Easter Island
Trip Start
Nov 18, 2008
1
23
55
Trip End
Nov 17, 2009
Easter Island,
Chile
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
We arrived at the airport to be met by a girl from the campsite who presented us with flower garlands so that was cool and we were off to a good start! We were driven to the campsite along with a German couple Siri and Andew where we all pitched our tents then went to explore Hanga Roa the islands only town. It was a pretty town and even had a few Moai, the giant stone statues built by the original Polynesian settlers to Rapa nui. We had nice ice cream on the harbour wall and went for a swim in the warm sea. Sunsets were spectacular from the campsite as the sun dipped into the pacific about 6.30pm each evening.
We spent the next day doing some research at the museum to get the low-down on the history of the island, then had a wander up to the volcanic crater of Rano Kao which was really impressive and has fresh water supply so really interesting plants like coffee, figs and vines.
Next day we were ready to explore and we hired a Jeep with Siri and Andrew to take in the sights. It was great having freedom to get around by ourselves. We visited all the main sights on the island and they were all amazing!Orongo is the site of the Birdman, Tangata Manu cult which was fascinating and the petroglyph carved into the volcanic rocks were clearly visible, we the toured along the coast past many sites of toppled Moai. It was quite sad to see them face down and mostly smashed. When you thought of the hours of work to carve them and the effort of transporting them and the symbolism and presence they must have had it was quite powerful. I think it was made all the more intriguing by the desolate landscapes and rough seas with waves crashing onto the rocks below.
On along the coast we came to Rano Rakaru the quarry where all the Moai were carved. It was amazing to see hundreds of them all around, some finished, others partially and some unfinished and still attached to the bedrock. They were massive and must have weighed tonnes. Near the quarry were the first standing Moai we came across, the site was Ahu Tongariki and the Moai had been restored by a Japanese funded project in exchange for a loan of the smallest Moai for and exhibition. It was a really impressive site with 15 Moai all standing side by side. They face inland as they are created to symbolise the ancestors watching over and protecting the people.
We took a break at Anakena, a lovely sandy beach on the other side of the island which has more Moai looking inland amongst the coconut trees. It was good to have a swim and cool down before driving over to the next group of Moai at Ahu Akivi where we also passed a cave network with banana trees growing in the centre. We were invited to join some people celebrating a festival of the cave people and though we politely declined the offer we were given a big slab of banana cake which had been cooked in banana leaves over a fire for a few hours, It was very tasty! We had a late tea back at the campsite before heading to bed early in order to get up and be out at Ahu Tongariki for sunrise.
Hmmm, we were up far too early as nobody could think when sunsise actually was so we met at 5.30am and were there in plenty of time as it turned out that sunsise was closer to 8am! Ooops!! We took some photos of the moon behind the Moai, and then waited patiently for the sun to come up! It seemed that we weren't the only ones with the good idea though and there were about 20 people there when the sun came up including a group who'd come straight from an all night party and plonked themselves right infront of 20 people's perfectly lined up photos!! So I bravely went and asked them in my best Spanish if they could move! It was worth it for the cool photos!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing on the beach and eating ice cream, and we hired snorkels and flippers to explore around the harbour. We swam with turtles! They were amazing, about 5feet long and so powerful and graceful! It was a great experience. We also saw fish of all colours and shapes and sizes! Some over a meter long and only as thick as a pen, another polka dot football sized puffa fish, and shoals of yellow, blue, red and green clown fish. It was really good fun and the water such a nice temperature we only needed to wear our swim stuff.
Next day was our last day and it was a bit of an eventful one, Pete realised his trainers were missing and then when we started to pack I realised that my walking boots were missing too. They had been stolen from the porch of out tent! Bummer, I was really annoyed about my boots as they were so comfy and only 5 months old! The campsite weren't particularly helpful, they seemed a bit bemused like us! But after 5 hours waiting for the police to come, we finally decided to go and see them to make a report. This was a bit tricky as our Spanish isn't quite that technical but we got there and then spent the rest of the day wit Siri and Andrew eating completos - Chilean hot dogs with avocado and tomato!
We took a bizarre flight that evening because of time differences we landed before we'd taken off!! Left Easter Island at 10.30pm and arrived in Tahiti at 10pm! More on that to come.......
