My second time in one of the most isolated islands in the world
Very seldom to I ever return to islands as I usually see everything that I want to see on them. However Easter Island is a very different place. From the Great Seafood to great sites and people, it is no wonder I decided to make a return to one of the most remote islands and airports in the entire world.
This whole trip was made possible by my good friend Marc Shields who I met 11 years ago on the island. His company Green Island Tours, has many different tours around the island in order to make your stay as pleasant as possible. He has discovered every little nook and cranny this island has to offer and him and his staff are very good with people. They can cater to just about anything and he does stargazing trips as well as sunrise trips to the most popular statues on the island….He has written a brilliant book with some great photography about the islands history, statues, and also contemporary. The book is called Rapa Nui- Beautiful Photography from the Navel of the World and is a must read!!!
First of all the food is to die for. I think I ate ceviche twice a day and also the tuna and cheese empanadas which weighed about 800 grams each and were packed with fillings. The tuna fillets while in western countries are very small, these were big and cooked perfectly!!! The Pisco Sours here were also some of the best I have tasted!!!
Hanga Roa is the only town on this island. I have noticed how different it looks from 11 years ago and how more small bed and breakfast hotels are popping up and more places to eat on just about every street. It is a very walk-able town that sits right on the coastline of the island and has the only airport in which there is only one flight out per day from Santiago. The houses are colorful and the people are all very friendly all over the island. The cemetery is also something to be noted to look at as it is adorned with beautiful headstones depicting the person who had passed away and also perhaps what they did on the island. Sometimes you may have a chance to see local people dressed in traditional clothes, practicing dances for upcoming competitions. I can honestly say, that I did not get bored of this town at all!!!!
Even though the statues are a big part of the island, I had a fascinating time every single day sitting with my cameras and watching the waves crash against the rocks. They made for some marvelous splashes and the crystal blue water was amazing to look at as it was so clear!!!
As I took trips around the island, I learned about the early inhabitants who built the statues and places they sometimes had lived (like in caves). there are many lava tubes that go out to sea on the island and going into a couple of them was interesting and claustrophobic. The big volcanic crater on the island that is now filled with water and reeds is definitely one of the places that should be visited, along with areas where the statues had not been erected yet. Up on the top of the volcano, you can see three small islands which have been entrenched in island lore of the Bird Man Cult. Legend has it that after the warring period of different tribes on the island in which many statues were knocked down, the island chiefs came together and once a year they would send a warrior to fetch an egg of a migratory bird from the islands and the one that swam back with the egg first, his chief would rule the island for a year. On th island you can also find different bird species as well as turtles coming up to shore and horses and cows on just about every corner.
The Moai statues of Easter Island are of course the main attraction of the island and what the island is known for. As Easter Island is the southern most point of the Polynesian Islands, experts say that Polynesian people came here between 800-1200 AD. The different tribes erected these statues all over the island to their gods as most of them are found along the coast, with only one set of them in the center of the island on the alters. I visited the quarry where the statues were carved out of the stone over many months and then probably put on logs and rolled to the place where they would be hoisted up standing. This is an amazing feat as it even takes modern day engineers a while to figure this out!!!! In the quarry you can see remnants of statues who started to be carved but for some reason they were not finished (could have been the warring period).
My favorite thing to do on the island is of course the sunrise and sunset photos of the statues. For both of these is a bit tricky as you cannot have any bad weather or the photos will not look good. The first spot is Ahu Tongariki which boasts the most statues in one place on the alter and is pretty close to the quarry. Here you can get some beautiful shots from different angles before the sunrises and during the sunrise. The sunset spot which is near the beautiful cemetery is called Ahu Tahai. In this spot people gather to get some good sunset photos and the beautiful colors in the sky as the sun goes down. Unfortunately you may have to navigate around the boats that are docked in the background. Both of these spots are weather dependent. I am lucky the 5 nights I was there to get a night and morning with beautiful sunrises and sunsets as the other days were cloudy and rainy.
The Sunrise Collection
The Sunset Collection
Well I went back after 11 years and I absolutely had a great time, as the statues did not change at all, however the whole island is changing little by little and the sun and clouds will always move. Lets see if it takes me another 11 years to come back here or sooner….
