Feb 8-11 Easter Island

Exciting day! We're up at 0dark30 to be ready for our pickup at 6am.  The flight isn't until 9:35am, but Globus likes to make sure that everything works, even if it means a lot of waiting for us.  I'll bet there have been times when they arrive for a 6am pickup and they have to wake up the guests. So they leave extra time. I did take a picture out the window because I like night time pictures of cities, and we had time to kill before 6am.

At the airport there's a special entrance for flights to Easter Island.  You must fill out a form beforehand that shows you have accommodations on the island and you have a return flight booked. They want to make sure you have a place to stay, and you're not planning on staying forever.

Once through that we had only two hours to kill.  Fortunately there was a Dunkin'. And lots of EI residents were buying a dozen donuts to take back with them. I'd think there's an opportunity to open a franchise on the island.

The message board shows our flight in both English and Spanish.

Our hotel is the Taha Tai, a lovely place. The island looks like something tropical, even though it's well outside the tropics.  It was warm and humid during our stay. I'm glad that Taha Tai has air conditioning in the rooms.

We're on the western side of island, and the waves are coming from a long way to meet up with this island. And this is one of the islands that defines the most remote place on earth, that section of the south Pacific that NASA chooses to dump satellites into.

This is the Rano Raraku quarry, "where you find 394 statues in various stages of completion. It appears that the moai production was abruptly abandoned, leaving us a frozen snapshot that reveals how the moai were carved out of volcanic rocks."

About 400 years ago not only was new construction of moai halted, but all of the existing ones were toppled. Everything that stands now is a restoration. This is a fallen moai, perhaps in transport from the quarry when everything stopped.

Lots of horses roam freely on the island, although most seem to be branded. Here a family unit is heading off somewhere.

Excellent example of a toilet identifier.

We ate lunch here one day, with a great grilled chicken. Probably our best meal on the island.

Ahu Tongariki, with 15 beautifully restored moai. All moai face inland, away from the sea, watching over the people.

More horses, or maybe the same ones.

The beach of Anakena, where King Hotu Matu’a first landed on Rapa Nui. This is viewed by the natives as the first settling of the island.

The backsides of the moai have hieroglyphics on them.

In the village of Hanga Roa we had a dinner at the Club Sandwich, which we recommend. And order only a single sandwich since the two of us couldn't finish even that. Sitting on the second floor, we had an excellent view of a soccer game. Definitely not the Premier League, but locals playing hard.    

At the nearby marina, someone was cleaning their catch which attracted a large number of turtles to share the remains.

A restoration in Hanga Roa.

Ahu Tahai, which also contains the grave of William Mulloy an archeologist who directed most of the restoration of moai in the 60's and 70's.

A cave dwelling, now a home for horses.

An outline of an early dwelling that probably started as an overturned ship, and was later built up.

The grave of William Mulloy.

This restored dwelling seems to have gone to the dogs.

At the southern end of the island is an islet used in traditional ceremonies. 
Here at the ceremonial village of Orongo is an unrestored dwelling...

...and a restored underground dwellings.

The caldera of the Rano Kau volcano, with a freshwater lake now.

Our flight back to Santiago. The trip back is about 4.5 hours. Coming to the island took about 5.5 hours. It's a 2300 mile flight and the jet stream lives in the south also.

 I'm not going to attempt to tell you the history of Easter Island.  It can be found online in many places. Archeology and tradition diverge, and not all archeologists tell the same story. Tradition is also faulty since the native population was at times reduced to just a handful of people. The men trained to be the storytellers were all killed during the enslavement period, further eroding native history recollection.

Easter Island was a fascinating visit.  Come for a week and enjoy the beaches, or just a couple of days to visit the moai.