After hearing about the Easter Island or what the locals called Rapa Nui since my childhood years, we have finally set foot on this mystic island and began our 3D2N visit. The flight from Santiago to the island took 5-1/2 hours to get there. We were quite surprised how popular the island is as the 787 Dreamliner plane was jam packed. The island has about 9000 residents and slightly less than half of the inhabitants were direct descendants of the Rapa Nui culture. The rest are Chilean from the mainland Chile, in search of cheaper accommodations and no taxes. Apparently, only indigenous people were allowed to own lands and as a result, very limited investments from outside have been evident on the island. Majority of the hospitality was focused on hostels or BnB of private homes. The facilities were bare minimum. We stayed at a BnB home, with private shower, hot water but no heat. Thank goodness that the island was relatively warm, especially when compared to the bone chilling weather in Uyuni.
We were picked up by Steve, our host, at the airport and were given lei to welcome us to the island. He took us for a quick tour of the town so that we had a good bearing on the island. At his suggestions, we rented a jeep (manual transmission) to do sightseeing. Our original plan was to rent a mountain bike or walk but the steep and twisted and turn terrain of the island took us by surprise. The various statues or what locals called Moais were spreaded sporadically through out the island and making biking more challenging. The entire island was 23 km long and 10 km wide = 165 square km in a triangular shape.
By the time we rented the car, it was mid-afternoon. We first visited the settlement Orongo near the main town Hanga Roa to have some background info on the island. Some of the early settlements were still visible among the ruins that crumbled on the mountain. The settlement is set at one edge of Rano Kau, a volcano crater with a fresh water lake inside. This volcano is one of three volcanoes on this island, thankfully all now extinct.
We next stopped by a sea cliff overlooking the west side of the island. The wave crashing onto the shore had already carved a big sea cave underneath the cliff.
Driving along the waterfront side of the town, we encountered our first two moais at the port. Further along the shore, we came to Tahai, a ceremonial complex with three ahus. An ahu is a ceremonial platform where one or more moais stands. It's close to sunset at that time so we decided to join many other people sitting there to watch sunset against 5 moais, a very striking scene. The statues were all facing inland, rather than to the open ocean. It was suggested that these god-like statutes provide protections to the inhabitants and watching over the communities.
Despite the huge influx of the tourists, there were hardly any choices of restaurants or stores to buy things. After driving around quite a bit, we settled on a restaurant that catered to tourists and offered a bit more choices on the menu. The meals were very expensive, $170 Canadian dollars for the four of us, but it was quite yummy. In fact, everything on the island is famously expensive (they all have to be imported by air from mainland). Most people would opt for their local favorites called Empanades, a huge dumpling-like pastry with different kinds of meat inside and deep fried, for dinner. Cafe and sandwiches seem to be the most common items on the menu and are available whole day, probably because they are the most affordable!
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