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Published: September 12th 2005
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Moai at Rano Raraku
The quarry where all the Moai were carved, also known as 'The Nursery'. As Rich and I stood up on the edge of the extinct volcanoe, Rano Kau, and took in the 360 degree view of the island it finally dawned on us how isolated this 117 sq km land mass was from the rest of the world. Nothing but the sparkling blue Pacific Ocean stretching out as far as the eye could see. Its closest populated nieghbour is the tiny island of Pitcairn, 1900km to the West and its a massive 3700km East to the South American coast!!
Back in February 2004 when we sat in the travel agents planning our round the world route we were over the moon when it was confirmed that we could stop off on Easter Island. I cant imagine there are many times in a persons life that they find they're 'just passing' one of the most remote places in the world. It had always been one of Richard's 'must vist' places and I had heard wonderful things about the place that locals call
Te Pito o Te Henua, (The Navel of the World).
During our first few days on the island the weather was pretty drab. Cloudy skies and scattered showers meant that sightseeing
was not too high on the agenda and we just found ourselves passing the hours in cafes and at our hotel where, as in Asia, card games became a highly competative pass time!
On day three the skies cleared and as we had no idea how long the good weather would last, we rushed into town (Hanga Roa) and hired a jeep to get to the sights. Richard seemed quite at home behind the wheel and seemed to relish any opportunity to put his off road skills to the test (or it could have been that he enjoyed watching my knuckles turn white as I grabbed onto the seat!). We first headed to Rano kau and the cerimonial village of Orongo. As I mentioned before, Rano Kau is an extinct volcanoe and one of three that created the island 300,000 years ago it is also the site, that around 1600 - 1866 AD, was used as the cerimonal village in the centre of the Bird-Man culture. Without wanting to give too much of a history lesson, I shall keep this brief......Each year a 'Bird-Man' or Chief of the island was decided by a race to a small offshore island.
Overlooking 'Bird-man Island'
The rock in the foreground shows the Petroglyphs (carvings) depicting the bird-man rituals. A chosen member of each clan would desend the cliffs, jump into the ocean, swim over to the island, collect a bird egg and return it in one piece. The first man back would win the Bird-Man title for the chief of his clan. The village of Orongo is extreamly well preserved and we were able to get a good idea and feel of what went on here.
On our way to our next destination I got a little mixed up with our position on the map and in true Bex navigation style took us down a dirt track that turned into what could only be described as an off road assult course! The pot holes were more like pot canyons and and previous days of rain had turned it into a mud bath! At one point we thought we were going to get stranded and we were a good 20mins from the main road and that road was a good 2 hours walk from any kind of civilisation! We decided that our AA road side recovery was unlikely to save us in this scenario and so it was down to Rich to some how get us out. I
Petroglyph
At the sacred site of Mata Ngarahu have to say that he did a fantastic job and although there were a couple of close calls we managed to get back to the road in one piece although we gave the jeep a bonet to boot mud pack.....Now what was it that the women at the rental place said again about off roading and insurance? Well it was in Spanish and who knows what she meant!
After admiting my fault, yes for once I was wrong! I found our correct position on the map and we headed off to beautiful Anakena Beach. The island may be lacking in numbers of beaches but it makes up for it with the two it has. White sand, clear waters and palm trees! Now thats more like it! Unlike Tahiti, the beaches are quiet and there isn't a building in sight (unless you count two wooden shacks). Anakena beach is also the site of a row of moai, so as you relax on the beach you can take in some culture at the same time, thats my kind of sight seeing.
A short drive takes you to Ahu Tongarika, the largest ahu (alter) on the island, on which stands 15
moai. It was a truely awesome sight and one that I doubt we will ever forget. Even in modern day standards the statistics of these grand statues are impressive. Each moai stands at between 5.6 - 8.7 metres and weighs anything from 40 - 88 tons! To move a single moai would take some serious planning even with todays machines so imagine having to move these moai the 1km from the quarry where they were carved to the ahu around a thousand years ago! The means by which this was done is still in debate today with many historians putting forward there own theory. The only thing that is universally agreed on is that they used tons of wood in the process, probably as rollers. The effect of this logging is still visable of the island today and there are still only a few pockets of managed forest, the rest of the island has been left to pasture.
The quarry, is sited at the volcano Rano Raraku, 1 km inland from Ahu Tongarika and is where all moai start their 'life'. For us it was one of the most interesting sights on the island. Rich and I had both
thought that there were only a handfull of moai on the island and that they all stood proudly looking out to sea. It turns out we were wrong on both counts. Apart from a couple of exceptions all moai face inland and there are over 800 statues on the island most of which are in and around Rano Raraku. Its possible to find moai from every stage of the manufacturing process in the quary, from the outlined markings on the rock surface to statues that only made it half way out of the rock. Its as though one day all the stone masons just downed tools and left.
Other than looking at statues and volcanoes, there are also some pretty impressive caves (some with gardens inside!), fantastic diving (although we had to pass on it this time as moneys low and I had a cold), good surfing (well it looked good from the beach!), a handful of good cafes (Cafe Ra'รก) to while away a rainy afternoon and a wonderful community to immerse yourself in. We were lucky to be around during the annual parade where islanders celebrate being part of Chille. All the school kids join in, dance
and sing, along with representives from the army and navy who march along to a band. For once town was packed, I think all the 3,000 island residents turned up. We stayed on the island for longer than most (over a week) and found people became more and more friendly with each day. Its sad to think that this will probably be the only time in our lives that we will visit this wonderful place, but at least we got that one opportunity.
B & R
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Karam
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Wow - breathless photos!
looks like you guys are having an awesome time!! the photos are awesome as well - I hope Rich you are tasting the worlds different beers as well!!