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Published: November 15th 2011
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Day 7 - Easter Island by bike
The day dawned brightly, and it was clearly going to be another hot one. We were surprised we were not more stiff after yesterday's exursions. Armed with our ham and cheese from the fridge, and plenty of sun cream, we gingerly got back on the bikes. We stopped at the mini market for bread and water, and made our way across town to the Museum.
We had heard that it housed one of the only examples of a female Moai, so didn't want to miss the opportunity to see it. The museum had a full english translation of all the exhibits and panels of information, and there was quite a lot to see in a small space. As we made our way out towards the coast and Tahai again, our one eyed dog from the previous day re-appeared. We started to cycle up the coast towards some caves that had been pointed out on the map at Ana Kakenga. The dog followed - so we named it Blind Pugh. It even waited at the top of inclines for us. We went to look at the caves, but unfortunatley it was too dark
for us to get down safely.
We continued cycling, and didn't see another tour group apart from a French family in a jeep. We did wonder how a bus would negotiate the roads, as they were not tarmaced, and again full of rocks and potholes. We did pass on route, a dead foal by the side of the road, and a random horses leg, both of which Pugh tried to have a nibble of. At Te Pau, we stopped for lunch, and hid behind a stone house to see if we could lose Pugh - he found us. We didn't encourage him by giving him anything, and he seemed quite happy to sit by us whilst we ate. There was another fallen Moai, and an example of a boat house which is believed to have belonged to one of the Moai carvers, due to its size - 40m in length.
Russ consulted the map, and we continued on the road inland towards the next location. The road conditions did improve, making it easier to cycle, and we managed to get a bit of speed up. This did not detere Pugh, who just followed behind catching up when we
stopped for a break.
At Ana Te Pahu, there was another cave. This time more open, allowing us (and Pugh) to go in. This had been a sort of mini oasis on the island, collecting rain water, and the warm temperatures allowing bananas and guava to grow.
It did not look far on the map to the next location, but as we continued inland the road got progressively steeper. We did see some people taking in the sites on horseback, which certainly made light of the steep road and warm weather. As we approached Akivi, Russ was pleased that he had not completely lost his marbles. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he had read that unusually there were some Moai that faced out to sea. The guide had not mentioned this, and after consulting the various guidebooks, there had been no mention. Akivi does indeed have seven Moai that face out to sea. It is believed that they represent the explorers that came to the island, not ancestors. We nearly lost Pugh at this spot, when some small children began to stroke and make a fuss of him. However, he just came and sat
back down next to us.
The sun was certainly getting hotter and we continued to Puna Pau. We started to feel a little sorry for Pugh, as he continued to keep pace with us. He did find some puddles to drink from and on the approach up the hill to Puna Pau, actually sat in one! The quarry at Puna Pau is where the red puki top knots where mined. The earth is a different colour, and we could see a number that remained in the quarry as a bolder shape. They only got their final carved form once they were at the site of the Moai. There was also a great view from the top of the quarry.
From here, we headed back towards Hanga Roa, and thankfully it was mostly downhill. Once we reached the tarmac road, we were able to get quite a speed up. This did however mean that we lost Pugh, who just couldn't keep up with us, we did feel a little sorry for Pugh as by this point he had followed us for around 10 miles .
Once in town, we called in at one of the bars for well
earned refreshment. We had heard that there was a festival on at Tahai, so cycled down to see what was occurring. They had put up lots of tents, and it was a festival celebrating the Rapa Nui language. At the stage at one end, some of the school children in traditional costume were doing dances and singing. They couldn't have been more than six, we watched on for a little while and chuckled as they were all all going one way then the other and all spinning in different directions. It was very cute and clearly lost on most of them. We weren't even sure that some of them had been at school the day the dance practices were on. It wasn't fair to laugh but it did make us smile. They had also been making masks, wooden boats and Moai from plastic as a demonstration of the work the schools were doing. There are three schools on the island, one state, one Catholic and one a mixture of state and private. We cycled back to the hotel and met with Kay and recanted our tales of the day to each other. As we told her about Blind Pugh, Kay
seemed to think that this represented a guardian to us, as he showed so much loyalty to us, and in some way we had to agree. We decided that as this was a last night, and our transfer was quite early in the morning, we needed to do a bit of shopping. We also were trying to catch the start of the two day singing and dancing competition being held at the school that night which we had received a leaflet about at the airport when we arrived. We managed to pick up a few bits, before eating at one of the restaurants. What we had not counted on when trying to fit everything in that night, was that the service was never the quickest, so it was a good 45 minutes before our food came. Consequently we had missed the start of the event, but not to be deterred, we hurried along the road to the school. We went and sat at the back of what must have been the school hall, whilst various "acts" performed. There was dancing, singing and playing muscial instruments, all introduced by the Rapa Nui version of Tess and Bruce. It was all a
bit "Rapa Nui's Got Talent", with any mention when they were singing of the island's name getting extra cheers from the crowd. We left just after Midnight, with the evening still in full flow, and met Kay outside. She had been on time, so had a seat near the front. We walked back to the hotel together and called it a night.
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