Easter Island
Trip Start
May 27, 2008
1
9
26
Trip End
Sep 06, 2008
Easter Island,
Chile
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Easter Island/Rapa Nui/Isla de Pascua (whatever you want to call it!)
Well we decided to take a chunk out of our budget and fly to Easter Island which although it is a part of Chile its actually a 5 hour ish flight from Santiago. We landed at about 10pm at the only airport on the Island and were picked up by a guy from camping Minhoah which is where we were staying. The airport was tiny just one gate for all departures and arrivals, the guy picked us up in a pickup truck which we got to ride in the back of cos there was to many of us! I've never riden in the back of a pick up before it was great especially since we got a good look at the night sky, wow! I've never seen a sky so clear it was amazing. We arrived at the hostel which although it was the cheapest on the island it was in a brilliant location, right on the coast just outside of Hanga Roa (the only town on Easter Island) and the room was much nicer than you expect from most hostels (inc. Private bathroom!) we wandered into town once we were sorted at the hostel to get a bite to eat and a beer, there didn't seem to be an awful lot open so we went in the first place we found had a couple of beers and shared a dish that the barman there recommended, I can't remember what it was called but it was basically chips with small bits of beef,cheese and a creamy mayo sauce with some japanese style flavours, yum!
The first full day there was really hot and a welcome break from the cold or occasionally warmish weather we'd been getting throughout S America. We decided to do a trek up the volcano called Rano Kau so we set of from the campsite about midday, map in hand (when i say map i mean crappy map you get on tourist leaflets kinda map!) and plenty of water. It was quite a trek for us especially since we took a wrong turning and ended up doing it the extra long way! lol! trust us aye. But after about 3 hours we reached our goal and boy was it worth it! The crater of the volcano was huge and in the bottom was a lake covered in parts with a type of green plant it really was a beautiful site hopefully the photos do some justice at least. Just a bit further on between the rim of the volvano and the Ocean is Orongo Ceremonial Village which has now been restored and was an interesting end to the hike. We got back to the hostel about 5ish, via the path we were originally supposed to go up! we found it on the way down. The hostel was not only right on the Ocean but in the perfect position to see the amazing sunsets that they have. We sat down and chilled with a beer right on the sea edge it was possibly one of the nicest sunsets I've seen with great clean waves too.
The following day we rented a car, a wee Jimmy Jeep, for 2 days so we could explore the island ourselves rather than pay for a load of tours, we did whats called the northeast route on the first day which takes in a few of the ruined Ahu that are on the island (350 in total) these are large platforms made of stone and paved on the upper surface the majority of which are on the coast all the way around the island little is actually known about the uses of these Ceromonial sites. Only some of these Ahu supported the giant Moai for which the Island is generally famous for and it was some of these which we saw on this trip including, Ahu Vaihu, Ahu Akahanga and Ahu Hanga Tetenga. All the Moai when discovered were fallen from the Ahu and this is how they have been left it is thought that this was something to do with tribe warfare?? but nothing about the history of the Island seems certain. The highlight was Rano Raraku which is another volcano which was used as a quarry to make the giant Moai and you can see them in all different stages of being cut from the rock. We both agreed however that by this point we were so used to seeing the Moai on the ruined Ahu up the coast that the quarry wasn't as impressive as it would have been if it was the first time we'd seen the Moai, but even so it was def a highlight. Just up the road from the quarry was a restored Ahu with 14 Moai standing upright on it which gives a great idea of what they all would've looked like at somepoint, this was called Tongariki. We headed back through the center of the island via the beach, Anakena, which we would've stayed at for a while if the sun had held out but it was quite cold now so we went back to Hanga Roa.
The last day we were here we took the jeep north of Hanga Roa to a circuit that can be done there, we saw a couple more fallen Moai Ahu and walked up to see Puna Pau which used to be a quarry where the hats of the Moai were made from a redder stone. The highlight of today and one of the highlights of the island were the caves we saw, they're only described breifly in the guide books and we didn't see any tours going to them but they were great and well worth the visit but I'm glad we took a torch. The first one was called Ana Kakenga on the coast which was two caves joined together by a small tunnel, there was no one else around and no tourist signs anywhere to be seen it almost felt like we'd just discovered them! cool! but also a worry safety wise! but we explored it anyway. The second cave was further inland called Ana Te Pahu which has at its entrance a garden of Banna trees! and you can walk all the way through the caves and come out about a quarter of a mile away from where you started it was great fun! but you definately need a torch its pitch black in places.
Well thats pretty much it as far as Easter Islands concerned we flew back to Santiago the following day.
Comments
Pics?
You seem to think you've uploaded pics of Easter Island but they are not there, or at least if they are I can't find them! Tour de France started today and Pete's at Silverstone!
Hope you are both well looking forward to pics. Love mum xxx
dadjones
Ah, so THESE are the elusive pictures. Brilliant - and so glad you were able to find chips & mayo on Easter Island. Just don't expect it when you come home!!!