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 Patricio Ballerino by TheWanderingCamel
Our island hostess recommended Patricio Ballerino to us - advice we were so glad we took as we made our way around the island with this charming and knowledgeable man. Not only was he a fund of knowledge (delivered in excellent English), his timing was impeccable so that everywhere we went we found larger groups were either just leaving as we arrived or they behind us and we were almost always the only people around the site.
With Bicky (our hostess) driving, only 2 other people - a friendly Dutch couple - along with us (Patricio's tours never number more than 6), a picnic lunch and plenty of water on board we set off at 10 and didn't return until after 6. We had absorbed so much knowledge of the history, culture and ecology of this extraordinary place without ever having felt rushed or lectured to, we felt privileged to have spent a day in his company... good guiding indeed. Leave a Comment Phone: +56 32 100691Directions: Patricio operates as AO Tours. His reputation as one of the island's best guides makes advance booking advisable, especially in high season. We paid USD60 per person for this tour.Website: www.aotour.cl Other Contact: patricio@aotour.com
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The most common images of the moai of Rapa Nui tend to be those of huge stone heads rearing up at odd angles from bare grassy slopes, like those in the photo in the introduction to this page. It's somewhat of a surprise then to find that these figures are unfinished carvings that were destined never to reach their final destination and be set up on one of the island's many ahu (altars) that are situated, almost exclusively, around the coastline. The next surprise is that the moai on these ahu face inland rather than out to sea... with one exception - Ahu Akivi - So why is this one different?
Like all the others, this ahu faces the site of an ancient village but it is considered to be the most important of all the island's altars. It was restored in 1960 and has 7 moai that are remarkably uniform in size and features.
Astronomy may play a part - some say that twice a year, at the equinoxes (or is it a week after the equinoxes, as others say?), the moai are all facing directly into the setting sun. The statues are also aligned to the rising moon
The myths and legends then begin to multiply ...
Our guide, Patricio Ballerino, tells us these are the "adventurers" - seven explorers sent by King Hoto Matua to comb the seas to find a new home for his people.
Some says they represent seven powerful chiefs who ruled in the years before they were erected sometime in the 1400s.
Others suggest they are King Hoto Matua and his six sons - the tomb of the king is thought to be nearby.
All I know is that it is a particularly beautiful spot, still and quiet, and the moai hold their secrets well as they gaze, unperturbed, ever seawards. Leave a Comment Directions: Signposted off the main road across the island - access via a dirt road from that point
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There are two small harbours near the Easter Island's only township, Hanga Roa. The bigger one, Caleta Hanga Roa, lies at the end of the town's main street whilst the other, Caleta Hanga Piko can be found lying to the south of the town on the other side of the peninsula occupied by the Armada de Chile. You'll see the island's fishing boats, known as panga, at anchor in both harbours, brightly painted skiffs about 6 metres long with up-turned prows - very necessary given the rough surf they face as they head out to sea away from the rocky shoreline. Neither harbour can land large ships, and all cargo arriving on the island has to be brought ashore in the landing craft you see at Hanga Piko. There are ahu at both harbours.
Ahu Tautira has two moai, almost certainly the first ones visitors see as they are just on the edge of town - the chances are your island hosts will take you on a tour around the town after you leave the airport. Exciting as it is to catch your first sighting of a moai - they're the reason you're here after all - neither of Ahu Tautira's moai are particularly good examples - one was positioned wrongly, facing the sea rather than away from it, when the navy erected it in the 1940s, and the other, re-erected overlooking the town's football ground in 1996 - the most recent reconstruction- seems to have been rather crudely put together having been broken across its base.
Ahu Riata was reconstructed in the 1990s. The moai placed on it - Moai A Hani - had previously been positioned behind a fisherman's house (some garden gnome!) for some time prior to being placed on the ahu. Leave a Comment
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It took countless volcanic eruptions over aeons to form Easter Island - more than 70 volcano vents can be counted, with three major cones - all long-extinct - defining the island's triangular shape. None are particularly high - Terevaka, the highest, is only 506 metres above sea level - and there are tracks up all of them.
Whilst not one of major volcanoes geologically, the most dramatic is undoubtedly Rano Raraku - from the first sight of its craggy double peak, its grassy lower slopes dotted with moai, this place is fascinating. Almost 400 statues have been counted on the mountain - and it is thought that number will be considerably increased once work is completed on the crater's inner rim. A steep, and fairly rough, path leads up from the lower slopes all the way to the rim of the crater - itself a surprising sight with its peaceful blue lake, partially filled with toitura reeds, and grassy slopes dotted with still more moai. From this point, another, even steeper, path takes you right to the top - your reward for the effort a magnificent 360 degree view, and another puzzle - several huge man-made holes that are presumed to have been used to move the moai, but no-one quite knows how.
The path down takes you right through a field of some of the most dramatic heads of all, a chance to get up close and very personal with them in a way that you really cannot do anywhere else - though actually touching the figures is forbidden.
The whole site warrants plenty of your time. Wear a hat, good sunblock and sturdy shoes, and bring water with you - it's very exposed with no shade anywhere, apart from the shadows cast by the standing moai, once you leave the carpark Leave a Comment
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With 15 moai on a huge ahu, Ahu Tongariki is the largest of all the ahu on Easter Island. Looking at its huge moai now (clicking on the photo here and looking for the tiny figure walking by the ahu will give you a good idea of the scale of these figures), it's hard to credit that the tsunami caused by the massive eathquake that devastated Chile in 1960 destroyed the main platform right down to its foundations, flattened the moai, moving some of them 150 metres, hurling their topknots hundreds of metres inland and covering the whole area with thousands of tonnes of debris from the ahu walls and platforms - a devatating amount of damage that seemed irreparable.
After nearly 30 years however, a Japanese company agreed to fund the restoration and provide the equipment and workforce - a massive undertaking that took 4 years, the results of which effort we see today. All but one of the ahu's 16 moai have been raised, although only one has had its topnknot replaced,and the 200 metre long ahu has been rebuilt. With its stunning backdrop of the sea and the headland of the Peninsula Poike, it is certainly the most impressive of all the island's ahu.
There are some interesting petroglyphs carved into the flat surfaces of rocks not far fom the ahu, among them a huge tuna, a turtle and birdman figures. Leave a Comment
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If you're lucky enough to catch one of Easter Island's blazing sunsets, the ceremonial complex at Ahu Tahai, just 15 minute's walk out of town, is definitely the place to be. Here the moai stand with their backs to the west, perfectly silhouetted against the setting sun.
Thought to be one of the earliest ahu sites on the island - dates as early as 690 AD have been suggested - three ahu make up the complex - Ahu Tahai itself, with one large, rather eroded moai; Ahu Vai Uri, which has five very battered and broken moai; and Ahu Ko Te Riku whose single moai wears a fine red top knot and is the only moai on the island to have had eyes inserted, as once all the moai are believed to have done. Look to the north and you will see another lonely-looking moai standing on Ahu Akapu.
As well as the ahu and their various moai, there's a well-built canoe ramp here and the foundations and outlines of several so-called "chicken" houses and the distinctive hare paenga ('boat" houses).
Don't miss the opportunity for those sunset shots by thinking you'll put it off until tomorrow. Tired (and hungry)we did just that the first night we were there, and for the rest of our stay the evenings were too overcast and cloudy for there to be any chance of any colour breaking through. Oh well ... Leave a Comment
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Without a doubt, the most extraordinary place on Easter Island is Rano Raraku - the moai quarry. All the great statues were carved here from the rock face of one of the island's three main volcanoes. Here you'll find moai in all stages of completion - with more than 160 still actually attached to the rockface, lying at all sorts of angles to each other.
At first, you barely notice them as your eye is drawn to the statues that are littered all over the slope facing the road, about 50 of them, mostly upright - or nearly so - buried anywhere from mid-torso right up to their necks in the soil, their blank eyes staring seawards - an amazing sight, but there is much more to come.
A path from the carpark leads you up the slope to the bare rockface and, as your eye adjusts to the bumps and curves in the grey volcanic tuff, you realize you are gazing at scores of unfinished statues - a stack of four like drawers in a chest; twins lying side by side up the slope. Others are on their backs - sharp noses pointing directly to the sky, a "keel" of rock along their spine the only thing attaching them to the mountainside. Looking down the slope as you climb you see a broad forehead and nose right at your feet. One monster is over 20 metres high - did they have a plan for moving him?
Nowadays, you can only gaze on the sculptures from the track. What must it have felt like to walk among and around them as visitors could do in earlier times? Leave a Comment
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After the inter-clan wars that destroyed the cult of the moai, the people of Rapa Nui turned towards a new god - Makemake - in their search for the help they so desperately needed in their struggle to survive. Through the 18th and 19th centuries, the focus of this belief became the ceremonial village of Orongo, built on the south-western slopes of the the volcano, Rano Kau.
Represented as a manifestation of part man-part frigate bird, Makemake was a demanding god, and complex rituals developed as ways to appease and honour him. These culminated in the long ceremonies that marked the return of the sooty tern to its nesting places on the three islets of Moto Nui, Moto Itu and Motu Kao Kao - and with their return, their eggs - symbolic of both of fertility and continuity, and a valuable source of fresh protein. These rites appear to have lasted for weeks and required the participants to move into the houses of the village that was used only at this time of the year.
In a ritual of courage and strength, a young blood from each clan would descend the cliffs of Rano Kau, make his way through rough and shark-infested seas to Moto Nui, climb the cliffs there in the hunt for the first egg of the season and then make his way back to his chief who was waiting back in a special enclave within Orongo. On receipt of the egg, the chief then became the island's birdman for the year ahead, Makemake's favoured one... though the role was not without its sacrifices. Being the birdman meant a year of isolation and confinement to a ceremonial dwelling but it conferred great status on both man and clan.
Today the village of Orongo is partially restored, the low houses mostly roofed with turf, though there are some left open to the sky so you can see their solid construction. Petroglyphs on the rocks show Makemake and birdman figures with their precious eggs. The views all around are stunning, both seawards and over the town and the island. This is both a site and a sight not to be missed. Leave a Comment Directions: Orongo lies about 9km south of Hanga Roa, a steep hike. This is where you will pay the single NP charge that covers you for your whole stay on the island. There are toilets here and usually you will find souvenir sellers at the entry point.
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Whilst it is generally accepted these days that the origins of the people of Rapa Nui lies in Polynesia, there are some who see a case for the theory that they came from South America.
One pointer they say, is the islanders long-time cultivation of the sweet potato - a South American plant - which was a staple food long before the arrival of the first Europeans. There are no really satisfactory explanations as to how the vegetable came to the island and, for the moment, the academic and archaeological jury has agreed to be out on that particular mystery
The immaculately precise stone masonry of one of the altars(known as Ahu Tahiri) at Ahu Vinapu is another indicator for those who hold to the South American connection. There's no denying that the sophistication of the way these blocks have been hewn and fitted together shows a strong resemblance to pre-Incan stonework, and there are others where the stone masonry is almost as good. Early carbon dating seemed to indicate Ahu Tahiri was among the earliest workings on the island but nothing here is ever that cut and dried - later work in this field has dated the ahu here as one of the latest works.
Ahu Vinapu holds another mystery - a unique moai - carved from red stone, headless now(though it was carved with two heads!), badly damaged and eroded, but still with discernable legs (which no other standing moai possess) and female physical features.
Before you leave here, look around for one of the island's most haunting images - the upturned head of a moai buried so deeply in the earth only its face gazes up at you from the grass Leave a Comment
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Generally speaking, there is very little access to the shoreline on Easter Island. Most of the coast is rocky and inaccessible but there are two small beaches, reasonably close together, on the the island's nothern flank.
Anakena is the larger of the two. This is where the first settlers landed. With its white sands and palm-tree clad gently sloping grassy areas, it's a justifiably popular place for swimming, plus there's the added attraction of there being two ahu close by. You'll find food and drink sellers here - the only ones outside the township of Hanga Roa at the other end of the island - there are also public loos (the only others are in Hanga Roa and at Rano Raraku) and, of course, the inevitable souvenir sellers. This is where most of the tour buses end up towards the end of the day, but you'll need to come back in the morning to get the best photos of the moai here, so do give yourself time to make a return visit, to swim and to check out the ahu.
Ovahe (between Anakena and La Perouse Bay) is much smaller. You'll need your own transport to get here - down a very rough track- so it's also a lot quieter. You may well find you're the only person/people there. Whilst there are no palm trees here to create that tropical feel, the sand is a lovely pale pink and there are great views of the Poike Peninsula. Leave a Comment
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