Easter Island Day 2

I woke at 730 and it was pitch black out. Interestingly the sun started coming up around 8 and seemed to finish its ascent in 15 minutes. I woke to the roosters calling, and heard them for hours but they seemed to integrate in my dreams as they didn’t bother me. A group chills right under my window.

At around 8 the roosters woke our friendly neighbor sheep, and they started bleating, sounding like old man saying, ‘ehhhhh…’ I giggle every time, though suspect that may get old. We can see now why the tour starts at 9:30 as it’s so dark until then! The horses near us apparently just woke up too and now the three groups are all singing in tandem. Thankfully it still makes me giggle.

It’s so nice to be in a real shower that isn’t scary like the place in Santiago. Hot water, good water pressure. This place is well maintained with wood on the ceilings and some walls, some stucco and some tile. The bathrooms look fairly reacently done in a nice tile. It’s lovely after the last place and refreshing to take a shower and feel cleaner upon leaving!!

Had some leftover wahu for breakfast (it’s not very fishy and actually has a consistency of chicken, kind of.) We’ll be gone all day and I’ll need the protein. We purchased a lunch so curious what they will bring, and made some hard boiled eggs last night. Given that I need to limit my wheat, I suspect lunch will be a sandwich, and at $25 USD each, better be a very good one.

They wanted us to pay in USD so that drains the money we have. Hoping we can do the half tour another day and pay in Chilean pesos. There is a tour to the extinct volcano and cave with lots of petroglyphs that I want to see. Another half day tour goes to a few more of the Moai sites. I had thought the full-day was the same as the two half days, but guess not. Anyways, excited to hike around the moai today and I am so ready to see them! So is the sheep, apparently!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai

I forgot to mention our funny airport security experience yesterday. They checked our passport when we checked in but didn’t check it when we went through security, only looked at our boarding pass. Then when we got to the gate, they checked it twice. So anyone can walk in through security, but only the correct people can get onto the plane. Interesting!

We went outside our place at 9:30 when we were supposed to be picked up and saw Camilla. She is so sweet and gave us each a hug and kiss and greeted us warmly. She offered to arrange the show with pickup/dropoff tonight for us. The bus was supposed to get us at 9:30 but picked us up at 10—island time I guess.

Our driver was Christian and his English was very good. He’s a native Rapa Nui. The day was simply amazing! And the Arizona couple we saw at the airport wearing ASU attire was on the tour.

We drove on the coastal road and saw what appeared to be many outlines of ruined homes. We saw a boat house, which looked like and upturned boat with the roof on (we saw the reconstructed walls.) the buildings were made of basalt, and the roof of dried grass.

Rapa Nui was populated by two waves of Polynesian immigration between 400 and 800 AD. The first wave was called the ‘long ears’ as they extended their ear lobes, and the second called ‘short ears.’ The long ears were the ruling class and the short ears the working class.

The island was covered in trees but gradually deforested. The trees were several types of palms, one of which is now extinct. They were cut down and believed to be used to transport the Moai, the large head sculptures the island is known form.

The people who came brought sugar cane, chicken, sweet potatoes (first immigration). Around 800 the Moai Cult, or Ancestors Cult, took control of the island. Between 800 and 1600 AD over 900 statues were built, 250 were on ahu (platforms). They had pucaos (sp?) representing red hair. The locals died their hair red. They were not hats as is often believed. The Ahu are often burial places so it’s forbidden to go close. The Rapa Nui believed in life after death, and the Moai represented the souls of the dead.

At the end of the 1600s there were 20k people on the island, but it quickly decreased due to shrinking resources and starvation. This is when the Moai cult ended and war began. People toppled the statues, who were placed facing in to the families they were to protect. Now any moai standing were resurrected, as all were toppled.

Currently over 7k live here on the island. 4k are ‘native’ Rapa Nui and the rest are mostly from Santiago, though some are ‘foreigners’. Most of the people on the island are related, so people do go to the mainland to find someone to marry. They also go to university there as none are on the island. Most go 2-3 times a year for supplies as well. Chile does help with scholarships.

The eyes are the most important part of the statues and are carved when the statues are upright, so if there are no eyes, the statue was never upright.

There are over 4000 caves. We got to see one that was man-made, though most are natural and created by volcanic activity. These were used extensively as hiding places during the war. In 1722 the Dutch were the first here. They stole a lot from the island, so when James Cook came, locals hid in the cave. Clearly used to visitors not having good intentions.

We went to the ruins of Aka Hanga first, and it was in ruins. There were some moai by the water and an ahu in two areas. Aka Hanga is the the largest restored ahu. It’s a bit inland but you can still see the water in the background. One of the Moai has the “hair” on top of its head. The area was reconstructed by a Japanese company as the ahu was destroyed in 1960 by a tsunami that washed the stones over 200 meters inland. The Japanese co paid over $2.5 million for the restoration, and supplied the cranes for the work. 33 Statues and Ahus were found in this area. There is a terrace under the ahus for decoration, and they always have them. The water is glorious shades of teal and navy and we were there around an hour to view the area.

Next was Tonariki.

The royal family ruled until 1600 when the war started, and most were killed. The people decided to start a democracy of sorts and a competition started for people to compete for rulership. The first census was done in 1877 and there were only 111 people left. Many were removed for the slave trade (over 5k people in the mid-1800s).

Next we went to the quarry, Rano Raraku. There are 300 to 400 statues outside the crater and around 100 inside. The bodies are now buried due to the elements, however they were not originally. The Moai are actually heads and bodies, and not just the heads we know them as. This place was amazing, to see the heads in various forms all laid out and standing in different areas, scattered on the side of the volcano. We saw hare moa (?) which is a reproduction of a ‘chicken house.’ It was entirely stone with an opening  in the center, and where chickens were stored overnight. It took 1-2 years to carve each moai.

Caldera in Rano Raraku quarry

After we walked around half of the volcano, the guide said we could walk around to the quarry. It took around ten minutes and at first the earth was all a rust-brown color. At the top there was a large pond with tall grasses inside. On the side of the caldera were a bunch of carved moai in various stages of development. It was amazing. There were some trees for shade and a lovely breeze.

We walked back down and got lunch. Let’s just saw it wasn’t worth the $25 USD, except we did get to feed the skinny cats and dogs with the leftovers. The cats circled under the table and surprisingly ate the veggies, and the chicken bones were tossed to the three dogs by the staff there. One was pregnant, poor thing. Chicken bones isn’t good for them, but living here, they learn to survive.

There was a small area to buy things. 

We sat next to two young people on the van and I recognized they were speaking German. She is from Germany and in school to study medicine, and he is from Switzerland on a break. He is 28 (I would have guessed 23) and left school to work, and saved up for five years for this trip. He is doing it for a year (halfway through now) through central and south America. She is three months in, and doing south America and Asia. He said when he returns he has to finish his year in the army service, then will decide what he will do. They had just met in Santiago but seemed to really enjoy each other. They were cute. 

The couple from Arizona is fun and we talked with them a lot. They live fairly close to me. They went to Santa Cruz for wine, and are going to Mendoza, Argentina after, also for wine. They do a short stay in Santiago before returning to the US.

The next site was Te Pito Kura. It was a small site with one fallen statue, and is believed to have been the last one toppled and one of the largest. In 1786 the French disembarked here. We saw a lot of ruins of homes here.

Rapa Nui means Big World, and is believed to have been the new name as of around 1800.

Our last stop was Anakena Beach. It’s one of two sandy beaches on the island and beautiful. The contrast of the light sand, the large lava rocks sprinkling the beach and the teal and turquioise waters was stunning. There is a large hill of a bright green, and back a ways two ahus. One was very small and the other was large and recreated with 15 moai, many of which with the rock on their heads representing hair. We were here an hour and it was so beautiful to walk around. The water was quite cold so we won’t be beaching it! There were a bunch of cute little restaurant huts, and we got a drink with the AZ couple.

Christian told us that there is an airline strike starting on the 15th. We fly out on the 14th but he suggested we check with the LAN office to make sure we can leave. We will do that tomorrow.

We drove back and were dropped off in town so we could stop to get some cash, and went back to the restaurant we went to yesterday as Christian told us they have the best pisco sours. I got the ceviche which turned out to be tuna and simply amazing! Kim got breaded shrimp and liked it. We walked back to our place to write, rest and change for a show tonight. We arranged transport. Getting downtown only takes 10-15 minutes, but we are tired and unsure where we are going so it seemed a good idea.

The roosters and sheep greeted us with song. And more song. We found a papaya left on our table as a gift, which is lovely. I really do adore this place and the service provided.

We get picked up at 8:30 (ish, I think) then go to the show, so I will write about that tomorrow. We are doing a half-day tour tomorrow to Orono, the other caldera on the island and one that I read a bit about. Instead of doing the other half-day tour to see more Moai, we may tour a bit on our own. We’ll see how we feel tomorrow.

Cheers!