Meeting the Moai

Eduardo, one of the Naturalists on our Antartica trip put us in contact wit Alex and Chris who conduct the Easter Island excursions for Lindblad/National Geographic.  We arrange directly with Chris to be our private tour guide for two days.

Wednesday morning we have a good breakfast at the hotel before Chris picks us up at 9:30.  As he drives we learn about the island.  It is believed that the island was populated 600-700 AD probably from a Polynesian island (possibly one of the Marqueesas Islands). The native name for the original inhabitants and their descendants is Rapa Nui.  Sitting at 27 degrees latitude, the climate is sub-tropical with lows of 14C (57F) in winter, and a high of 30C (86F) in summer.  It is called Easter Island because the first contact with Europeans occurred Easter Sunday, 1722.

Three volcanos are on the island and many hills which are "parasites" off of the volcanos.  Chris points to a hill where once a year they have races that he called Rapa Nui bobsledding.  People put together two banana trunks with some cross-bracing to make sleds. Then they race the sleds down the hill.  It sounds hysterical (and dangerous).

We are anxious to see the moai stone carvings which have made Easter Island so famous.  After a 20 minute drive we arrive at Anakana.  There's a beautiful beach and on the grassy hillside are two ahus, the platforms upon which the stone moai figures are placed.   Ahu Nao Nao has seven moai, most of which have been restored.  The size of the figures and their shapes are impressive, especially when you consider that they are from the 15th century.  Ahu Atori has a single statue, which is believed to be created in the 14th century.  The shape of the head is much more square and the neck is not as developed.  We learn that the round red tops on some of the statues are called topknots, which represent the headdress of a chieftain or powerful person and come from a different quarry than the rest of the statue.  The eye sockets are hollow.  The priests and chiefs would install the eyes for ceremonies, but otherwise they were stored separately.

From Anakana we drive to Ahu Tongariki, which with it's 15 moai is the largest ahu.  The site is right on the ocean with cliffs off to one side.  Like the other sites, these moai were toppled during wars between tribes (probably late 18th century), but then in the twentieth century the statues (many in pieces) were swept inland by a tsunami due to an earthquake in Chile.  The restoration project occurred between 1990 and 1996 with the aid of the Japanese, who donated a crane as well as expertise.  There was much debate between the archeologists as they chose the pieces of moai and the materials to be used for reconstruction.  For fun we add ourselves as the 16th and 17th moai in one of our photos.

The moai face away from the ocean and onto the village that once occupied this area.  We walk around the site and observe some of the foundations of the buildings and the petroglyphs in the rocks.  From Ahu Tongariki we can see the volcano (Rano Raraku) a short distance away which provided the quarry for the moai and where statues remain in both incomplete and completed states.

We arrive at Ranu Raraku and are not ready for the number of moai around the site - there are close to 400.  Many on the hillside appear to be just heads, but their bodies are just buried.  Chris explains that there is just one moai with legs on the whole island.  All the rest are from the waist up, usually with their hands portrayed by etching on the front of their stomachs.  We walk up closer to the stone quarry to see the partially completed moai.  Unfortunately our cameras just aren't able to capture what we see.  However it isn't hard to imagine perhaps thousands of people involved in the rough carving, finish carving and then transport of the statues.

After climbing the paths around the quarry we return to the visitor center and order up tuna empanadas for a late lunch.  They're great and pair well with a cold beverage.  Lunch also gives us a chance to rest our legs and feet.

We drive 14km along the coast and stop at Akahanga, an ancient fishing town.  It is where the first king of the Rapa Nui is believed to have been buried.  The site has not been restored at all and the ahu and moai stones lie about.  There are some foundations of buildings as well as umu pae, the stone ovens made of five stones.  Nearby there is a small cave called Ana Akahanga that was used by fishermen as a refuge during storms or as a place to spend the night.  As we walk around the site it starts to sprinkle, then rain, then become a downpour.  We do not need to take refuge in Ana Akahanga, but do regret that we left all of our raingear in the car.

Given our soaked clothing we agree to postpone what would have been our last stop of the day until tomorrow.  Of course within the 20 minutes that it takes to drive to our hotel the rain has stopped and the sun is beginning to pop out.  Island life.

This evening we dine at Tataku Vave, which is located along the shoreline just outside of town.  The ceviche is very good and we both enjoy our fish entrees.  The entertainment of the canoes, fishermen and sunset are priceless.