Petersontravels

On our 3rd and final full day on Easter Island we had two more excursions.  First up was a trip to a petroglyph site, Papa Vaka, which has several marine figures etched into the rock.

You can clearly see the tuna and a shark on this rock.  It’s best to visit this site in the morning when the sun is lower in the sky, hence making this our first stop.

These carvings are said to represent a squid and an assortment of fish hooks.

The largest petroglyph at the site is supposed to be a a double-hulled canoe, likely meant to represent the type of craft that brought the first Polynesians to Rapa Nui, likely from Tahiti.

We took a short hike along the shoreline, and two local dogs followed us the entire way.  It seems everybody here lets their dogs run free.

The scenery is stunning!

Our morning excursion culminated at yet another moai site, this one called Ahu Nau Nau.

I’m not convinced the red rock is supposed to represent a topknot of hair.  It looks like it represents a crown of some type to me.  This photo allows you to easily see the hands on the moai.  The leaders of the time supposedly had very long fingernails.

Another angle of the 7 moai with the palm trees in the background.

An important discovery was made among these moai during excavation work in 1978, this original eye made of coral.  They would all look so different with these eyes!

This spot sits right on the ocean next to Rapa Nui’s best beach, Anakena.  With fine white sand and a protected harbor, it’s a perfect spot for swimming.  We headed to the beach and spent about 20 minutes in the water.

I didn’t get a photo from the beach, but here is one from the internet.  I believe we set our towels down in the shade of the pictured palm tree.  This beach is believed to be the landing spot of the first Polynesians to arrive.

After another lunch back at the resort we embarked on our last excursion.  First up was Vinapu, which unfortunately has nothing to do with wine.  This moai site with an ahu has not been reconstructed at all.

The interesting part of this site is the ahu itself, with remarkable construction evident in the tight fitting stones.

The moai here are in their original position since they were toppled.

Our guide pointed out this moai that is almost completely buried with just the face showing.  Kinda creepy!

One last moai at this site that is supposed to be one of the few females represented.  Somebody has even drawn a diagram in the dirt to suggest how you can tell it’s a female.  Gotta be honest, just looks like a rock.

We then traveled up the side of Rapa Nui’s largest volcano, Rano Kau, to a spot where you can look into the crater.  Rano Kau in the Rapa Nui language describes a “wide volcano filled with water”, which is quite fitting.

The views from the craters rim are excellent!

On the rim of the crater is a petroglyph which our guide asked us to guess what it is supposed to represent.  My guess was a hitchhiking rabbit?

Below is an artists depiction of the petroglyph, which is known as the “Birdman”, a man with the head of a bird.  The Birdman comes from a traditional ritual competition on Rapa Nui where each tribe assigned a member to swim to an adjacent islet to collect the first sooty tern egg of the season and then swim back and scale the volcanic cliffs to present it to the islands elders.  The winning tribe would rule the island for the next year, and were entitled to gifts of food and other tributes from the losing tribes.

The competition started from the clifftop village called Orongo.

The site has a small visitor center that describes the history of the village and the Birdman competition.  This photo shows a moai that was stolen by Britain in 1868 and is currently housed in the British Museum.  It is considered a masterpiece and among the finest and best preserved moai ever created.  Chile refers to this moai as “stolen friend” and has repeatedly called on the British to return the statue.  I’m pretty sure we saw it there when we visited London a few years ago.

This house provides a good example of how the Rapa Nui built the rooftops of their villages.  Orongo was not occupied full time, and was primarily used during the Birdman competition.

Despite not being used full time, the village is quite large.  Each tribe would have their own building to house them during the competition, which could last for days.  The entire village was restored in 1974, with sponsorship from UNESCO.

The buildings are all somewhat circular in nature with a sod roof.

This photo is of the islet (called Motu Nui, furthest from shore) that the competitors swam to in order to collect the egg.  The race was very dangerous, and many participants were killed by sharks, by drowning, or by falling from cliff faces, though replacements were apparently easily available.

Directly adjacent to where the race would start is this petroglyph covered rock

One last look at the crater from Orongo.

As well as one last shot of Orongo.  While it rained when we first arrived, it blew over quickly!

On our final morning we visited Hanga Roa, the only real town on Rapa Nui, and did some shopping.  Let’s just say the best shopping was at the airport.  Regardless, the town church is unique and worth a visit.

Even Jesus has a Rapa Nui vibe.

Our flight awaits!

One last shot of Rapa Nui.  This was an awesome ending to an incredible vacation!  Bucket list checked off!!

Thanks as always for reading.  The highlights of the trip were the beginning and the end….the epic Iguazu Falls and the amazing cultural scenery of Easter Island!  Definitely plan on visiting both at least once in your life!

Despite having so much to see on the island, Explora didn’t require us to get up at the crack of dawn, which was nice.  Our first excursion departed at 0930, and our van took us to Ana Te Pahu, a site with a network of lava tube caves.  It’s a short hike from the entrance to the caves, and along the way there are several points of interest.  Our guide Ricky pointed out this unusual looking piece of carved volcanic rock that was once a corner of a Rapa Nui building.  You can see several other blocks in the background.  These small holes carved into the blocks allowed pieces to be fitted together much like Legos.

We also passed a single decapitated moai on an ahu.  There would have been several here originally.  This moai is older than others, as they were built larger and larger as time progressed.

The first sign of the caves was this tree growing right out of one of them.  I honestly don’t know how the tree got started as the sunlight would have hit the floor of the cave for maybe an hour a day, but life finds a way.

The main entrance to the caves is almost completely obscured by vegetation, including these banana trees.

Here we are just inside the cave entrance.  The helmets were a very good idea, as there were spots where we actually needed them.  Some of the natives lived in these caves, and they built up rock piles that they would sleep on during rainy weather when the caves would flood.

We’ve been in lava tube caves before, and they lack the formations you see in limestone caverns, so it’s interesting but not really all that beautiful.

It is unique however to see trees growing right out of them!

This is the view looking back towards the entrance.  We exited from a different opening maybe 50 yards later.

We jumped into the van and drove maybe a mile to the next spot, Ahu Akivi, another set of moai on an ahu.  These 7 moai actually face towards the ocean, aligned to face the setting sun during the Spring Equinox.  One thing our guide pointed out regarding these moai that sit on an ahu is they all have an odd number of statues.

Here is a view of the moai from the rear.  You can clearly see where the decapitated heads were reattached to the bodies with cement.  It’s interesting to me that they didn’t decapitate all of the statues.

One last stop on this excursion that was directly adjacent to the main town on Rapa Nui, Hanga Roa.  This site is called Ahu Tahai, and sits right on the waters edge.

This moai is the only one on the island with the eyes restored.  The eyes were made of cement versus the originals which were made of coral.

This site has 3 distinct ahu’s as seen in the below photo.

The moai here aren’t in the best shape, but this spot is quite popular at sunset as the sun sets directly behind them.  It’s also just a few hundred yards from the most populated part of the island.

After lunch back at the resort we had another excursion to the volcanic quarry where all of the moai came from, known as Rano a Raraku.  Half of the islands moai are located here, including hundreds in various states of completion.

This Chimango Caracara was posing in front of a fallen moai.

This moai was in progress when the carving suddenly stopped.  There are several theories as to why the natives stopped carving moai, but the most likely answer is the very foundation of their culture, the belief that erecting statues brought prosperity and spiritual goodwill,  was challenged as the Rapa Nui suffered hardship and internal strife.

The largest moai on the island is here at the quarry, known as “El Gigante”.  This moai would have stood 72′ tall if it was completed and erected.

These moai on the slope of the quarry are actually complete, they have just been partially buried.

These are said to be a showroom of sorts, showing the potential suitors who may want a moai made in their honor the options available to them.  These two are my favorite moai, almost comical with their expressions.

The style differences here might have been showing off one carving artist’s skills versus another.

One last shot of the “moai showroom”.

From this site you can see the 15 moai we visited the day prior, and this view shows how close they are to the ocean.

Our guide took us on a short hike leading away from the quarry, where there are several toppled moai laying on their face.  Nobody is sure why they ended up here, but there is a thought that if they toppled in transport that they no longer held their “mana” and were abandoned.

Speaking of transport, there are a multitude of theories as to how the moai were moved from the quarry to their final location, sometimes miles away.  The most popular theory is they were moved upright with ropes (made of hair and grasses), as shown in the video below.

The verbal history of the natives has always said the moai “walked” from the quarry to their final destination, and that may have appeared to be the case if you were watching the above from afar.  There is also a local joke that it was aliens who moved them.  I guess we’ll never know?

At dinner that night they served butter in the shape of a moai.  Nice touch!

Coming up, still more moai sites as well as some petroglyphs.