Easter Island

Iorana !

I have been so excited over the last few days as this was always the most anticipated part of our whole trip. I had dreamed of visiting this place since I was a little girl (a long time I know - sigh!), when I saw a documentary on tv. Although I had read quite a bit about the island its not the same as going there.
So we flew in from Tahiti and landed quite literally on the airstrip at the end of the high street!  The hostel manager Claudio was there to meet us with beautiful lei's of Frangipangi and other exotic perfumed flowers. He then proceded to give us a tour of the town (!) which lasted all of three minutes as there is really only 4 roads that make up the main part of Hanga Roa. 
Here is a bit of modern history to explain the island & then i will bore you with my exploits.
Easter Island was bistowed its European name in 1722, when Dutch Admiral Roddeveen landed here on Easter Sunday - he obviously had a geat imagination!

The island became Chilean territory in 1888, when they moved all the inhabitants into Hanga Roa & turned the rest into a sheep station! Finally in the 1960's the islanders regained access, but have mainly stayed close to town turning the rest of the island into a national park. The islanders speak Rapa Nui an eastern Polynesian dialect which is a mix of Maori and Spanish so an added layer of confusion for us although most people either understood French or English!

We spent our first day walking the coast, just above the town to see some of the moai. It was really hot & as the island has virtually no trees, but the coast line is stunning and there are wild horses grazing everywhere.  The next day we hired a guide and went in his 35 year old VW camper van to Rano Raraku aka 'the nursery'. This is the quarry where the maoi were hewn from the slopes of the extinct volcano. It was like a market where the tribes of the island came to puchase a head to recognise the newly deceased chief. There are literally  hundreds of  heads everywhere, some partially buried

As you can see from the pictures, the size of the Moai range from a few metres to over 21m tall, which gives rise to the big unanswered question. How the heck did they manage to move these huge carvings? Thats the bit that no one ever been able to fathom out as most of the islanders were killed by each other when the food & fuel (trees) ran out or perished from diseases introduced by the europeans! During thsi time all the Moai were toppled from their positions probably as an act of defiance. At one point there were only 22 indigenous people left on the island and most of their traditions and language lost. There have been loads of theories put forward, but not one single bit of evidence to back any one of them up. So its a complete mystery, maybe there is a job for Mystery Inc? 
Inside the crater there is a crowd of heads overlooking the reedy lake.

Neaby is the massive 15 Moai ahu (temple)  - Tongariki is built right on the edge of the crashing surf. In the 1960's this site was distroyed by a tsunami, but a japanese crane company rebuilt the whole site as bit of PR for its machinery in the 1990's and it is spectacular as you can see - bear in mind the tallest one is about 20 mts! Some of them look like they have top hats on, they are not top hats, but top knots and represent the henna hair do's that they wore at the top. Fancy ehh?

Our final stop of the day was at Anakena beach, where rather than the black volcanic rocks of the rest of the coastline, this is a beach of the softest white sand and the area holds two archaeological sites Ahu Nau Nau (on the left) & Ahu Ature Huki, which was the first Moai to be re-erected by Thor Heyerdahl & a few islanders. We had a little paddle in the sea, which was lovely and warm and eased our feet after all the walking. Great!

Today we climbed up Rano Kau another extinct volcano, which forms the southern end of the island and has the most spectacular crater lake about a mile wide.
The principal archaeological site on Rano Kau is the ruined ceremonial village of Orango which is located at the point where the sea cliff and inner crater wall converge ie just by my left ear on the photo. It must have been pretty cool place to live overlooking both the crater and the the turquoise blue sea. Unlike the groups on the rest of the island the villages here followed a birdman cult and their temples were adored with petroglyphs which are mainly of the birdman
   The whole island is magical, but very expensive due to the fact that everything is imported by plane! Tomorrow we have to leave here, but we are flying onto Santiago for a few days with Barmy Cowes & his wife. First stop I understand is a steak restaurant so Dean is happy!

Bye all

Sara