Easter Island

I: Getting there

Sun, 2 Dec 2012 19:00:22 -0800

a: flights.

Since Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, belongs to Chile, most visitors go there by taking one of the daily flights from Santiago, the capital of Chile. We have met many tourists from Northern America, who have flown all the way down to Santiago to do this. There is actually no need to fly that far south. You can just fly to Lima, Peru, several hundred miles more to the north, from where there are twice weekly flights to Easter Island. Flight time to Mataveri International airport in Rapa Nui from Lima is about the same as from Santiago de Chile.

In addition, fares from Lima to Mataveri are considerably lower than those from Santiago. Our fare from Lima to Mataveri was, including taxes, slightly less than $400 round trip, of which $125 was tax. Round-trip fares from Santiago to Mataveri would range from $500 - $900, depending on the time of the year and whether the mistress of the Minister of Transportation was indisposed. Another disadvantage is that as you land in Santiago with a US passport, they will charge you a $100 visa fee to enter Chile. There is no such bloodletting from Lima.

So we took an AA flight leaving San Francisco at the ungodly hour of 6:20 a.m. to fly to Miami. Layover time in Miami was a brief 90 minutes, before we left for Lima, where we landed at 8:30 p.m.

b: Lima.

The Peruvian currency is the Peruvian Nuevo Sol, which is worth $0.39 at that time. You can get around with US$, but there are many times where we do need sols. But it is easy to change small amounts of US$ into sols, especially in the airport.

We had reservations at the Sheraton Lima Convention Center, which was rated to be a 5-star hotel, whatever that means. We could just hail a taxi to get there from the airport, which would cost maybe $10, but it was evening and not very safe for foreigners. The Sheraton will pick you up for $39 from the airport in private comfort. Renato, an enterprising guy, will do the same for $25 and was highly recommended by the reviewers in TripAdvisor as somebody reliable who spoke English. He also gives private day tours, also highly recommended. Although we have been in Lima a few times before, we decided to contact Renato to pick us up.

Renato wasn’t there, but there was a substitute waiting for us. It appears that TripAdvisor had made his business so thriving that, all he was doing now was organizing his “friends” to pick up whom and where and at what time. I am sure he gets a kickback. On our way back to the airport the next day, e.g., he had another of his “friends” drive us, and Renato was on the phone all the time to tell the driver to step on the gas, because there will be another pickup waiting and it was getting late. He probably still does his private tours during the day. We don’t know; his driver “friends” didn’t know either.

The Sheraton was in the business district, which was not very safe at night. Most tourist would stay in the Miraflores district close to the coast. But this hotel was very nice, with a voucher for a welcoming pisco sour in the bar and complimentary coffee/tea in the morning in the lounge. Maybe that was because we were using our SPG points, with which we could actually stay in the hotel for not too many points. There are several levels of SPG cards; green, gold, and platinum, which determines the level of hustle which the hotel staff will generate on your arrival. Then there is the black SPG card, which is not even of the list, with which the holder will be upgraded to the best suite they have, including the Royal Suite, if they have one.

Internet was free in the lounge area.

In the morning the next day we looked into the large shopping complex behind the hotel. There were medium-priced shops, a carousel, rides for children on an elevated track, a model car racetrack, and a large food court. There were a couple of banks with long lines of clients apparently all waiting to withdraw money. This was not a tourist area.

left: And a display for the coming Christmas season.

The hotel had a complementary shuttle to the Larcomar area in the Miraflores District, a high-end shopping center in the hills facing the Pacific ocean. Which was marvelous, since we had not made any plans on what to do. We had been there before, but still it was pleasant to walk around to look at the shops and the views of the sea below.

right: The Larcomar shopping district. In the distance, on a pier, was the Rosa Nautica Restaurant, where we had dinner some years ago.

And close by is the sculpture by Victor Delfin of the kissing couple, where once a year there is a contest for couples to see who can maintain the longest-lasting kiss.

We had lunch at Café Café, which was just above Mango, somewhat of a tourist landmark.

left: One of the many fountains in the Parque de la Reserva in Lima, Peru. This one is called the Fantasy Labyrinth. Here there are no hedges, but channels with fountains. You try to find your way in and out staying on the paths, but if you cross a channel, you will get doused most of the time.

On our way back we had the shuttle drop us off a few blocks from the hotel, from where we walked to the Parque de la Reserva. This was a surprisingly very nice park with an elephant train for children and lots and lots of fountains (actually 13 large fountains), many programmed to display interesting and unusual patterns. The park is also aptly called “ Circuito Mágico del Agua”. There is one where the fountain forms a tunnel you can walk through without getting (too) wet. In another fountain you will find lots of kids (and grownups too) running through the display to try to find the way in and out of the “labyrinth”. If you cross a “hedge”, which is a channel filled with fountains, you will get doused in the attempt. Lots of fun. If you can find your way, you’ll stay dry, more or less. In the evening the fountains are lit and there are dancing water shows at 7:15, 8:15, and 9:30 p.m.
Entrance fees are a nominal 4 soles (about $1.60), and they actually waived the fee when we entered, since we were foreigners and looked elderly to boot. There are free public bathrooms just outside the entrance gates, but inside the park, you have to pay. There are quite a number of eating stalls serving local Peruvian food, but they were all located at but outside the gates. Maybe they are only open during daylight hours.

We walked back to the hotel, which was about a mile away, and went straight to the adjacent food court for dinner. Then back to the hotel for a shower and a short nap and at 10 p.m. we checked out to go to the airport for our flight to Easter Island at 1:20 a.m. Another of Renato’s “friends” picked us up at the dot.

c: Flying to Easter Island.

We were comfortably ensconced in our seats in the LAN Airlines plane as the doors were closed and the plane was getting ready for takeoff. But then there was an unexplained delay, which stretched for some 15 minutes. The captain’s voice was grave as he explained that the weather around Easter was too bad too fly, and that we all had to disembark the plane. Groans of disappointment and queries of whether we’ll ever get there.

Residents of Lima were told to go home and come back the next day. Other passengers were told that they would be brought to a hotel to spend the night. In a relative sense we were lucky. We were told the next day that at about the same time there was another plane from Santiago, who was only an hour away from Easter Island. That plane had to fly back to Santiago, 4-5 hours away.

Well, by the time the luggage was taken out of the plane and transported back to the luggage carousels for pickup, getting into a bus, which the airline had to charter on extremely short notice and then driving to the 5-star Delfines Hotel in the Miraflores district, checking in the hotel, it was around 4 a.m. This was actually quite good, because the airline had to organize all this on the spot. And for us this was the first time in our life that we had slept in two different 5-star hotels for the same night.

Breakfast the next morning was excellent. Well, this was a 5-star hotel and this was their regular buffet breakfast. We were bussed back to the airport for our flight, which was now scheduled to leave at 4 p.m. We were also given a voucher for lunch. By the time the plane left, the delay from the original departure time was close to 15 hours. The flight took 5 hours, and it was 9:30 p.m. at arrival. Even though there was this huge distance in longitude between Easter Island and the mother country, the time difference was kept at zero to facilitate commerce by having the same business hours.

Now, as for the weather-related flight delay. Remember, this is South America. If this had happened in the USA, American Airlines would only have assisted the passengers inconvenienced by the weather delay by getting them a discounted room at a number of selected hotels. The discomfited passengers would still have to pay for transport to the hotel, for the hotel lodging, and for the associated meals themselves. American Airlines does suggest you buy insurance to cover these mishaps. And here it was all free; LAN Airlines paid for all the costs.

d: Return flight.

Our return flight from Mataveri to Lima was scheduled to arrive at 23:10 in Lima airport. That is close to midnight and our flight to Quito the next day was scheduled to leave at 10:30. This meant we would be in bed by 1:00 a.m., if we are lucky. Since this was an international flight, we were advised to be there 3 hours before departure. Which meant that we had to leave the hotel at 7:00 a.m.

The Sheraton was a long distance from the airport, so we decided to find something simpler closer by just to get some sleep. That was Hotel Victor, with a very reasonable rate, and a hotel-arranged taxi which would pick us up at the airport and take us to the hotel for $10. The hotel was not in the best of neighborhoods, but the entrance was on a square with only one access. There was a locked gate, which was electrically opened. Which felt safe.

The hotel was simple in an older building, the beds were clean, the room was sparsely decorated but quite spacious. We had a room on the first floor and the night clerk helped us with our luggage. It was more than adequate for a few hours of sleep. He charged us $45 cash for the room, another $10 more if we wanted a receipt. Another taxi took us for $10 back to the airport in the morning. There were few passengers for this flight, based on the passengers waiting. But an hour before flight time, lots of people showed up.

They knew. We were way too early. It was sufficient to come one and a half hours before departure time.

II: Rapa Nui

Sun, 2 Dec 2012 17:19:38 -0800

a: Hanga Roa

Easter island looks like Tahiti and Hawaii maybe 100 years ago. The verdant landscape and the coconut trees are there, but there are no high-rise hotels and condominiums to welcome you (yet). Hanga Roa is the largest settlement on the island.

Everything is still simple and the main road of Rapa Nui is just a two cobble-stoned lane affair, not much broader than maybe 20 feet, with people crossing it if they feel like it. Street lanterns were sparse. This is a small place and everybody still knows everybody. Many main roads on the island are not yet paved. They are still dirt, some of them quite difficult to traverse because of boulders and large depressions in the road surface.

A couple of short blocks away from our guest house was the sleepy harbor, with a large moai keeping an eye on the local proceedings. We used to walk there, because there is an ice cream store there, which served marvelous gelatos.

right: Kids playing and fishing in the tide pools just outside the harbor.

There are also some nice eating places there, where you can see the ocean and watch kids playing in the tidepools just outside the harbor

Matavari airport has a well-constructed long runway, because it was meant to be a backup landing place for the space shuttle. The airport building itself was a simple, single story building, which we entered after walking on the tarmac from the plane.

Just before immigration, there is a kiosk of the Parque Nacional Rapa Nui on the left. There you can purchase entrance tickets to the two major sites on the island, Rano Rararku and Orongo, for $50. If we had purchased these tickets at the site, we would have paid $30 each.

Many areas on the island are now part of the park structure, and you need tickets to get in. The collected funds go to the protection and upkeep of the parks. The kiosk also gives you a very nice and detailed map of the island, which is very useful for your sightseeing trips.

The local currency is the Chilean peso (CLP). There are 471 pesos to a US$, and for practical purposes the conversion rate is 500 pesos to a US$. But you can see that because of this, people prefer to receive pesos, and only the souvenir shops quote in US$, because tourists have dollars but not necessarily enough pesos. And if the quotation is in $, than of course it is foolhardy to pay in pesos, because you would be paying some 5 % more.

b: Inaki Uhi

We had reservations at the Inaki Uhi guesthouse in Hanga Roa, The guesthouse was named after an ancestor of the owner, Alvaro Atan, the man who runs the place and in addition, does everything else. He picked us up at the airport, but he had to wait because two other guests didn’t show up. So his dad drove up to their guesthouse, which was just 5 minutes away. Alvaro speaks fluent English.

Our room, at around 120 sq feet, was small. So was the bathroom, but it was ensuite. There was hot water, sometimes interspersed with a blast of cold water to wake you up. There was a steady wind blowing, which was great, because wet clothing would dry very fast, if they were hung on the laundry racks conveniently mounted in front of each room. Well, it was adequate, since we would be using the rooms to sleep only. In the grassy area in front of the rooms are open pavilions, where you can sit, read, write and discuss the vagaries of life and its intricacies with your fellow guests.

Breakfast was not included, but there was a communal kitchen available, which did have a stove, a refrigerator, but unfortunately no microwave. That was a major hassle, because there was no easy way to reheat cold food without having to dirty the pans. But just get out the front door on the main street. In the second building on the left is a bakery, where you can get fresh baguettes and croissants. The next building further houses a small grocery store, where you can get cheeses, yoghurt, and all the junk food carbos you wish. And next to this store is a restaurant, where they make very tasty empanadas. So it was easy to assemble your own breakfast. And meet other guests to swap tales.

The main plus of this guesthouse is Alvaro, who runs himself ragged to be helpful. He also is a tour guide, who doesn’t really advertise his services, but which you can surmise from reading the posts on Inaki Uhi in TripAdvisor. You just ask him. His commentaries are very interesting because his family has lived here for generations. His grandfather was appointed the mayor of the indigent population of Easter Island, when Williamson-Balfour, the big Australian sheep-rearing company was forced to involve more locals.

III: Touring Rapa Nui - I

Sun, 2 Dec 2012 12:45:02 -0800

a: The southern shore of Rapa Nui.

A map of the island is shown below. Hanga Roa is the only large settlement on the island. You can see that Easter Island is really not very bigOur tour guide for the day was Alvaro Atan, who doesn’t really advertise his services, but which you can surmise from reading the posts on Inaki Uhi in TripAdvisor. You just ask him.

The map shown above is from wikitravel.org/shared/Image:Easter_Island_map.png

He was an informative tour guide, also because his family has been in Hanga Roa for some time and he was therefore able to add many personal touches to his narratives. When Williamson-Balfour, the big Australian sheep-rearing company, finally decided (or was forced) to involve more of the locals in its operations, Alvaro’s grandfather was appointed as the major of the locals with whom Williamson-Balfour would communicate and work with. In 1953, after 45 years in power, Williamson-Balfour closed its operation and control of the island was transferred to the Chilean Navy. Only in 1966 was the island opened in its entirety to the indigenous population.

We drove to the south and stopped at Vaihú / Hanga Te’e on the coast. The road was just tamped soil and the driver has to be careful because of the many ruts.

left: The coast was strewn with lava blocks and the sea sea was rough, with a strong wind blowing from the sea.

We looked at the remains of two platforms and at a few large parts of fallen moais. There was a huge hat was carved out of a red stone and came from a different quarry as the body of the statues. These moais were originally placed standing up on these platforms facing inland with their back to the sea. Some of them have hats, most don’t.

We continued driving east along the coast and stopped at Akahanga, where there were a number of fallen moais.

right: A fallen moai at Akahenga. The head is in front to the left of the picture. Note that the length of the body is substantial compared to the head. If you see a standing moai in the dirt, there is still many feet of it under the ground. This moai as about 15’ long

This moai does not have an eye socket, indicating that it had fallen in transit. The eye sockets are only chiseled in the statue after it had been erected in place, and then a coral is placed in this socket for eyes. At this site there was a young woman braving the cold wind selling moai statues to passing tourists. We purchased a middle-sized one for $40.

Alvaro’s grandfather, named Pedro Atan, in his later years also worked with Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer. Heyerdahl is, of course, well-known because of his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 5,000 miles in a self-built raft from South America to the Tuomotu Islands in 1947. This was his way of proving that ancient people were able to make these long voyages. In 1955-1956 Heyerdahl organized an expedition to Rapa Nui to investigate the carving, erection, and the transport of the moais on the island. That was when he met and worked with Pedro Atan.

Pedro told Heyerdahl he knew how to righten up a fallen moai and he would prove it, if he was given the funds to hire 18 strong men. He was told to go ahead and he did this by jacking up the upper body with a long pole just a little bit and then filling the cavity below the moai and the ground with small rocks. The body was then jacked up again a bit and more rock was filled in the ensuing void. This reduces the strain on the statue and prevented it from breaking up.

left: An old picture showing the crew of Pedro Atan putting back up a fallen moai.

By keeping up this process, the moai finally stood erect. A picture of this work is shown above.

The picture on the right shows the now standing moai. Heyerdahl is shown on the top right in blue shirt and pants; Pedro is shown in the bottom right in red long pants next to the fat guy. You can see from this picture that there is still a lot of the lower part of the moai, which is covered by the soil below what is visible.

right: The upright moai with the crew. Thor Heyerdahl and Pedro Atan are in the picture. These moais are huge. This one here is around 30 feet high.

But just like the curse of the Pharaoh on those who would disturb his eternal sleep, there is also malediction on those who tampers with the Moais. This hex also befell Pedro. After the statue was erected, they had a celebration party on the beach where the statue stood. He was there with his family. Suddenly the weather turned bad, and the wind rapidly grew in strength. They had to leave the site in a hurry. In one of the last canoes was his favorite daughter, 12 years old. Her boat capsized and she was drowned. This so saddened him that he left the island soon afterwards.

b: Rano Raraku Park

Our tour took us further East along the coast until we reached Hanga Tu’u Hata, where we turned left to climb the flanks of the extinct Rano Raraku volcano. This is the most important park on the island.

left: Hundreds of moais litter the slopes of Rano Raraku. They had been chiseled out of the volcanic granite of the mountain.

There is an entrance fee of $30 to enter. The other park on the island where an entrance fee (also $30) is charged is Oronga Park. Before you enter the customs area of Matavari Airport in Easter Island, you can buy a discount ticket from a Park kiosk on the left for $50. And also get a very good map of the island.

As you walk up the slopes from the park entrance, you hike up straight at the first intersection to come at a nice, friendly lake. In the distance you can see hundreds of moais scattered on the slopes of the volcano. But there is no path to get there for the casual tourist. You have to go back to the intersection and then turn left into the section of the park, where you can get a closer look at the many moais, standing, supine, or only partly chiseled out

Here, on the slopes of Rano Raraku, you can see up close hundreds of moais; some standing up, some fallen down, and some still in the rock being chiseled out. The picture below shows a giant moai partly chiseled out of the rock. This is work in progress. So now we can see where the moais have been created. What is not clear is how they were transported from the quarry to their final destination.

right: The head of a giant moai of a work in progress. These statues were chiseled out of the living rock using a simple hand-tool shown.

Almost all of these moais had fallen during transport. Some of them have been righted up later. You can see that because they don’t have eye sockets yet. The statues are actually mostly in the ground; only the top part is visible. The bottom part may be still 10-15 feet deep underground.

A recent article by National Geographic claims that this was to facilitate the transport of the moai, as it is “walked” to its destination. Alvaro, our guide, claims, that the eye sockets have religious significance, and are only carved in after the moai is standing, because he can then “see” and does his job in protecting his people.

left: The bottom half of these statues may be 10-15 deep in the ground.

This moai below is unusual because it depicts a woman in the kneeling position. It was excavated by Thor Heyerdahl on his visit to Rapa Nui. But here too the curse worked. As soon as the project was finished, the local supervisor in charge of the project suddenly was paralyzed and became an invalid.

right: A moai of a kneeling woman excavated by the crew of Thor Heyerdahl.

As we walked down the mountain back to our car, we could see in the distance the 15 moais standing in a row on the beach at Tongariki. That is the picture on the top of this chapter. A closer look at these moais is shown as the first picture if you click on “Easter Island” on the list of destinations above.

c: Tongariki.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the grove at the entrance to Rano Raraku Park and then left for Tongariki, where the most well-known group of Maois now stand, just a few miles away; 15 Moais in a row. These statues were toppled, probably in the 17th century during the period of tribal warfare. To make things worse, they were later scattered over a wide area by an earthquake-generated tsunami in 1960.

Japan provided the funds to rebuilt the platform, fix and restore the statues, and then to set them up nicely again in a row on the platform.

left: Picture of the restoration work.

They also used mortar or glue on the base to ensure that the statues will not topple in an earthquake. And no, they didn’t use Pedro Atan’s technique. They had modern cranes do the work to transport and righten the moais. You can see from this picture, where the statues are swathed in cloth during the operation to prevent damage, how these huge behemoths were moved around.

A picture of these 15 moais standing majestically in a row is seen as the cover picture on the top of this page. You can estimate the size of these status from the specks of human walking there. And now, thanks to modern technology, we can see how they have looked over the centuries after they had been created and installed by the original inhabitants of Easter Island

d: Ahu Te Pito Kura.

The road took us north over the island until we reached the north side. The winds come from the south so the waters here are much calmer. We stopped at the site of the Ahu Te Pito Kura at the beach. We were not really looking for the ahu, but for a large rock with strong magnetic properties.

right: This egg-shaped round rock has very strong magnetic properties.

There was a large round rock which was so magnetic that a compass placed on it would spin like crazy. Except that nobody had a compass with them, so we just have to believe that. They say it is also good for you and your soul if you hold the rock tightly and concentrate. You never know, you may win the Lottery the next time you buy a ticket.

e: Anakena Beach

We drove further west along the coast, until we reached Anakena, where there was a very nice sandy beach. This is actually the only official place you can swim. We returned to Anakena two days later, because they had festivities planned to commemorate the brave seafarers who, may centuries ago, sailed into this island.

left: The Anakena Beach, where you can swim. Or just play on the sand. And many people did.

Of course there are more moais at this location. Seven of them, and four of them with red hats. Two were rather sad-looking stumps of erstwhile larger statues.

And as usual, they were facing inland with their backs to the sea.

right: The seven moais in Anakena Beach.

From Anakena to Hanga Roa one has to traverse almost the whole length of the island. But it was a good asphalt road and we were back home in 20 minutes after we left Anakena.

IV: Touring Rapa Nui - II

Sun, 2 Dec 2012 07:32:16 -0800

a: The Ana Kai Tangata Park

On the morning of the next day, Alvaro tried to get us to Puna Pau, to see the quarry where the red rock is mined to make the hats on the moais. But the road was closed because they were upgrading the stamped ground to an asphalt road. It would be an easy drive when we come there next time.

So we went back to the south-west coast to see the cave at Ana Kai Tangata Park at an inlet of the sea. The cave was in the rocks just above the water. The water was emerald blue and clean.

left: The cave looks like the one on the left of the picture, but it is actually in the right of the picture.

This is a historic cave of sorts, because it is connected to the Tangata Manu or the Bird Man cult. There are cave paintings of these birds, which Alvaro believes had been “improved” by a local artist recently to make them more attractive to the tourists.

right: The rock painting shows the manutara, or Sooty Tern, as red birds. The Tern is a migrant seabird, nesting every spring in the isles across Orongo.

b: Ahu Vinapu.

Of more interest was Ahu Vinapu, which was not far from here, where two ahus (platforms for the moais) had been built.

left: Platform 1 shows a poorly constructed ahu, with the rocks placed there showing a not very sophisticated construction with primitive tools.

The picture on the left shows a very primitive ahu.

But just 150 yards to the right of this ahu there is platform 2, which is shown below. The rocks in this ahu are so well cut, they rival in quality with the stonework in Cuzco, Peru. Look at how well the surfaces match between adjacent rocks and how that small rectangular stone fits exactly in the opening. Also look at the size of the rocks between platform 1 and 2 and how flat the surface is of the platform.

right: This is Platform 2, just 150 yards to the left.

How can these people develop the necessary knowledge for these huge improvements in just a scant few years, or a few decades at the most. Somebody must have come and taught them how to do it. Heyerdahl believes these were Incas, who came from Peru, another item to support his hypothesis that these ancient people know how to sail these oceans.

c: Orongo Park.

Now we drove up the flanks of the Rano Kau. This is an extinct volcano, and there is a huge caldera on top. We stopped at the Mirador, which is the place to view the 1600 meter wide and 200 meter deep lake. See the picture at the top of this page. Alvaro tells us that his grandmother used to go down to the caldera on horseback to wash clothes, pick up herbs, and come back with clean, fresh water. There are not many places on the island where you could get fresh drink water in those years. And you can see, it is a long way down to the caldera.

left: On the rim of the caldera is a stone with an ancient carving of a bird-man.

Alvaro’s grandmother was a decisive resolute, person. She had been married earlier and had children already. But her husband died and her family forced her to marry another person she didn’t like. So the day before the wedding, she took off and hid in a cave for several weeks. When she came back, she threatened to go away again if she was forced to have sex with her new husband. So they never did. When this husband died, she married Alvaro’s grandfather, and they had several children together.

Further up, at the end of the road, close to the top of the mountain, was the entrance to the park, which we had to explore by foot. This is the other park on the island, where an entrance fee ($30) is charged.

d: The Tangata-manu (bird-man cult) ceremonies.

The ten chieftains of the island would come here each September for daily ceremonies; at night they sleep in these specially built stone huts. This place is high up in the mountains, with a sweeping view of the surroundings.

right: These circular huts are where the participants for the Tangata-manu ceremonies spend the night.

The chiefs and the contestants sleep here during the ceremonial period. Note the small entrance at ground level; you have to crawl to get inside.

During the day, the chiefs would hold the prescribed ceremonies in an area with a tremendous view around. And every day their men would scale down the cliffs to the sea several hundred feet down, swim to one of the three islands offshore, and look for the nest of a Manutara (Sooty Tern). These birds come here every September to breed, mostly on Moto Nui, the biggest of the three islands. It is also the furthest away.

left: The three islands of the coast at Orongo. It is a long swim from the mainland, especially after you have scaled down several hundred feet of cliff.

If a man finds an egg, he would place it in the special cleft in his hat, swim back to the main island and hurry up the cliff to present the egg to his chief. The man with the first egg wins the contest and that ends the ceremony for that year. I presume he would be well rewarded, because it is a long climb down and up the mountain and a long swim to the islands and back.

These contestants must have been in excellent physical shape, since this would probably require just as much energy as for a regular triathlon. And these guys do this very day, until the first egg is found and delivered.

This is a park high up on the side of the mountain with magnificent views of the surroundings. At one place you have also a gorgeous view of the mile wide caldera of the volcano, now a lake filled with plants.

e: Ahu Akivi

In the afternoon Alvaro tried again to go to Puna Pau, but the road was still closed. He’ll have to wait a few more days before the asphalt road was finished. So we drove further to Ahu Akivi, a restored archeological complex. Here were seven moais in a row and they were all facing the sea. Moais usually have their backs to the sea. You can see from the size of the tourists between he statues, how big they actually are.

There seems to be an interesting astronomical observation associated with these set of statues. If you draw a line from the middle moai perpendicular to the line where the moais stand, you will get the point where the sun sets on December 21, the day of the summer solstice. Remember, we are in the Southern hemisphere, and that is the longest day of the year. And a hundred feet away on that imaginary line to the sun is a large, ancient, stone marker, supporting the argument that the placement of the moais were guided by astronomical information.

right: The Seven Explorers in Ahu Akivi.

Legend has it that the King of the Lost Continent sent out seven of his men to look for a new place to live, because he knew his country would very soon disappear in a cataclysmic holocaust. These explorers found this island, which they actually didn’t like very much, but it was the best available. So they went back to report their findings to their king. But when they came home, they found that the king had already ordered his men to pack and get ready to leave, because the catastrophe was just around the corner. And yes, things happened soon afterwards and the continent was lost forever.

These moais were constructed maybe a thousand years later by the the people of Rapa Nui to honor these seven men. No skeletons have been found below these statues, so they have not been constructed to honor a person from that same period. And they were looking towards the sea, which was very unusual.

f: Ana Te Pahu, or the Banana Caves.

We drove further to Ana Te Pahu, or the Banana Caves. Since Rapa Nui is a volcanic island, there are many caves in the congealed lava beds. Some of these caves are connected to each other through tunnels, similar to those found in Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands. People used to live in these caves, especially during the last years of the Williamson-Balfour period.

We walked down a depression and then we walked into a large cave. At the end was a very dark tunnel, which we then entered. There were other tourists doing the same, but Alvaro was the best prepared. Everybody in his group had a bicycle helmet as well as flashlights to see where we were going.

left: Entrance to a cave and tunnel.

The helmets were a very important safety feature, because in the dark it was easy to bump your head on the roof, which can be quite low in some sections. This happened to us several times, and we were glad we had our head protection on.

right: Walking through the tunnel.

The ground and some parts of the walls were wet, because it had rained the day before. We walked for a few hundred feet before Alvaro decided to take an exit. It was a most interesting experience, even though the rocky floor was rather slippery at times.

g: Ahu Renga.

This was a single statue, well inland. Because of the location, this moai probably represents a chieftain, or Orikimao. Interestingly, on the lower part in front of his body there were two pairs of folded hands carved in the rock, which is difficult to see in the picture.

This would indicate that he had two pairs of hands? In front of him was a long elongated platform, indicating that ceremonies were regularly held there.

h: Cultural show.

left: Cultural show in Hango Roa. Tickets were $20/pp. The show was obviously directed to tourists.

In the evening there was a cultural show in a venue just two blocks down the street. It was a show of local dances and the costumes and the performance were similar and typical of a Polynesian show. The place, which had a capacity of maybe 500 people, was packed. I didn’t realize that there were that many tourists on the island.

V: Celebration party in Anakena

Sun, 2 Dec 2012 05:19:19 -0800

For our last day in Rapa Nui, we were very lucky that there was a large ceremony planned in Anakena Beach. So we hired a taxi to drive us from our guesthouse there and back. The fare was 17,000 CPS, or about $35. The usual fare was CPS 15,000, but we looked like tourists, and tourists have money, the taxi drivers assume. The fare included waiting time. He didn’t mind waiting for us, also because he felt he was lucky he could get a free lunch. Because in celebrations like this there is free food for everybody.

The revelry was to celebrate the landing of the original people on the island centuries ago. Two catamarans, both using the wind only as power source, had retraced the path of their ancestors. So they were the honored guests.

left: These two catamarans came a long way to join the party. One came from New Zealand; the other came from the Marquesas.

One catamaran had Maoris from New Zealand on board; they had sailed some 7,000 kms against prevailing winds and it took them 4 months to get here. The other catamaran was from the Marquesa, a bit closer by, and they only needed 1 1/2 months to get here. There were a total of 20 visitors from these distant shores, three of whom were women. They were here already for some days, because it was certainly difficult to guess how much time they would need to get here.

There was a lot of dancing, music and variety of different ceremonies. The locals had come out in full force in their skimpy costumes and covered with body paintings. People were just milling around in the beginning. Miss Rapa Nui was there. She was fully dressed holding tight to the ceremonial paddle.

Right: The locals were there in full force. Miss Rapa Nui is on the right front holding the ceremonial paddle.

There were a couple of hundred people around, all seemingly having a good time. Pigs were being slowly roasted and steamed in holes dug in the ground and heated with preheated hot volcanic rocks. On the top of these ovens there were coverings of pandan or banana leaves, similar to what we see in the cooking process in an imu in Hawaii.

left: The ceremony of offering food to the honored guest.

The man in the middle must be one who had come in one of the catamarans. The bearer of the freshly roasted meat is probably a local.

right: A fierce war dance, looks like.

This was a strenuous war dance. The ladies are taking a rest in the background. The eyes had already been affixed to the dominant maoi earlier in the day.

left: The ongoing party at the feet of the moais; that is the flag of Rapa Nui, a red moon with two faces humans opposing each other in the corners on a white background.

This picture clearly shows the flag of Rapa Nui.

right: A comely mother and her daughter in traditional garb. But she is anachronistic enough to carry a modern camera.

After the ceremonies here was free food for everyone; pit-cooked pork, sweet potatoes and veggies. But there was a long line and we were not fast enough; by the time we came to the serving table, all the sweet potatoes and veggies were gone. But there was a lot of pork left.

The special guests did not have to wait in this long line. They could help themselves from long buffet tables specially set up for them. They had enough starch, veggies and dessert to eat their fill.

left: There was enough pork for all.

That was a wonderful party. We drove back to our hotel, took a shower, and left for the airport to catch the plane back to Lima.