finished our picnic when it started raining heavily...so ...

... a bit rushed with us but then work only allows us so much holiday time! <br><br>We worked our way round the Island starting at Ahu Akahanga then on to Rano Raraku ('The Nursery'). This was amazing. Hundreds of Moai in various stages of completion. The edges of the volcano crater were dotted with them. Some were still in the rock face and had been in the process of being carved out. The sheer scale of the operation was incredible. <br><br>These were sights we had ...