Easter Island ... where's the Easter bunny?

We woke up Tuesday morning (February 17) to the crowing of roosters.  It’s a nice sound.  Turns out there are lots of chickens on the island.  I expect they are providing the eggs that we are being served for breakfast, along with local bread, sliced fruits, a slice of ham, a rolled up piece of cheese, and coffee … hot water and you add the amount of granules of Nescafe that you prefer. It was plenty to get us going, although the Nescafe was interesting and totally unexpected.  We found out later that Nescafe is big on the Island and has been highly promoted. It appears that our host, as well as others, think they are treating us well.  It certainly isn’t Kaladi coffee.  But we made do.

By now it was definitely time to get going.  We had places to go, things to see.  And Captain Cupcake had tasked us with the mission of finding the Easter bunny.



The town of Rapa Nui, from above the airport.  It isn't large.

Easter Island is known as Rapa Nui (and in Spanish Isla de Pascua).  It’s a Polynesian island, and one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.  It’s located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, about 2,200 miles off the coast of Chile.  It’s known for about 887 monumental statues, called moai, that were created by the early Rapa Nui people.  In 1995 it was named a World Heritage Site and much of the island is protected within the Rapa Nui National Park.  So one of our first stops was to purchase a park ticket, $60 US.  But I’m good with that as I’ve always liked to support the parks.

The park sign is sure different from what we're used to.

Rapa Nui had been a thriving culture with a population high estimated at about 15,000; however, the introduction of rats and overpopulation led to a deforestation and extinction of natural resources, causing the demise of the Rapa Nui civilization.  By 1722 the population had dropped to about 2-3,000.  With disease introduced by sailors and slave raiding, the population was decimated to 111 in 1877.  Of the current residents, numbered at about 5,800 in the 2012 census, about 60 percent are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui.

We rented a car and went in search of the moais.  There are two main roads, one that follows the coastline around a portion of the island and one that goes through the middle.  We first drove to a volcano called Rano Kau, on the southwestern point of the island.  The island itself is shaped like a triangle, and the moais (heads) are located mostly around the coastline. 

The drive to the volcano was nice and we hiked the trails around it.  It appeared the lava from the volcano had blown a big hole around the edge of the volcano

The lush green and the sea blue complement each other.  The hillsides look nearly like velvet.

We also saw some old petroglyphs that we didn’t find the first round and had to go back.  But it was worth seeing them.

 There are quite a number of petroglyphs and they seem to be in very good shape.

I believe this is the Easter bunny that the island is named after.

Orango was the only ceremonial village that was built and used exclusively for religious purposes.  Although this site had a ceremonial use from earlier times, the construction of the village consolidated Orango as the most important ritual center across  the whole island.

The first houses were built during the 15th or 16th century.  The houses were home to chiefs, priests and others related to the ceremonies .  This area had been considered sacred since ancient times according to oral history.  It also overlooked the little islands where the seabirds nested.

The aerial view gives a better look of the volcano and the location of the houses to the left of the photo.

The ocean water is not the turquoise blue that I’ve seen elsewhere, but it is beautiful just the same.  There is a lot of the lava formations with the water breaking over them that just take your breath away by the beauty.  There are small areas where the water is turquoise, contrasting sharply with the darker color of the ocean.

The various lava formations are spectacular.  A small boat off to the right of the closer one hung out there for quite a while.  We couldn't figure out if they were fishing or diving or just enjoying the scenery.

We left the volcano and saw three hitchhikers.  Don’t pick up hitchhikers I was always told.  We picked them up, two young ladies and a guy.  They had walked all the way up and were walking back.  It would have been quite the hike.  Tired me out just thinking about it.  They were going to go have lunch and we kind of invited ourselves.  While we did have some language barriers we were able to get our points across to each other.  The restaurant they took us to was on the water and had some of the best fish I’ve ever tasted.  It may have been mahi mahi, or not, but had a mango salsa that was creamy with a wonderful delicate flavor.  The salad I chose with it was fresh out of the garden with all kinds of greens, tomato, and other things.  It was fabulous.  (And we went back on our own another night, and also told one of the hotel guests who ended up eating there a couple of times as well.)

There's always room for a cow photo.  I think this one was telling me he didn't want his photo taken.

After lunch we got serious about finding the moais.  We drove to each location and then hiked to see them.  Many of them are a quarter-mile or better from the road so there was always a bit of exercise involved.  Most of them have been knocked down … and it’s a rather sad sight to see that devastation. 

Vinapu was the first area where we went to see the moais.  We hadn't gotten very far around the island yet.

These moais had been toppled and their heads rolled away from the bodies to the foreground. 

 

At the Vaihu site you can see how far the pukao or heads rolled from the statues.

A paina, or circle of stones, is located in front of the ahu, known as a platform alter ceremonial or shrine.  This circular area had special ceremonial significance in ancient times and was where commemorative rituals were carried out.  

We did have the tendency to dilly dally as the coastline and waves were spectacular.

At the Akahanga location you can see the head and how far behind it the rest of the statues are.



However, some have been picked up and restored, more than once.  The Tongariki site is about the northernmost part of the coastal road before it turns inland.  It is where the most statues are located and as you approach them you are awed to silence

 



Easter Island's crown jewel is the Tongariki location where the moais have been restored.



The moais were moved and placed gently upon the ahu or platform.  The moais were believed to have been toppled in the 17th century during a tribal war.  They were restored and knocked down again in 1960 due to a tsunami from an earthquake.

 In 1992 Japan and Chile reached an agreement to restore the statues and the project was completed in 1996.

The 15 statues are magnificent and everything and more than what I thought they would be.

They are stately and majestic, watching over their land.  They have a unique, untamed beauty, and seeing them only confirms that this was the side trip for us.  The ruins and falls will have to wait for another time.

We got too close to some of the statues without realizing there was a boundary.  We heard yelling and wondered who knew they were yelling at ... us.  We figured it out.  I did go and apologize as I thought that appropriate.  Another language or communication barrier, but all ended well.

We also made it to the other ranger station at Rano Raraku, where there’s a hiking trail and a quarry to where statues were carved.  We were too late as it had closed so we decided to come back another day.

On we went, reaching Anakena, where there are more moais and a beautiful white sand beach.  The toilettes closed at 8 p.m.  Uh oh.  I was beginning to be quite needy for a bano (toilet).  But no luck.  Hold it.  Okay, and off we went to walk to the moai.  

The statues are beautiful here, too, but we were losing light and the silhouette shot seemed to fit.

The horses wander everywhere, kicking up their heels, rolling in the sand.  This is a beautiful white sand beach here and it was fun to walk in the sand while looking at the statues.

We drove on and back via the road through the middle of the island, made it home by dark, found a market and got some yogurt, cheese and salami.  Snacks.  Right stuff, right amount.  Another great day.