Easter Island is expensive to reach, expensive to stay on, and a bit of a hassle to get to. If you don't speak any Spanish, you'll probably have a hard time getting around, since almost nobody there speaks any English. All that said,…Read More

Easter Island is expensive to reach, expensive to stay on, and a bit of a hassle to get to. If you don't speak any Spanish, you'll probably have a hard time getting around, since almost nobody there speaks any English. All that said, all of the expense and trouble is absolutely worth it. This was a trip of a lifetime. Standing in the shadow of the moai is truly awe-inspiring.

For two cabins for four nights each, the total was 400,000 Chilean pesos, which is roughly $800 American, or $50/night for the four of us. A representative picked us up at the airport, gave us leis made of local flowers, and drove us to the cabins. The drive lasted a little bit less than two minutes. We got there and settled in a bit and then decided to take a walk in to Hanga Roa.

Hanga Roa is a tiny town, full of mostly restaurants and tourist shops. There is a church and a school and a couple of ATMs, and a couple of small grocery stores if you want to eat on the go. Food is very expensive, though! For the materials to make simple sandwiches with some soda and potato chips, we had to shell out something like $20!

That first night, my friend and I attended a native dance show in Hanga Roa. These happen almost nightly, at several different places, and we went to another one a couple of nights later. If you go to Easter Island, don't miss these shows. They feature native dress, native dancing, and a bit of abstract storytelling about the native tradition at large.

On the second day, we rented a truck from our cabins. They didn't require a driver's license or a down payment or anything. Everything on the island is so laid back, and there's nowhere that we could go, so there's no reason for them to be too concerned about anything. Driving around the island was quite fun, though nervewracking, because even where the roads are paved, they're paved quite badly.

We drove up through the center of the island to Anakena Beach, on the island's north shore. It sports an impressive set of moai. From there, we drove east toward the Poike peninsula, stopping here and there to look at fallen moai. Right around sunset, we reached Ahu Tongariki, a huge platform with15 upright moai. As the sun set behind the Rano Raraku volcano, we stood and marveled. Sunset was a wonderful time to see this site, as the deep pinks and oranges and reds illuminated the moai beautifully. We liked Tongariki so much, in fact, that my friend and I traveled back there late that night to take some long-exposure pictures as the moon rose over the site. After that, we returned the following morning to capture the site as the sun rose behind the moai. All in all, it's a wonderful site to visit at various times of day, to examine the different ways that the moai can look in different types of light.

The next day we traveled to what I consider to be the crown jewel of Easter Island: Rano Raraku. This is the "factory" where all of the moai were made. It's a volcano with a lake in the middle, and you can actually hike up inside of the volcano if you wish. The outside of the volcano is the real draw, though, as it is dotted with hundreds of moai in various stages of completion. It's a really fascinating place that really makes visitors wonder. What was the point of carving so many moai and not taking them out to ahu along the coast?

On the last day we were there, we visited Orongo, the stone village on the southwestern peninsula of the island. It's from this location, perched on the edge of the Rano Kau volcano, that the Birdman cult held its annual rites. The village consists of several low stone dwellings, mostly reconstructions of the originals, where priests of the Birdman cult would come and live for a time and crown a Birdman every year. Natives would compete to swim out to the two tiny islets off the shore of Orongo, grab a bird's egg, and then swim back to the village, and the winner would be declared the year's Birdman. I didn't find Orongo to be quite as interesting as the rest of the island, but it's still absolutely fascinating in its own right. It's just that it's overshadowed by the much-more-famous moai.Close

Tallship Soren Larsen voyage - Have you ever dreamed of going to sea? Have you ever thought about an adventure across the Pacific? As of today, february 24th, we are embarking on a the adventure of a lifetime! I have been cook on Soren now…Read More

Tallship Soren Larsen voyage -
Have you ever dreamed of going to sea? Have you ever thought about an adventure across the Pacific? As of today, february 24th, we are embarking on a the adventure of a lifetime! I have been cook on Soren now for fourteen months, but this next trip is one of a kind. We are going to sail some 4500 nautical miles to one of the most isolated places on earth-Easter Island!

There are twenty five of us sailing Soren Larsen towards Rapa-Nui, each for a different reason. There will be times of sea-sickness, times of being scared and times of wishing to see land, but there will be one thing that will hold us together, were are here to have fun and make the most out of the experience.

For the past six days I personally have experienced sea-sickness and being scared, but at the end of the day I still have a smile on my face! I feel very protected by the ship and her crew and we are having a blast so far-even if it has been force 8 and 9 since the day of departure!

Martin celebrated his 74th birthday on the 26th and we had such a great day that we decided to do it all over again on the following day; well we crossed the International dateline (so fair enough I would want to celebrate my birthday twice!)

We managed to get the Upper Topsail down below decks for super sewer Sarah to mend. Now I have to hand it to the girl, she did a magnificent job with her first sail repair considering the circumstances. On deck people were cold, sea-sick and wanting warmth while poor Sarah was below decks in the muggy air and had to take breaks to rush up on deck and feed the fish! In two days she did a damn fine job and with just our luck the seas and the wind eased, the sun came out and the sail was bent back on the yard!

As it stands now there is no lack of water on the ship. We are dipping our cap rail into the eerie cobalt wash of the sea. We are able to shower once a day, but judging by the appearance of everyone at the lunch table, they are too exhausted to stand in the shower even for just a minute, their bunks cry out to them as soon as they are off watch. It has been a hard few days, we still have some 25 days to go!

The thermometer continues to drop and as more layers are worn by the watch keepers Stacey and I dread the thought of having to go on deck to get fruit or veggies our to the lockers. On that note, the produce is lasting far beyond what we expected, must be the 13˚C temperatures!

We are definitely in the roaring "40s", the ship continues to rock and roll and cooking is no easy task. The watches rotate with little need of reminders of what is necessary for the 4 hours of duty; a routine has finally been established!

Today is our 16th day of sailing, we are "just" half way and the sun is out for one of the first times since departure. Sheets, t-shirts, wool socks and sweaters are hanging around the deck, they dry in no time; it’s a reminder of how difficult washing can be at sea- nothing dries in the salt air unless the sun is beaming and today is that day! There are line-ups for washing buckets and clothes line space!

We are very entertained considering there are no TVs or radios, we had a limerick contest and tonight there is a brain teaser organized for 1800hrs. Each watch has to come up with 5 different nautical questions to quiz the other watches on, let’s see how smart these sailors really are! Anyway's , smoko is in 15 minutes and I should put the kettles on, the regulars will be waiting.Close

Easter Island is one of the most remote of the inhabited places on earth. Only some 150 square miles in area, it lies in the Pacific Ocean, 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America and 1,250 miles from the nearest inhabitable land of…Read More

Easter Island is one of the most remote of the inhabited places on earth. Only some 150 square miles in area, it lies in the Pacific Ocean, 2,000 miles off the west coast of South America and 1,250 miles from the nearest inhabitable land of Pitcairn Island.

Easter Island has a unique story, much of which is surrounded in mystery. Its volcanic soil was not suited for crop production, as was the soil of other Polynesian islands. What made Easter Island different from the other islands in the area was that crop production took very little effort, as virtually the only crop that would grow in the sterile soil was the sweet potato.

This grew in abundance. There was no fishing or other means of food production other than the raising of a few flocks of chickens. Therefore, there was ample time for the clan chiefs to perform ceremonial activities.

The result was the creation of the most advanced of all the Polynesian societies and one of the most complex in the world for its limited resource base. The Easter Islanders engaged in two main activities which were elaborate rituals and monument construction. Some of the ceremonies involved recitation from Polynesian writings known as rongorongo. Another form of ritual was based on the bird cult at Orongo, and the remains of forty-seven special houses with raised platforms and high-relief rock carvings can be seen on the island.

Social activities centered upon separate ceremonial centers. These took the form of large stone platforms, similar to those found in other parts of Polynesia and known as ahu, which were used for burials, ancestor worship and to commemorate past clan chiefs. Over 300 of these platforms were constructed on the island, mainly near the coast.

A number of these ahu have sophisticated astronomical alignments, usually toward one of the solstices or the equinox. At each ceremonial site between one and fifteen of the huge stone statues were erected. Constructing them required extensive peasant labor. The statues were carved, using only obsidian stone tools, at the quarry at Rano Raraku. They were shaped to form a male head and torso. On top of the head was placed a 'topknot' of red stone weighing about ten tons.

The material for this part of the statue was obtained from a different quarry. The carving was a time-consuming task. The most challenging problem, however, was how to transport the statues, each some twenty feet in length and weighing several tens of tons, across the island and to then erect them on top of the ahu.

Lacking any draft animals, they had to rely on humans to drag the statues across the island using tree trunks as rollers. This required the cutting of almost every tree on the island as the statue construction increased. By 1600 the island was almost completely deforested and statue erection ceased , leaving many of the effigies stranded at the quarry.

The deforestation of the island not only marked the end of the elaborate social and ceremonial life, it also destroyed the daily routines for the population generally. From 1500 onward, the shortage of trees forced many to abandon building houses from timber and to live in caves. When the wood eventually ran out altogether about a century later, everyone had to use the only materials left. They eventually had only stone shelters dug into the hillsides or reed huts cut from the vegetation that grew round the edges of the crater lakes. Canoes could no longer be built and only reed boats incapable of long voyages were made.

Fishing was also more difficult because nets had previously been made from the paper mulberry tree (which could also be made into cloth) and that was no longer available. Removal of the tree cover also affected the soil of the island, which had never been fertilized properly due to the lack of animal manure to replace nutrients utilized by the crops. Increased exposure caused soil erosion and the leaching out of essential nutrients. The only source of food on the island unaffected by these problems was the chickens. As they became ever more important, they had to be protected from theft and the introduction of stone-built defensive chicken houses can be dated to this phase of the island's history. It became impossible to support 7,000 people on this diminishing resource base, and numbers fell rapidly, spelling the death knell of the island. Warfare broke out between various factions, there was some cannibalism, and for a time the island virtually died out.

In recent years, tourism has become established as the main source of income for Easter Island. When the winds and tides are favorable, ships anchor and use tenders to transport passengers through the perilous shoals at the entrance to the harbor. Once on shore, tours are given to explore the island and view the remaining effigies, all of which are impressive as to height and features.

Small shops sell mementoes such as photos of the statues, miniature replicas, and postcards. The island vistas are remarkable as seen from the sea, and the volcanic formations are of interest.

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Monday March 22 We started the day by heading to the craft market. Antonio scouted some moai statues, eventually bartering and buying a nice one for himself. I felt too nauseous to participate, especially when I happened upon the fresh fish booth. Whoooaaa. There are several unrestored moai…Read More

Monday March 22
We started the day by heading to the craft market. Antonio scouted some moai statues, eventually bartering and buying a nice one for himself. I felt too nauseous to participate, especially when I happened upon the fresh fish booth. Whoooaaa.

There are several unrestored moai sites, with toppled statues lining the north coast, as well as a couple of brilliant sand beaches. (Really the only beaches on the island suitable for swimming.) Anakena beach is your classical South Pacific beach; deep blue water, sand, palm trees - add some moai and it's perfect.

A relatively late development in the manufacturing of moai was the inclusion of a 'topknot'. There is a special quarry on the island where a certain type of red volcanic rock can be found - it's in a small crater in the middle of the island. We decided to check it out. It was actually kind of boring - though it was interesting to note that there were still a couple dozen large topknots lying around, never having been rolled to their final destination. There were a couple of large bulls locking horns and fighting close by (unfenced and roaming wild) so we decided to hoof it before they took Isabel's red shirt as an invitation to gore the three of us.

The next, and last, major site we visited was Ahu Akivi. This is the only complex where the moai are positioned facing the ocean. No one knows why this particular group are so stationed. Of all the sites on the island, this is my favourite. It was in the middle of a farmer's field, and I think it is overlooked by a lot of tourists who visit. It was deathly quiet when we were there. The moai are old, decrepit, and covered in lichen (which might appear as guano.) We stayed here for some time, enjoying the serenity and taking pictures. This is one of my favourite pictures - the lonely moai silent markers [50K] of a forgotten culture.

There are a series of caves close to Ahu Akivi. They stretch underground for several hundred yards. At one point they served as dwellings on the island, and you can see some evidence of cave art and rock structures. It was a welcome respite from the searing heat and humidity of the day.

Tuesday March 23

My final full day on the island (I leave Wednesday at 11am.) As we've covered most of the actual sites on the island, it's time to do the museum and shopping thing. There is one museum on the island, close to Ahu Tahai. While slightly pricey (1500$CLP), it does have a great collection of artifacts and pictures. Unfortunately, most of the descriptions are in Spanish, so I kind of lost interest quickly. I spent a lot of time looking through the guest book though, seeing how many other people from Toronto had signed it in the past six months. (I think there were about two others.)

After the museum, we headed off to Hanga Roa to do some serious moai-buying. You can't leave Easter Island without picking up at least one of the hand-carved statuettes, and I picked up three. Bartering in the key here - we investigated almost every store and determined that the store in Hotel Orongo was the cheapest, though perhaps didn't have the best selection. Ipaid $40 US for the statues. (Plus $1 US for an authentic Rapa Nui passport stamp, which I'm angry to say was stamped over by US customs about two months later.) I also got some more postcards and a t-shirt.

We bought pucks & cheese for lunch, and after eating at Cecelia's, Antonio decides we need to charter a fishing boat and do the circuit around the tiny islands off the coast of Orongo. We eventually track down a fisherman who's willing to take us out, for the princely sum of $75 US. Now, I don't mind boats, but the wind had been blowing steadily all day and the swells were maybe 4-6 feet for most of the trip. I do admit though, it was a great view looking up the cliff towards the ceremonial village at Orongo - gives you a good appreciation of what kind of nutcases these people were.

The next day, I flew back to Santiago.. Close

The Anthropological Museum of Father Sebastian Englert (a German missionary who came to the island to spread the good word and spent 35 years as parish priest, documenting its history, and particularly that of the stone inhabitants) is well worth a couple of hours (particularly…Read More

The Anthropological Museum of Father Sebastian Englert (a German missionary who came to the island to spread the good word and spent 35 years as parish priest, documenting its history, and particularly that of the stone inhabitants) is well worth a couple of hours (particularly if it's raining). Though it's basically just one large room, it's filled with interesting artefacts and information, particularly historical detail (and, it has to be said, some degree of speculation) about the islanders and the crafting and transportation of the statues, and geological background to the volcanoes and resultant stone used for the moai.

It also has several Rongo-Rongo tablets (the equivalent of the Rosetta Stone for the ancient Easter Island language and inscriptions, which, prior to discovery of the Rongo-Rongo stones, could not be translated), which are held in great awe and respect. Plus, I liked the only recognisably female moai statue (unfortunately broken in two), representing Ava Rei Pua, sister of Hotu Matua, the first king of the island and the museum exhibition speculates that there may be others, which were toppled and broken, even perhaps that they were targeted as female icons.

There's also an interesting section focussing on the statues' lost white coral ocular inserts -- wandering round, it had struck me that the faces didn't look alive, but the museum holds what is apparently the only example of a complete eye (with iris and pupil intact). No one knows why even those which were toppled but left intact were "blinded" by having their coral eye inserts removed or whether it is coincidental and they fell out when the statues were toppled and have since been lost. Curious.

In addition, there are numerous examples of tools and weapons, mock-ups of clothing and the usual figures stiffly sitting round a fake campfire, etc. More interesting is the series of comparative theories for the eternal "how were they moved?" conundrum and a topographical map of the country so you can get a feel for just how far some statues did have to be transported from the Rano Raraku quarry nursery to the shoreline.

Lastly, my favourite was a rather clumsy explanation/homage to Makemake, the birdman, explaining how the annual ceremony and competition took place, what the rules were (it's not apparent there really were any except to get back with the egg intact asap) and how the winner's sponsor then had to live as ruler for the year (which includes hairshaving and effectively living in seclusion -- not much of a victory overall?)

You can borrow excellent A4 photostat guides to the museum to use while you visit or, for US$2, it's worth buying to take away and use as you travel round and as a momento. The museum is located at Tahai (a short drive from Hanga Roa. It's open each day although opening hours seemed to vary without obvious reason. The curator is helpful and enthusiastic though his English is limited.

[P.S. If you want to read around the subject of Rapa Nuian artefacts such as Rongo-Rongo, I enjoyed Thor Heyerdahl's book Aku-Aku: The Secrets of Easter Island, which narrated his two year stay during the mid-1950s (before the airport was built -- he hired a Norwegian ex-whaling ship, converted it, and sailed down there via Pitcairn and Tahiti. On arrival, he tells of how he made friends with some islanders, met the good Father Englert and helped with his research and even erected one of the moai at Anakena, and occasionally gained access to inspect their secret caches of family goodies).]

The whole island, for reasons of landscape, isolation, and history, is of course a very evocative place, but for me the most moving and extraordinary site is the "nursery" at Rano Raraku, so called by the locals because it is where the volcano "gave birth"…Read More

The whole island, for reasons of landscape, isolation, and history, is of course a very evocative place, but for me the most moving and extraordinary site is the "nursery" at Rano Raraku, so called by the locals because it is where the volcano "gave birth" to the moai. Naturally, it must have been much less poetic than that as a real-live site, and the traces of former activity are still in situ. Each statue was carved by hand from sheet rock, until the contours of its body stood out from the rockface. When a statue's inimitable features were complete and its form stood out proud from the rock, the back was finally (and one assumes very carefully) disengaged and the body somehow lowered to the ground.

It looks as though there was something of a queue to be transported onwards to the waiting ahu and there's no sign these days at Rano Raraku of the tools for moving the statues. However, the new statue was eventually moved to a predestined spot where its ahu was waiting and where it was united with the topknots (carved separately from the red volcanic rock at Rano Kau in the southwestern-most point in Orongo).

Of course, almost everything else is speculation and supposition (which is why a trip to the museum -- see above -- is useful for background and context). It does serve to fire up the imagination though and Lord knows how long it must have taken to carve each statue when the workers didn't have metal tools. They were certainly very skilful though as there's little sign of damaged or broken moai either in situ on the rock or at the bottom. Having seen the statues and realised how much work went into creating each one, you have to imagine that each statue was bespoke and cost a fair deal in whatever the currency or traded goods were, and that the symbolism behind the urge to praise or remember the forefathers was powerful in the extreme; moreover, if the workers were slaves rather than paid craftsmen, seeing the scale of the moai and of Rano Raraku makes you realise how downtrodden they must have felt, putting them on a par with the Egyptian slaves making the pyramids.

It all seems to have been quit all of a sudden, with some moai 300 left still attached, seemingly hanging off the rock or nestled into a crevice. These include "il gigante" which was to have been the biggest by far of the statues (believed to have been 22m) but sadly was never completed or erected. (It's not known where he was to have stood either.)

You drive up towards a car-park from the "main" road and all these little dots are visible ahead from within the grass -- it's only when you get closer than you can make out their forms. It's extremely eerie -- dozens of completed statues seem simply to have been abandoned before transportation to their ahus and, over the years, they've gradually sunk into the soft grass so, approaching from the road, it looks for all the world as though they are growing from the earth itself -- like crocuses, pushing through into the light. It really look like a place of new birth -- unforgettable -- and it sets you thinking that it must have been a big crisis that made the craftsmen and those who had commissioned them give up the statues overnight.

From here, you can also climb up the volcano (mind the ticks and fleas in the grasses!) to get a superb panoramic view of the island, including the coastline and a sunken crater to the volcano in which locals now swim (and apparently fish).

Rano Kau (Rano=volcano/Kau=wide or vast) is a 350m-high mound of red stone from which moai "topknots", symbolising hair (and not hats as was once thought), were carved. (For me, one of the most extraordinary achievements was not erecting the moai in the first place…Read More

Rano Kau (Rano=volcano/Kau=wide or vast) is a 350m-high mound of red stone from which moai "topknots", symbolising hair (and not hats as was once thought), were carved. (For me, one of the most extraordinary achievements was not erecting the moai in the first place but then placing the topknot on his head - no one, despite years of experiments and speculation, has yet explained how this was done.)

From the volcano summit, you have a magnificent view across not just the island but also out to sea and in particular over Motu Nui, a rocky island of 300 squared metres off shore, which hosts 3 or 4 bird species when they nest every August. Traditionally, this was the island to which a nominated champion for each tribal chief swam in a competition to collect and return with the first fragata (frigate bird) egg - the successful entrant would win for his chief the right to rule for one year as the birdman (O=place/rongo=message or messenger so this was the place where the message came as to who would be king). The summit was also the spot from which the inhabitants used to watch the competition and cheer on their candidate for his speed and bravery - having looked at the rocky slope to the water and read about sharks in the surrounding waters, it didn't seem such a great idea to me.

Orongo also gives its name to the old and well-preserved ceremonial village of 2 rows of underground houses with doorways facing the sea, the stones of some of which also bear some remarkable petroglyphs of Make-Make and the birdman, presumably signifying the incarnation of the victorious tribesman as king and birdman on earth. Technically there is nothing to stop you going into one of the houses but the doorways are so small as to admit a child or very short, slim adult so...

Located on the eastern coast at Bay Hotu Iti next to Rano Raraku, and comprising the biggest and perhaps best known ahu in Rapa Nui for that reason, the row of 15 standing moai at Tongariki was wholly restored by about 1996 from a collection…Read More

Located on the eastern coast at Bay Hotu Iti next to Rano Raraku, and comprising the biggest and perhaps best known ahu in Rapa Nui for that reason, the row of 15 standing moai at Tongariki was wholly restored by about 1996 from a collection of the various moai which were found on the grassy area around the coast.

You can easily see from climbing and poking around on the grassy banks in the wide area back from the beach that there was a substantially higher number of moai than just the 15 on the altar. Moreover, fate was not content with making them the victims of internecine warfare in the same way as their brethren round the island; in 1960, they suffered the further indignity of being washed inland, some distance from the coast, by a mega-tsunami (or giant tidal wave). It is probable that further damage was sustained at this point and you'll find lots of decapitated torsos and top-knots broken in 2.

Of the 15 standing statues on the 200m-long ahu, only one top-knot has been reinstated and the disparate dimensions and sizes of the restored moai make for a rather odd and disorganised grouping. It's believed that the original 15 were all giants but the out-of-place midgets had to be used to fill in the gaps as the giants were all damaged. Nonetheless, it is a spectacular scene, their backs against the wide open ocean - a wild backdrop, made even wilder when you remind yourself what the sea is capable of and how it recently humbled even something so proud, huge and seemingly immovable as the statues standing before you.

Easter Island goes by many names depending on the language you speak - its nickname is 'the navel of the world.' Landing on Easter Island, it was amazing to see the huge stretch of runway on such a small island. I later learned that it…Read More

Easter Island goes by many names depending on the language you speak - its nickname is 'the navel of the world.'
Landing on Easter Island, it was amazing to see the huge stretch of runway on such a small island. I later learned that it also serves as an emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle - who would have guessed?
Most of Easter Island is no longer inhabited- there is one small town of about 3000 people. The majority of the island has been designated as national park land inhabited by those big, giant heads you would always see on the cover of National Geographic.
I also learned that 'big giant heads' is not how people refer to the statues and that generally they are not just heads but entire bodies called Moai.
On a two-day long mini-bus tour of the island, we saw the Traveling Moai, the Kneeling Moai, the only female Moai, the Seven Moai facing the ocean, the Moai at Anakena beach, the... well, you get the picture.
While it's easy to think that they all look the same, the longer you hang around the more you begin to notice the differences between all the Moai. Some locals even say they have different personalities. We had a fabulous guide (I never thought I'd be writing postings on a travel web page so I never bothered to remember many details). I highly recommend a guide- even for just your first day. It's always better to hear the local history and legends from, well, a local. Everyone I met was very generous with their opinions. Not only that, but you have lots of time between Moai to get to know the other travellers on the bus- ours made for excellent dinner companions. A little tip... try to sit at the fromt of the bus, that way you're the first one off the bus and can usually snap some great photos before the others get to the site. After everyone's off the bus it's hard to get any quality time alone with your Moai. Close

A nice straight in approach to the only runway at Mataveri airport [43K] gave no good vistas from the left side of the plane. All of the tour books about Easter Island advise that there will be ample locals awaiting the arrival of the plane from Santiago…Read More

A nice straight in approach to the only runway at Mataveri airport [43K] gave no good vistas from the left side of the plane. All of the tour books about Easter Island advise that there will be ample locals awaiting the arrival of the plane from Santiago - when I entered the baggage retrieval hall, there was only two or three people soliciting accommodation. I decided upon Cecelia, from Chez Cecelia - $25 US/night, including breakfast. Of course, what I didn't realize was the Cecelia and a couple others had clearly paid off the local 'functionarios' to meet the pax in the baggage hall, as when we left there were a dozen or so other people outside the terminal soliciting places to stay, as well. Oh well - if it sucks, I decided I could move later, and Cecelia seemed ok.

Also staying at the Cecelia's residenciale were a couple from Madrid - Antonio Tauroni and Isabel Fuentes. We chatted for a bit, (they in English, or trying, me in Spanish, and trying). We headed off into Hanga Roa together to check out the town, and see if Sernatur, the tourist office, was open. Turns out that the one drawback of Cecelia's place is that it's a nice long walk from anything. We walked all over Hanga Roa, only to find out that Sernatur was closed, so.. we had a couple of Escudos (Chilean beer) at a café. We walked around some more, stopping and taking in nice scenery of fishing boats, some children swimming, Plaza Hotumatua (with me) as well as surreal view [38K] looking up the coast towards Ahu Tahai, the closest Ahu and moai complex to Hanga Roa. I really like that shot - it kind of looks like a painting.

The girl from Sernatur finally returned, and after an extended conversation in Spanish (of which I understood very little), Antonio advised that we would be going to see a Polynesian dancing show, and 'curanto' for dinner. (A curanto is where they cook the meat & veggies in hot dirt in the ground. Mmmm good.) The girl had apparently said it was the absolute best dinner and show on Easter Island. (Turns out later that she is actually in the show, but I don't think conflict of interest is in the Spanish phrasebook.)

That night we walked the mile or so to the restaurant, pausing to take a sunset picture [24K] of a solitary moai near the harbour. I balked a bit at the price of the dinner show - 15,000$ CLP ($50 CDN), as I wasn't that hungry, but I thought, hey, when am I ever going to be back here? The dinner turned out to be less than spectacular, I'm vegetarian, and the highlight seemed to be the roast beef and pork. Dinner also came with a free pisco sour, the national Chilean drink. More on pisco later. The dinner show was kind of a cheesy Polynesian thing with scantily clad young girls swaying their hips to local music while regularly encouraging the audience to come up and embarrass themselves on the dance floor (a humiliation which Antonio & I cleverly avoided by constantly fiddling with our cameras and backpacks.)

We had paid 5,000$ CLP for dinner to start - apparently you pay the remaining 10,000$ after the show. We, however, just sort of wandered out of the restaurant, honestly forgetting to pony up the extra pesos. (More on that later.) On the way back to the residenciale around midnight, we stopped, switched off our flashlights, and looked to the stars. With no pollution, clouds, or streetlights, the view to the stars was unlike any I have ever seen. We stood in silence for about three or four minutes, just gazing - I will never forget that sight.

Sunday, March 21
We started the morning by negotiating a Jeep for a couple of days. The standard rate, as we had found out yesterday, is $60/12 hours. Due to Antonio's superb negotiating skills, we were now in the possession of a Suzuki Samurai 4x4, at the low cost of $50/24 hours - for two days. After the standard Chilean residenciale breakfast of instant coffee, hockey-puck buns & marmalade, we decided to go to church. Not something I normally do on vacation, but the experience held some attraction solely for a glimpse into the culture.

The large post and beam structure was completely packed - standing room only. It was a catholic service, but had a lot of Polynesian music and chanting mixed in. The service was in a mix of Latin, Spanish and English (very little English) - I was surprised at exactly how much of the Spanish I understood, especially during the sermon. It seemed like everybody in Hanga Roa was there; and a few tourists besides ourselves as well. In fact the lady who was the door person at the curanto from the previous evening was there. After the service she accosted Isabel and demanded payment for the show from the previous evening. With genuine innocence we all offered to immediately pay - however she wouldn't take the money, saying she had already alerted the police, knew we were staying at Cecelia's, and we could deal with it when we were arrested.

At this point it was getting a bit absurd, so we decided the quickest way out of the situation was to leave and do some sight seeing. Her threats were empty, it turns out, but we kept running in to this lady all over Hanga Roa, and each time we did she would shoot us a nasty glare and mutter something under her breath. The conviction in her voice was strong when she talked about the police - I think she actually did report us, but who knows.

Antonio had planned a basic itinerary for the day, starting with groceries. Cheese, buns (more hockey pucks) and water, plus some soda crackers and granola bars - about $20 cdn - a little on the expensive side. We headed off to Ahu Vinapu, which is one of the oldest Ahu complexes on the island, located right at the west base of the airport runway.

To give you a bit of history, here's your one paragraph lesson about Easter Island. The island was settled around the 3rd century AD by Polynesians. In complete isolation, the culture, language, religion, etc. evolved until 1722 when first contact with Europeans happened, bringing their usual gifts of venereal disease, smallpox, guns, etc. etc. During the isolation period, the islanders carved massive stone statues, called Moai, out of volcanic rock, hauled them to all points on the island, and set them on Ahu, which are stone altars. Between the first visit of the Europeans in 1722, and their return in 1770, all the moai had been toppled over in tribal wars. Any moai you see standing today have been restored by archaeologists in the last 60 years.

There are no moai standing at Ahu Vinapu. The site does offer some of the finest examples of stonework, which Thor Heyerdahl (an archaeologist) mistakenly assumed was done by South American indians, as it so closely resembles similar stonework at Macchu Picchu. As we arrived, Antonio appeared to be in an advanced state of rapture. Isabel explained to me how he had wanted to visit Easter Island since he was about 13 or 14 years old, and that this was his dream come true.

..to be continued