Easter Island Part 2, January 8 to 10

January 8 – This morning, we went to Tongariki, where the Japanese restored an impressive site with 15 moai. It is one of the largest ahus on the island. Several moai should have had head pieces or topknots, which you could see laying on the ground nearby, but only one of them was restored. This area had a couple problems to solve – not only were the maoi toppled by the natives, but a tsunami had moved the fallen rocks around a bit. This may have been the single biggest restoration project on Easter Island. 

Ahu Tongariki with 15 restored moai.

Then we went to nearby Rano Raraku, the quarry where the moai were carved out of volcanic ash. This site was the first to be photographed and published, and is what most people think the moai are all about. Most of what is visible is the heads, and they appear to be looking out to sea, unlike the completed moai, most of whom look inland. There are actually more moai in progress at the quarry than were ever completed and installed. Some we saw were still in the early stages of carving and very much attached to the ash below. There was also one very unusual one that had legs folded under him, a beard, and a rounded head and back. Because they are ash and not stone, they erode pretty quickly, so this one’s features are not all that clear. It was also fun to look down the hill toward the ocean and see Tongariki. 

Abandoned moai in early stages of construction.

Moai heads (bodies hidden) facing every which way

From the quarry, you can see Tongariki by the ocean (you might have to click to enlarge to see it.

Circle with magnetic rock

At Te Pito Kura, Matua showed us two small upright stones that marked the ceremonial entry to the ahu. The moai here has not been restored and its topknot is on the ground near the head. There was also a circle of rocks enclosing 5 round stones – 1 big and 4 small. We took turns sitting on the small rocks with our hands on the large one and could feel the large one vibrate. Matua told us this was a magnetic rock that had been used for navigation by the original settlers. In this area, we also saw rock-enclosed growing spaces. Apparently when the island was denuded of trees (either because the natives cut them all too quickly for them to regenerate OR the Polynesian rats multiplied rapidly and ate the palm seeds faster than the trees could create them), the growing climate worsened –  it became windier and the soil became less rich – so the natives created sheltered growing spaces inside rock circles. Chickens became the primary protein source (water too deep for good fishing) and tribes protected their stash of chickens by building elaborate rock chicken coops that the birds were stuffed into overnight.

Matua at the chicken coop

After lunch, we headed to the nicest beach on the island, AnaKena. On the way we stopped at an abandoned English sheep station. For years in the 1800 and 1900s, Easter Island was use for raising sheep and the dilapidated building we saw was a shearing facility. The beach was delightful. Several people went for a swim. I rolled up my capris and stretched out on a beach towel for an afternoon nap – managed to get a bit sunburned, which surprised me. In the evening, several people went to dinner with Alex and then to a show, but Jim and I chose to wander around the town a bit and relax.

Jim at the beach

 January 9 – We had free time until 7pm so Jim and I hiked up the coast from our hotel for 3 hrs, and went souvenir shopping in the afternoon. Easter Island is shaped like a triangle with an extinct volcano at each corner. The outer corners  (southwest and northeast, and 26km apart) are the two oldest – last eruptions about 2.6 to 3 million years ago. The ‘center’ corner is north and about 16km from each of the old volcanoes. It last erupted 300,000 years ago, and it has a much more noticeable debris field around it. Hanga Roa (the town) is located near the old southwest crater (Rano Kau).

We hiked several hours from Hanga Roa north along the coast towards the newest volcano, hoping to get to a the point with motu we could see in the distance. In town, 3 dogs adopted us and came along on our adventure. We encountered some of the rest of our group just north of town, and saw an ahu that we revisited with the group in the evening. The further north we got, the more rugged the territory was. The surf was impressive, we saw caracaras (?), and a lot of horses (which the dogs loved to chase and bark at) but due to the terrain, we didn’t quite make our objective. If we’d had another couple hours to spare, we would have seen another ahu. Something to look forward to for our next visit, I guess. 

Friends (Donna, Ida, Paula, Martha) at Tahai

Jim at the end point of our walk north

Back in town, we found t-shirts for the grandkids and earrings for me (like I need more…) and got a stamp for our passport in the post office. This was just cool looking, not ‘real’ since this is part of Chile which we had entered earlier.

Around 7 pm, the group piled into the bus and headed out for a few more sites. The first was Puna Pau, where the topknots were quarried. The ash here is iron rich and very red. There were several partially carved topknots lying around. There was also a great view of Hanga Roa. Nearby was Ahu Akiva, the only inland ahu location. Here the moai are facing the ocean. It is said the seven represent the original pioneers who located Easter Island before the migration here. Next to the ahu, people were selling trinkets and fresh pineapples, similar to the small ones we had seen years ago in Tahiti. Those were very sweet and so tender you could enjoy eating the core. These were the same size and very sweet, but the core was a bit tougher. What was interesting was the presentation: the outer shell of the pineapple was cut off and the green leafy top was used as a handle, so you ate it by holding on the leaves, like eating a popsicle. 

Topknots in production at Puna Pau

The moai at Ahu Akiva looking back to the sea whence they came.

 Once we were done with our snacks, we headed to  Tahai, which we had seen on our hike in the morning. With Matua along, we discovered things we had missed on our own – like a boat ramp – and learned that what we had thought were more rock sleeping spaces were actually entrances to caves. I guess a good tour guide can be a help! We were supposed to have had a sunset dinner here, but it was raining on and off, so Alex got us into a friend’s restaurant overlooking the ocean for our dinner instead. We had dinner on the deck at sunset, stayed dry, and still had a great sunset view.

Ancient boat ramp

 January 10 – We were due to fly out, but had a morning to kill. Several others in the group had raved about the museum and a DVD they had seen, so we set out to look. It was raining and a bit of a hike to the museum and its library. The DVD was of Willaim Mulloy, who had arrived on Easter Island in the mid 1950s and spent a lot of time there investigating the culture and the moai. He worked there for more than 20 years until his death in 1978 and was a primary scholar of the island. He also began the restoration of the moai, including Ahu Akiva which we saw the previous night. Unfortunately, we were tight on time and had to hustle back to the hotel to get to the airport for our flight back to Santiago. The plane was 2 hours late (with no explanation at all) so we didn’t get back to the Santiago til 1am.