Magical Easter Island

We had the most spectactular time on Easter Island. It was simply magical. Easter Island is so remote that only one airline flies there, once a day. Our Lan Airlines flight was actually really good and quite reasonable. It only cost us $450 USD and the trick is not booking it through the US website because they jack up the prices. We booked it when we got to Santiago about 2 weeks ahead of time. There was a mix up in seating and I got the window seat (YIPPIE!!) even though I was supposed to have the isle.

We landed to the tropical and beautiful Easter Island with large smiles and lots of expectations. We stayed at Kona Tau Hostel and the owner was there to greet us at the airport and shuttle us back to the hostel. He gave us leis made of fresh flowers and showed us to the van. We instantally met Marissa and a lovely Irish gal (I cant spell her name, but Mike has it written down somewhere) who had the exact itinerary as us, so we hung out the entire time. The owner gave us a tour of town (which is so tiny you will figure it out in about a day anyway) and then got us checked in. The hostel was okay, nothing too flash or exciting but our most expensive hostel that we have stayed in - location, location, location!

Our first day on the island we ran down to the shore to catch glimpses at the moai, or large stone statues, that were close to town. Moai are placed on large Ahu or platforms. It is disrespectful to walk on the Ahu or touch the Moai. There have been over 800 moai found on the island. The Rapa Nui people (also another name for the island) are clouded with mystery. They are not certain where the Rapa Nui people came from, but it is likely they came from somewhere in Polynesia. Most of their culture is unknown as they became practically extinct before 1800. They believe the moai were created out of respect for ones ancestors and were believed by the Rapa Nui to be powerful. For reasons that no one is quite sure of, around 1600 the moai were all toppled from their Ahu.

After we snapped a few shots of the moai closest to town, we went to the Museo Antropologico P. Sebastian Engelrt. It was inexpensive but unexciting. All of the displays are in Spanish but they give you a book that is translated. Since they dont know too much about Rapa Nui, the Moai, and so on, its all the theories they have consolidated in one place.

We then decided to scope out the options for day 2. We decided to book the less expensive tour with Aku Aku Turismo. The more expensive tours are smaller groups, but we were fine with the larger group. Our guide was really friendly and claimed to be descended from the 111 Rapa Nui that were left on the island in the 1800s when Europeans came to settle it. He knew lots of information and was continually pointing out different things to us all day long. We learned a lot and were able to see all of the major stuff in one day. We started the day with seeing fallen moai and our guide explaining that they believe the Rapa Nui toppled them in a civil war. We then went to another Ahu and he explained to us about the platforms. Next, we got to go to the Moai Quarry of Rano Raraku. All of the moai (with the exception of one) were carved out of this volcanic hill. A majority of the moai are still here, as they were not all transported to their Ahu platform before work ceased. From one of the points on Rano Raraku we could see the Ahu Tongariki. At Tongariki, they have the most restored moai in one place. The Japanese helped to restored this area and its exteremly impressive. From here, we traveled on to see the navel of the world, as they call it. It is a magnetic rock that they have found on Rapa Nui. There is only one and it does not match any of the other rocks on the island. They do not know how to explain it as the island was so isolated it did not engage in regular trade with anyone during its peak. Our tour then took us to Anakena beach. The beach is filled with fine sand and is wonderful. You can see a few moai from the beach. There is only one Ahu that faces the water, the rest of the Ahu have their backs to the see and look over or protect the village. We were dropped off back at our hostel and consulted for a place to catch sunset. We were told that Tahai was the place to be and lucky for us it was a very short walk from town. At the summer solstice, the sun rises directly behind the moai. As its fall, it was a bit off centered but still wonderful. On our stroll back to town, we decided to have some delicious empanadas for dinner.

We awoke on day 3 to more lovely sunshine and had hoped to rent motorscooters. We were disappointed to find out that you must have a motorcycle license to rent a motorscooter. Apparently, there have been some accidents with tourists. It was very auspicious that all four of us went to get the bikes together, as we were able to hire a 4WD car for less money than we would spend on the motoscooters. As we all agreed to split the costs, the only question left was who to drive? It was a manual transmission so Mike was out. As it so happened, traveling with an Aussie and an Irish gal, they were not used to driving on the right side of the road and neither had driven in a considerable amount of time. I wound up being the driver, which was quite unexpected and loads of fun. We started out towards the Rano Kau volcano. Easter Island was formed out of 3 volcanos and this is one of them. We were delighted to discover the most magnificant lake in the crater of Rano Kau. We arrived in time for the mid day sun, which lights the whole crater up and creates the most magical view. Sure, we took pictures but none of them will capture what we saw with our eyes. We continued up the road to the Orongo ceremonial village. We had to pay a measely sum of like $8.50 US dollars or so. Considering this is the only time you are directly asked to support the national park on the island (which is basically the entire island), it is just a pittance and we were happy to do it. In the Orongo ceremonial village, we were able to see some of the housing of the later inhabitants that, of course, have an oceanview. We also saw petroglyphs that were carved representing birds, which was important to the Rapa Nui later on. We returned to town and made ourselves lunch (treating ourselves to salami and cheese sammies!) before heading to the other side of the island. This road was extremely bumpy and we were all very thankful to have opted for our 4WD vehicle instead of the bikes. The road is not well marked or well traveled, but we found more moai to snap pictures at as well as discovering some interesting caves. We were able to find Ahu Akivi which is the only moai that face towards the water. We also found Puna Pao quarry, where the moai topknots were carved from. Not all of the moai have topknots and most of the topknots cannot be restored to the top of the moai´s head due to the fact that the heads are too fragile to support them. Mike and Marissa spent extra time exploring some of the caves while I just relaxed with our other friend. We then headed back to town for a few and to determine where to catch sunset. As the ladies were shopping for postcards, one of the locals recommended returning to Orongo ceremonial village. We scuttled back up the way to discover the actual park part of Orongo was closed, but settled into see another amazing sunset. It was very lucky to see a sunset completly free of any obstruction-- no boats, no buildings, no islands, nothing but water, clouds, and sun. We were in awe of magestic sun as it sunk below the horizon. At times the sun appeared very angelic as the rays darted from beneath the clouds. It was another peaceful end to a wonderful day. We were lucky to have our sunset spot almost exclusively to ourselves. There was a tour but they packed up and left for town before the sunset was complete for some odd reason.

Our fourth day on the island started early at 6 am. The one lucky part about being on Easter Island in fall is that the sunrise is not as early as it would be in the summer. And since we had a car, it was a quick 25 minute drive to get back to Tongariki for sunrise. We enjoyed the sunrise and then as we were begining to leave, realized that 20 minutes after sunrise are quite splendid as the sun climbs high into the sky. We drove back to the hostel for breakfast (pancakes with dulce de leche!! yum!!) and then got ourselves ready for our last full day on the island. We returned the car and got four wheelers just for fun. We were able to back to our favorite spots from the day tour to soak up again the moai in the quarry at Rano Raraku and Tongariki at midday with full sun and no other tourists in our snapshots. We then happend to luck out and find a seculded beach. It was paradise as we ate our lunches and went for a swim. As we layed underneath the cliff rock, the sun suddenly covered all of the sand and we decided to spend the last of the rays back at Anakena beach. Yet another lovely and magical day on Easter Island and we headed back to town.

The island is so isolated that you easily slip into its pace of life. The moai are everywhere to look at and discover in this wonderful place, but it is so remote that it is not trampled with tourists everywhere you turn. Thanks for taking the time to read through the whole blog... now here are the pictures to attempt to see some of the magic that I experienced.