South Coast
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2006
1
247
551
Trip End
Dec 01, 2007
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Rapa Nui,
Chile
Monday, January 22, 2007
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We had decided, with Kuji, Simone and Alex, to start the day early, in order to watch the sunrise from a nice place, that is, a place far away. 6.30 was the time at which we were supposed to pick-up Alex. At 6.35, Simone and Kuji came to wake me up, as I had fallen back asleep as soon as my alarm clock had gone out.
With a slight 20 minutes behind schedule, we still made it to the 15 moais, on the north-eastern part of the island, in time for the sunrise. We sat there and had breakfast, taking pictures and just staring at the colors of the sky, which were changing every minute. The pictures speak for themselves, and nothing compares to actually being there.
Then we moved on to Rano Raraku: from that smaller volcano were carved the moais. In fact it appears they were fully carved there before being transported (still wondering how) to their ahu (stone platform), which could be dozens of km away on the other side of the island. Many moais were being carved and abandonned, and the volcano offers a surreal landscape of faces emerging from the grass, or just from the rock, half carved or half transported.
Even the inside of the crater was filled with moais-to-be. There there was a freshwater lake too, with tall grass, and many birds of prey taking advantage of the upward winds along the cliffs. We stayed there for a while waiting for better weather for the pictures, which did not happen so you'll have to go and see by yourselves. I was resting at the highest point of the caldera, the birds of prey passing just a few meters from me, suddenly appearing from the cliff and abruptly breaking off their trajectory when they realized I was on the vantage viewspot they were coveting.
We drove down the south coast, under the clouds, with the sun heat still reaching through. We checked out more places with moais and Ahus, until we got fed up with them.
Back into town, we went to buy food, had some rest while eating and chilling out,and took careof the flat tire before handing back the car.
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