Easter Island

We didn’t sleep too well as it was hot but we managed to oversleep till 8.20am and had a rush getting ready for 9am but we made it. We were teamed up with four Italians for the trip today. Our first stop was Rano Raraku where they quarried and shaped the stone statues or moai. Of the 900 on the island, 400 are to be found here in various stages of completion with several toppled over down the slope. We then went to Tongariki where fifteen completed moai can be seen on a winged platform or Ahu. All the moai on the island were toppled over during warfare between the different tribes in the 17th century. There was further damage here during the tsunami in the 1960s but the Japanese borrowed a moai (now called the traveller) to exhibit in Osaka for twenty years and in return helped to reconstruct Tongariki. Only one has his pokau or topknot in place as it was not possible to match the others with the different heads. The pokau are made of different rock and reddish coloured. We then visited Akahanga where as well as another Ahu and toppled moai we saw many remains of dwellings, a cave and fire pits. Their houses were elliptical with stones defining the area; in these were placed wooden beams arching across and thatched with grass and palm leaves. In the front was a semicircular area of rounded stones rather like our modern patios. We returned to the base of the tour operator and had a tasty lunch of chicken, rice and fruit before driving to the other end of the island to see Te Pita Kura which had the largest moai, before it too was toppled. Here also is the belly button of the world! This is a smooth, apparently magnetic stone – no-one knows where it came from or why it is there. We then drove a short way to Anakena where as well as more moai there is a very pleasant white sandy beach where we spent a happy hour or two swimming before returning to the hotel. What amazes us is the very low key tourism – in the first couple of sites there was hardly anyone there apart from us and we wondered where the plane loads of people had gone! There were a few more at the beach but the island is very quiet and unspoilt, with all the houses being the traditional single storey type. Hopefully they will resist the lure of high rise hotels and the accompanying tourist trash. We had an early evening wander around the shoreline to Ahu Tahai (our local moai!) and then went for dinner to a first floor terrace restaurant Aubort which had very good Polynesian type food, including raw fish – delicious! The cubed fish was marinated in citrus and served in coconut milk with shredded carrot, cabbage, cubed cucumber or marrow and dill.
After breakfast we first drove up to see the volcanic crater of Ranu Kau which contains a freshwater lagoon. The crater has a diameter of 2 Km and was last active 3,000 years ago. The lake used to be the only source of fresh water on the island and still supplies most of it although it is now piped rather than people having to trek down the volcano sides to fetch it. We then visited Orongo which has the restored ruins of 52 dwellings. These are unique on the island as being constructed of stone and slate which was quarried from the cave we visited next, Aha Kai Tangata, which also has some remains of bird man paintings. After the period of conflict when the population had decreased as had the resources, Orongo became the centre ceremonial place of the Bird Man cult which arose to replace the ancestor cults. They worshiped one Maku-Maku God of all and had an annual contest for leadership of the clans or tribes – the Bird Man. From the cave after meditation the strongest from each clan/tribe would walk in procession to the top of Orongo, from where they had to climb down the cliffs, swim 2 Km across to the largest islet and collect the first bird’s egg to be laid. They then had to keep hold of this (in a nest tied around their forehead so that their hands were free) and swim back to scale the cliffs again. The winner who brought the egg (even if he hadn’t been the one to find it) was the Bird Man for the year and had control of all the resources. He was regarded as a sacred re-incarnation of the Maku-Maku God and lived apart at Orongo or Rano Raraku, only communicating with the people through his priest.
We returned to town and had a pleasant lunch before setting off again at 3pm to see Ahu Akivi where there are seven moai representing the seven explorers King Hotu Matu A sent to travel east from an island in French Polynesia following a dream he had of the island. Their own island home was sinking and they needed to find somewhere else to colonise. When the people settled here these seven were unhappy and returned to their doomed island according to legend and these moai were erected facing towards the sea (as well as the village) and the island home they had travelled from. This was followed by Ana Te Pahu where there are caves (formed by lava tubes) running in an extensive system down to the ocean. We then visited Puna Pau which is another volcanic crater at the southern most point of the island where they quarried the red stone for the pokau. We also visited Ahu Huri A Urenga where there is a single moai oriented to define the winter solstice and which, in aligment with other moai, showed the equinoxes as well. This is a fascinating place and it's a shame we can't stay longer. tonight we are going to a traditional dinner cooked in a fire pit and local dancing... that's all for now as my battery needs charging....lots of love Ann and Iain