Chile/Argentina - Easter Island Pt 2

The first stop on the Historic Pathways tour took us to the crater of the extinct volcano Rano Kau on the southern tip of the island.  It is an impressive round crater dropping two hundred metres below to a lake covered with floating reeds.  Apparently there is no bird life here even though it looks like there might be.

Rano Kau crater

Close-up look at the reeds at the bottom of the crater

Hiking around to the ocean side gave us a different perspective on the crater

A Moai head on the coast, one of a few with painted eyes

Rapa Nui map showing the different sites

 On the rim of the crater is the restored ceremonial stone village of Orongo.  We were introduced to the Birdman Cult - each spring warriors would gather in Orongo from different villages and compete.  They would jump off the cliff into the sea and swim to the islands just offshore to find the egg of the tern.  The chief of the first person to return with the egg in tact would become the supreme leader of the island for the year.  For obvious reasons, competition was fierce.  These competitions ended when Christian missionaries arrived in the 1860s.

Birdman cult moai

The islands to which the competitors swam to find the tern's egg - what a beautiful stack

This is supposed to be a woman with two heads that got chopped off.

Stone village 

Petroglyph in Orongo

The way these huge stones are stacked reminded us of the Inca stone walls in Machu Picchu

Cotton plant in Orongo

The best lunch we had since we arrived in Chile - fresh tuna with veggies fresh and grilled.  It was so good we had the same thing twice on the island.

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These two moais are right at the waterfront in Hanga Roa, the only accessible ones that are not in the National Park.

These are the only moais on the island that face the ocean.  The reason is because the village is by the sea, between the moais and the ocean.  

For our pre-dawn astro, we went back to Anakena Beach but stationed ourselves on ocean side, looking at the backs of the moais.  The milky way first came up above the moais and then as dawn neared, it moved behind the moais.  What an awesome experience!

We went back to Tongariki for a last look.  There was no visible sunrise that day, we were lucky to be able to see one the day before.  We saw lots of disappointed photographers walking away from the park.

We returned to our airbnb and were surprised by a visit from Marc Ross Shields, the author of the book "Rapa Nui - A Visual Journey to the Navel of the World". Marc is associated with Green Island Tours with whom we had booked our tours.  He came over to gift us each with a copy of his book with its stunning photos.  Marc lives on the island with his family.

Marc with our group leader

This wraps up our Easter Island tour.  We had six hours on the flight back to Santiago to catch up on sleep and get ready for the next adventure in Patagonia.

Chile/Argentina - Easter Island Pt 1

When I first learned of our plan to visit Easter Island (since we are already in Santiago), I didn't realize it is actually a six hour flight from the city, not quite an "on the way" sort of destination although it is part of Chile.  This was further confirmed by the hefty air fare, which cost more than the 10 hour flight from Toronto to Santiago.  That aside, the island did take us into a totally different world and way of life.  

Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name for Easter Island.  The locals call it Te Pito o te Henua, "the Navel of the World"  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, known for its monolithic Moai statues, carved from volcanic ash representing deified ancestors of the first settlers.  What struck me when the plane flew over the island before landing in Hanga Roa, the only town on the island, was the lack of trees, not quite your typical lush tropical island.  It seems that the first settlers had almost entirely cleared the tropical forest and replaced it with the statues.  The starkness of the bare rocky landscape together with the massive statues inspired a sense of awe, stoicism and mystery which made the island such an attraction.  

We spent three nights on the island but in reality we only did one day time tour - the Historic Pathways Tour which visited the island's archaeological sites.  We did two sunrises and two sunsets, a night astro and a morning astro.  Afternoons tend to be so hot it is most comfortable indoors - there is good reason for siesta time.  We stayed at an airbnb which gave us some contact with the locals and an inkling of their lifestyle.  Below are places we visited on our first full day.

This is my favourite Moai location.  Love the Moai statues in their different poses, probably unintentional but the disarray added to their charm, far more than the tidy rows in other locations.

The island and the town Hanga Roa from the air

Rapa Nui Airport with its welcome sign "Iorana" Rapa Nui greeting

A first walk by the seaside near our airbnb

Sunset by the beach

Sunrise at Tongariki, the largest ceremonial platform on Rapa Nui

Almost all the Moai statues on the island face inland towards the land.  They are spiritual guardians of the communites, not the sea.

The long shadow of the Moai statues reached inland towards the settlements

This lone moai, "A Vere", near the entrance of Tongariki, is also known locally as the Travelling Moai.  It was sent to Osaka, Japan for exhibition in the 1990's as a thank you gesture to the Japanese who helped restore the 15 moais at Tongariki after a tsunami

The moais at Anakena beach, one of only two beaches on the island.

A closeup look at the statues.  The box like structures on top of the heads, called pukao,,  are supposed to represent long hair tied up, a topknot or hat

Heike, our guide, is descended from the original moai ancestors.  Check his profile!

My favourite spot on the island - Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater and the main quarry for most of the moai statues on the island.  There are supposed to be almost 400 moais around here in various stages of completion.  We did not have enough time to really have a good look for them  as we arrived just after sunset.  But I like how they are not on a platform but on the ground, closer to human height.

The big volcano seen from Rano Raraku

Tongariki at sunset

Anakena - the moon was too bright for the stars - this must be the one time we wished it would disappear!

Away from the moon, we could see the milky way.  We then figured out where to go for our second astro adventure.

Map of Rapa Nui with key sites