- Breakfast is served from 8 to 10 every day. When I walked out of my room at 8:15, I was the last one at the table. We started discussing our plans for the day. Natalie and I planned to check out the Museum to get a better understanding of the Island´s history and learnt from Bob that the Museum is closed indefinitely. Paul signed up for a full-day guided tour which takes you to some of the significant moai/ahu along the east and north coast. A full-day guided tour is pretty expensive (USD 60 per person, and another USD 60 for the National Park entrance fee), but definitely not a bad idea considering both Natalie and myself have zero knowledge on the Island´s history and the museum was closed. Otherwise we would be seeing moai after moai scattered around the island, not knowing what they mean. Some half-day tours to the Orongo Village and Ahu Akiv were also available, but we decided to visit them ourselves after we got some basics from the full-day tour.
- After breakfast, we walked to the nearest tourist information to inquire about a full-day tour availabiliy. We lucked out - an English-speaking guide was available and he was to pick us up in a bit. Esteban arrived in his SUV in approximately 15 minutes and he would be our private tour guide for the day.
- Esteban is an archeologist. He teaches a couple classes in college and works as a tour/trekking guide on the side. We learnt so much about the Island´s history and current political status on the ride to the first destination. For instance, the separatists are seeking independence from Chile amid a conflict over land, and for a couple weeks now, unarmed indigenous inhabitants had taken over certain public properties claiming ancestral rights to the land. Political conflict began after it was learned that the
group behind the appointment of Easter Island´s governor intended to acquire parcels of land
that the Easter Islanders had ceded to the government for businesses
and public use. The inhabitants were demanding return of land through these symbolic takeovers. That explained the closing of the museum. That explained the red Reimiro flags flying at the different properties. Now all things started adding up together.
- Our first stop was Ahu Hanga Tee, a site with eight fallen moai and their Pukao (topknots). Some of the
topknots fell into the sea when the moai were toppled during the tribal wars but were
later recovered. At this site, Esteban showed us how to distinguish the boat-shaped houses (made of basalt), and better yet he brought along notes and pictures to aid visualization. After Ahu Hanga Tee, we made stops at Ahu Akahanga and Ahu
Tetenga. At both places are fallen moai basically in the same condition
as they were at our first stop: split horizontally with their faces buried in the ground.
- Volcan Rano Raraku is a volcanic crater well known for being the quarry which supplied the stone from which the moai were carved. On the outside of the quarry are numerous standing moai partially buried to their shoulders. Tons of incomplete moai (estimate to be 400 plus) are scattered in the quarry, with the largest at 71 feet in height, almost twice that of any moai ever completed. Some of the incomplete moai seem to have been abandoned after the
carvers encountered inclusions of very hard rock in the material, and others were just never separated from the rock in which they are carved. Among the moai was an unusual one with a kneeling posture - Tukuturi. Tukuturi was made of red scoria from Puna Pau (quarry for Pukao), but sits at Rano Raraku.
- From the top of the volcano were sights of the fallen statues that never made it to the ahu. According to Esteban, you can follow these fallen moai and recreate the path of moai transportation from the volcano. Sounded really exciting - one that tops my to-do list for the next couple days.
- Other stops include Ahu Tongariki, the largest ahu on the Island with fifteen restored moai; Ahu Te Pito Kura, the largest moai ever successfully erected (but eventually toppled), and finally Ahu Nau Nau, a series of seven moai with preserved facial details (four of which have pukao) at Anakena Beach. The beach is where the island´s first settlers are believed to have landed. Not a surprise considering the grove of coconut palms stretching along the white sand and blue water. In the past I associated paradise with Haiwai, Cancun ... now, Easter Island, hands-down. Our tour ended at 5-ish. It was an expensive tour, but worth every penny. Now we are ready to do our own exploring.
- Oh, I need to mention this. It is great to scuba diving in Easter Island, and a lot of tours emphasize ´scuba diving with underwater moai´. (Thanks to Esteban, I now know that) the underwater moai you see during scuba diving is a fake one! There is one actual underwater moai, but it is so deep that you won´t get anywhere close to it, so people just came up with a substitute. How scam-my is that?
- Most tours start around the same time (at 10 am) and have the same itinerary, so we kept bumping into Paul´s group again and again.
- There were 2 or 3 recommended cultural dance shows, and Bob was most interested in Kari Kari, a dance group that performs Rapanui and polynesian ballet accompanied with ethnic musical instruments. Bob, Paul and I joined for the dance show, (Natalie was out for dinner) and it was pretty enjoyable. On two occasions, the dancers walked down to the seating area and invited audience to join the dance on stage. Paul was invited on stage both times (He certainly can dance!). Overall the dancing was fabulous. Couldn´t say the same for the singing (especially on the gals´ end), it was an excellent introduction to the Ethnica culture and tradition.
