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Published: October 31st 2016
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A lot of people queried my decision to go to Easter Island, but I can honestly say out of countless places I've visited in 30 countries, this is my new favourite. Everywhere on the island is stunning! I expected the culture and moai (statues), but i didn't expect the subtropical climate or the coastline, jagged from volcanic rock, with gorgeous blue-green waters.
The flight took 5.5 hours from Chile on a big international size plane. Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world! The whole island is world heritage area which makes sense given how stunning it is. There are 887 moai on the island, as well as 3 volcanic craters. You could spend quite a while here but I only had 4 days so I crammed as much in as I could!
My first afternoon was free but it was pouring with rain. In the end I braved the weather and went for a walk along the coast. It was windy but so relaxing and peaceful. To cross the flooded road i had no choice but to walk through a puddle - YOLO! I wandered along until I found a restaurant and ate
dinner overlooking the ocean. Sunset wasn't until after 9pm which was lovely.
On day 2 I took two half day tours. We covered 7 sites close to the town. It was rainy, misty weather so unfortunately Rano Rau volcano crater was barely visible. What was visible was beautiful though. Orongo had the remains of an old village as well as another volcanic crater. This was the site of the annual birdman competition where islanders would compete for their clan to rule for a year. Clans would send their best athlete to scale a cliff and paddle 2km by reed surfboard to Moto Nui island to collect the first sooty tern egg of the season. They would keep it safe in a pouch on their headband while they returned.
By the afternoon the rain had cleared and we visited a painted cave as well as a the area the moai topknots, or hats were carved. Not many moai on the island are wearing their topknots but plenty are scattered around the fields near the moai. We saw plenty of moai, some are toppled but many have been restored. Clans used to topple the moai of other clans as a
sign of dominance but it's been discovered that they carefully lowered them rather than ruthlessly pushing them over. A tsunami in the 60s also toppled some near the coast.
At Ahu a Kivi we saw 7 moai facing the ocean. This is rare as most moai face inland, apparently to watch over the clans. The 7 here apparently represent the 7 Polynesian explorers who found Easter Island and the statues face Polynesia.
Day 3 was a full day tour to 6 sites, each more spectacular than the last. Tonariki is the site of 15 moai with a stunning ocean backdrop. After that we went to Rano Raraku which was the quarry where moai were carved before transportation. Apparently it took around 8 months to carve each one and they sometimes broke during transportation. There are 397 moai still in the quarry in various stages of carving and transportation.
Finally we went to Anakena, a stunning blue green beach site where the first explorers arrived. A series of moai make this the ultimate picture. I couldn't resist a swim but the water was deceptively cold!
That evening I was invited to dinner by some people from my
tour. We wandered into the coastal town and shared food watching the surfers and the sunset. The surfers have to endure a walk on sharp volcanic rock in and out of the ocean but it was not deterring them. Even as the sun was setting they were trying to catch one last wave. It was the perfect end to a perfect trip.
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