Easter Island and 980 moai

We had flown to Santiago, Chile just for overnight and then it was on to Easter Island, a volcanic island about the size of Manhatten, 2300 miles off the coast of Chile.

  

We were up early and to the airport for a 10 am flight.  Everyone was on board and buckled in...and then there was an announcement to disembark..the plane had a mechanical problem and we had to wait about 5 hours for another plane.  Which was fine with us as one does not want mechanical problems with the plane over the Pacific Ocean.

We were relieved when we touched down in Easter island.  It was named by a Dutchman who discovered the island on Easter Sunday, 1722.  It's native name is Rapa Nui.  Today, the island is home to around 3,000 Rapa Nuians, descendants of the Polynesians.

We were greeted with a lei by our local guide Noe.

And then it was off to our hotel in an open-air bus.  It is warm and humid here.

Our hotel, the Iorana, is on the shore and we have beautiful views from the deck of our room.

That evening we enjoyed the sunset from the hotel lounge chairs at the pool.

The next morning we set out to discover the island's famed moai--giant monoliths carved by the ancient people.

About 980 of these statues have been found on the island, and it is estimated that each one took five or six men one year to carve with hand-held tools.  They averaged about 13 feet high and were carved out of porous volcanic rock.   They represent human figures of their deified ancestors. Almost all of them have large heads, three-eighths the size of the whole statue.

With Noe as our guide, we followed the path of the ancient civilization to various ahus-- the sacred sites where several moai stand.

All of the Moai here were toppled over during the island's civil war. And later in the twentieth century a tsunami hit the coastline and swept them inland.

Our first stop was at Ahu Vaihu, where we viewed moai in an unrestored state.

This was a ceremonial site, which once supported eight statues, the remains of which lie on the ground.

We entered a cave which was used as a shelter.

Next stop was to Te Pito Kura,  It lies on the ground today but at 32 feet in length is considered the largest moai once erected on an ahu.

We see this sign frequently.

Do not touch the moai!

Nearby was a large circle of rocks.

Inside the circle is a large round stone.

Te Pito Kura means “navel of light” and some  people relate the name of the place with the special qualities of this rock.    It is said that the rock, round and smooth, concentrates a magnetic and supernatural energy called mana.  Because of its high iron content, the stone warms up more than others and causes the compass to behave strangely.  According to belief, touching it increases female fertility.

We then continued on to Rano Raraku, where we could walk around hundreds of moai statues.
But first Noe gives us an introduction to what we will see.

Then off we went...

Below is a moai left partially carved from the volcanic rock.  This area is the quarry where the stone was obtained to carve the moais.

It was then off to Ahu Tongariki:  a collection of 15 restored moai carved from the nearby quarries of the Rano Raraku Volcano.

A number of the moai statues have pukao, bulky red cylindrical hats on top of their heads. Archaeologists suggest they may have represented headdresses of red feathers worn by chiefs throughout Polynesia. The hats are made from red volcanic rock called scoria.

The moai were always placed on the platform (the ahu) facing inland from the sea and toward the village.

That evening....another beautiful sunset.

The next morning on our way to the former ceremonial village of Orongo, we stop at Rano Kao Volcano and view the freshwater lake that has formed in the crater.

The village of Orongo consists of stone dwellings clinging  to the side of the cliff overlooking the ocean and the site of the birdman cult.

Again, Noe explained the significance of the site.

 The stone dwellings.

For one and a half centuries, tribes participated in the Birdman Competition games here, with the last race taking place in 1866.

Each year, contestants were selected as competitors for the title of Birdman. Each contestant would be challenged to scale the dangerous Rano Kau cliff, then swim shark-infested waters to the small island of Motu Nui. There, the task was simple: find the first egg of the season laid by the elusive Sooty Tern bird.

The winner earned the title of Birdman and he and his clan claimed all of the benefits of a god during the year that he held the title.  This was much like the Ironman competitions, but with more death as many contestants did not survive the challenge.

From high above on the cliff we could see Motu Nui and captured a rainbow!

Orongo was one of the principal sites of the birdman cult, which is immortalized by the stone carvings of birdman images in the rocks.

Lunch today was our last home-hosted meal of the trip...

Our hostess was Uri, and she had an interesting story.  You can see that her home is right on the shore of the island.  

 It is right next to a national park entrance, with some moai along the shoreline.

Property in Easter Island can only be owned by the native Rapa Nuians and is passed down through the generations.  It seems that Uri's uncle had no children so he passed his property down to his kin.  He gave Uri this piece of property--it was not suitable for farming due to very little top soil, and he felt it worthless.

Well, Uri had the last laugh on him...with today's tourism, this property is very valuable and Uri has a campground and restaurant on the property for the tourists who visit the national park!   Smart lady!!

 We had a delicious meal and a wonderful time with Uri and her family.

Off we went again in our open-air bus.

We stop at the seven moai of Ahu Akivi, one of the only inland ahus on the island and the only ones that are facing toward the ocean.

 A particular feature of the seven identical moai statues is that they exactly face sunset during the spring equinox...

...and have their backs to the sunrise during the autumn equinox. Such an astronomically precise feature is seen only at this location on the island.  How did they know to do that??

The eye sockets are thought to have had coral eyes inserted when ceremonies took place.

Our last stop in the afternoon was at a lone-standing moai.  It is actually located on private property.

That evening we went back to Uri's property and watched the sun set behind the moai.

The next day we said goodbye to our guide, Noe, and headed to the airport for the long flight back to Santiago.

There are only 2 flights in and out of Easter Island a day.  The reason is that the island is so remote, that if the runway was obstructed due to a crash or something, there would be no place for another plane to land within 2300 miles.  So only one plane at a time can be in flight to/from the island.

An interesting thing about this airport in Easter Island is that it has the longest runway in all of South America.  It is 11,000 feet long.

From the internet

Why?  Because United States NASA paid for it so that the runway could be used as an emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle program.

Our adventure ends with a day of siteseeing in Santiago, Chile.

To continue reading, scroll up towards the top of this page and click in the right-hand column the entry entitled:  Santiago, Chile:  The last day of our adventure