Easter Island - Day 1
This morning we arrived in Easter Island! It was great to see land.
To get to the island we had to be tendered from the ship as there is no deep port. We were extremely concerned that we would not be able to get off of the ship because the swells were bad. We have read that many times, passengers are not able to get to the island for that reason.
Fortunately, we were given the go ahead by the local authorities and our captain to go ashore. The tendering process went like this:
- arrive at 7:00 to get our Passports to take ashore
- receive our cards that designated our assigned tender
- wait until almost 9:00 to receive clearance to go ashore
- board our tender around 9:20
- arrive on land at approximately 10:00
- hand in our clearance forms to the local agriculture authorities
- purchase our $80 per person Park Passes
- meet our tour group
The actual tender boarding was very difficult because of the swells. Each tender is required to have a local pilot on board to guide it to and from the small harbor. Four crew members helped each of us from the ship to the tender. To say it was rocky is an understatement.
We had booked our tour months ago with a private, local tour company (Green Island Tours) - and they were waiting with a private van when we landed. We had 11 people on the tour. Our tour guide was Terry - who was 1/2 Rapanui and 1/2 American and our driver was Nelson who was Rapanui.
Our first stop was a site just outside of Hanga Roa named Tahai. This site is visible in the distance from where the ship anchored. It is hard to describe your feelings when you see these huge statues for the first time and hard to imagine how these primitive people on an isolated island were able to carve, move and add the topknots to these marvelous statues.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, Some of the Moai had eyes made from coral and pupils made from obsidian. These were the final thing done to complete a Moai. Below is one from Tahai.
Our next stop was on the north side of the island called Anakena, the first area settled on the island over 1300 years ago. It is now a beautiful South Pacific beach lined with palm trees that were imported from Tahiti in the 1960s.
Anakena has three platforms containing Moai, the centerpiece of which is Ahu Nau Nau which contains seven statues, four with topknots.
It is hard to imagine how these huge structures, some of which are over 69 feet high and weigh up to 150 tons were actually carved and transported. The statues found here are the largest and most ornate but most of them are unfinished or broken.
Our next stop was Rano Rarako, the quarry where the statues were carved. It is a vast quarry that looks like a graveyard for Moai - just left in place when the carving suddenly stopped. Here we were able to see Moai in different stages of development and broken Moai that were that were damaged during construction or movement are abandoned throughout the area. These broken Moai are said to have lost their Mana and were left as is.
Our next stop, and the highlight of the day, Ahu Tongariki, a platform containing 15 Moai that was reconstructed with funds provided by Japan.The platform overlooks beautiful flat land that was a village on the coast on the northeast side of the island. One of the translations of Moai is "loving eyes". If you take the leap of faith it is easy to imagine how inhabitants of this village, practicing their religion, felt comforted by the "loving eyes" of their revered ancestors overlooking and protecting them.
Our final stop of the day was Vaihu, a platform on a beautiful rocky beach, which contains the broken pieces of eight moai.
To get to the island we had to be tendered from the ship as there is no deep port. We were extremely concerned that we would not be able to get off of the ship because the swells were bad. We have read that many times, passengers are not able to get to the island for that reason.
Fortunately, we were given the go ahead by the local authorities and our captain to go ashore. The tendering process went like this:
- arrive at 7:00 to get our Passports to take ashore
- receive our cards that designated our assigned tender
- wait until almost 9:00 to receive clearance to go ashore
- board our tender around 9:20
- arrive on land at approximately 10:00
- hand in our clearance forms to the local agriculture authorities
- purchase our $80 per person Park Passes
- meet our tour group
The actual tender boarding was very difficult because of the swells. Each tender is required to have a local pilot on board to guide it to and from the small harbor. Four crew members helped each of us from the ship to the tender. To say it was rocky is an understatement.
We had booked our tour months ago with a private, local tour company (Green Island Tours) - and they were waiting with a private van when we landed. We had 11 people on the tour. Our tour guide was Terry - who was 1/2 Rapanui and 1/2 American and our driver was Nelson who was Rapanui.
Our first stop was a site just outside of Hanga Roa named Tahai. This site is visible in the distance from where the ship anchored. It is hard to describe your feelings when you see these huge statues for the first time and hard to imagine how these primitive people on an isolated island were able to carve, move and add the topknots to these marvelous statues.
As mentioned earlier in this blog, Some of the Moai had eyes made from coral and pupils made from obsidian. These were the final thing done to complete a Moai. Below is one from Tahai.
Our next stop was on the north side of the island called Anakena, the first area settled on the island over 1300 years ago. It is now a beautiful South Pacific beach lined with palm trees that were imported from Tahiti in the 1960s.
It is hard to imagine how these huge structures, some of which are over 69 feet high and weigh up to 150 tons were actually carved and transported. The statues found here are the largest and most ornate but most of them are unfinished or broken.
Our final stop of the day was Vaihu, a platform on a beautiful rocky beach, which contains the broken pieces of eight moai.
While driving around the island we came upon numerous horses, dogs and cows roaming free - some of which you had to stop for as they were in the middle of the road. These animals, are privately owned and allowed to roam free since there is really no place for them to run away to. Very few of the horses are "broken" and rented out to visitors for riding and the dogs all appear to be friendly.
We feel extremely lucky to have visited this island. There are only five to 7 cruise ships that stop on the island annually and while tourism is a major business most tourists arrive by plane. Those planes land on a 10,000 feet runway that was built by NASA as an emergency landing runway for the Shuttle missions.
Our guide, Terry, was one of the more laid-back individuals you will ever meet. He is a part-time construction worker, tour guide, massage therapist and chiropractor. Time appears to be a concept to him. He seems to be oblivious to it yet he must keep an internal clock of his own. Part of this may be due to the time zone Easter Island is actually in. While it is over 2200 miles west of Chile, it is still in the same time zone. It appears that some islanders claim that the time is actually two hours later than Chile while others maintain that it is not.
We had an early dinner at the Terrace Cafe and retired early after a long, delightful day.
Comments
Post a Comment