Easter Island- Isla de Pascua

---

Its Groundhog Day!!! We left Auckland at 14.00 Thursday, crossed the dateline, arrived in Papeete for our change over flight to Easter Island and arrived in Easter Island at 8.30am Thursday morning. Gained an entire day and a half! From here on too, if Shane has anything to add (or put a different spin on) he will!
Our host, Jerome, met us at the airport and took us back to his B & B where we met a French couple, Sabine and Jean Luc, and we immediately took off on a half day tour. Our bus gingerly made its way up and down the corrugated roads toward the peak of the Rano Kau volcano – its crater lake is a cauldron of reeds. This is where the bird cult rituals were performed. Competitors raced to retrieve an egg of the Sooty Tern from the small island just offshore. The young men used to descend the cliff of the volcano and swim out to the islands to search for the egg. The first to return with an egg intact became the birdman for the year.

---

Photos

Mini Mart
Mucho Cerveza!