Sep 20, 2012 - Easter Island

It's sunset on Easter Island. We are sitting on a low stone wall looking down a slope towards the crashing waves of the Pacific and five huge stone statues, silhouetted in the golden light. The statues sit on a long low stone platform. Under heavy brows, their empty eye sockets stare inland. Prominent chins, thin lips, long ears; these are strange faces, stylised, yet each a bit different. One statue is missing a head, another looks vaguely alien, with almond shaped eyes and a broad, flat nose. They range in height, up to 6-7 metres, and...

Nov 23, 2008 - Easter Island - Day 3

Yesterday was all about Moai and Ahu sites, but today was mostly cave paintings and petroglyphs. Our first stop was just over the hill from our hotel to see paintings in a cave that ended up running beneath the hotel property. We also saw Rano Kao, which is the oldest volcano on the island, and it was so windy up there, we actually had to fight to stay upright. On the other side of the volcano, we saw the area where the Bird Man contest was held each Spring. It pitted the top warrior of each of the 10 tribes against each other by having...

Mar 13, 2007 - Easter Island

After lengthy negotiations with the Lan Chile baggage services department at Santiago airport, we and, much to my surprise, our bags duly arrived at Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua or Easter Island. Being 3,700kms to the west of mainland Chile and having the mutineers of Pitcairn as it nearest neighbours at a little over 1900kms to the east, Easter Island is the dictionary definition of remote. It also does quite a good impression of desolate. Easter Island contains an awful lot of nothing. It looks kind of how I imagine the Falklands but with...

Mar 7, 2007 - Easter Island

For a long time now, Isla de Pascau (Easter Island) has been somewhere that has intrigued me and somewhere I have always wanted to visit, but I was never quite sure if I would have the money or the time on this particlar trip. Thankfully, it worked out perfectly, I was able to purchase a flight and have spent 5 days on the island. Easter Island interests me as much for its huge Moai statues as for its mysterious past. Easter was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995 and has a very magical and exciting history. The island's...

Feb 28, 2007 - EASTER ISLAND, Chile

The worlds largest open air museam is how Easter Island is advertised in it's tourism brochures and it certainly is like no other island we have been to. Famous for it's Moai statues the little island is certainly full of mystery. Apparently the land mass of only 117sk km is the further from any other habitated land than any other place on the planet and this certainly reflects in the prices. It is an expensive place to get to (unless you get free flights with your around the world tickets) and a lot of the things once you get there leave...

Feb 22, 2007 - Day 83 - Easter Island (Isla de Pascua)

Arrived on Easter Island at 11am this morning after a 5 and a half hour flight. We're now only 5 hrs behind UK time so I'm slowly catching up with you again! The island is lovely -very different to Mo'orea (no limpid bluey green lagoons here) but it has lush, rolling green hills, wild waves (great for surfing) and when you catch your first glimpse of a Moai statue it's breathtaking. The capital of Hanga Roa is pretty small and only really consists of two main streets. There are road names on the map, but you'll be lucky to see any street...

Dec 20, 2006 - Easter Island

Today was our first day of sightseeing on Easter Island (Rapa Nui in the local language). We were escorted by Edmundo Edwards today and throughout our stay here. Edmundo is extremely knowledgeable about the people, customs, past and present cultures of Near Oceania and Polynesia, and is considered one of the major experts on Easter Island and Eastern Polynesian history and culture. He worked as an archeologist here since the 1960s and was involved in some of the first academic reasearch on the island. The principal sights on the island are...

Dec 15, 2006 - Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile

FRIDAY-TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15-19, 2006. HANGA ROA, EASTER ISLAND (A.K.A. RAPA NUI (POLYNESIAN), ISLA DE PASCUA (SPANISH)), CHILE. Easter Island is simply a magical and fascinating place--An entire island of open air museum. The moai (stone statues) and ahu (ceremonial platforms) are some of the most enigmatic and amazing archeological relics that I have come across in my travels around the world. Moreover, the island has a unique mix of Rapa Nui (Polynesian) and Chilean cultures. Rapa Nui culture has some startling similarities to my home,...

Oct 12, 2006 - Easter Island

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui as it's known to its Polynesian inhabitants, is one of the great mysteries of anthropology. The island's main legacy are the huge "moai", which look like giant Polynesian heads. They dot the island in many places and are fascinating to look at. The current theory on the moai is that they were carved from 800 AD to 1800 AD by the locals, who happened upon Rapa Nui from Tahiti. To appreciate how difficult it might be to just "happen upon" Rapa Nui, consider that the island is officially the remotest place on earth,...

Mar 29, 2006 - Rapa Nui

We are just leaving the world's most isolated island. Locally known as Rapa Nui, and otherwise called Isla De Pascua or Easter Island, the nearest inhabited landmass is Pitcairn Island, some 1,180 miles to the west. Trivia and history buffs may remember this speck of land as the hideout settlement chosen by Fletcher Christian of Mutiny on the Bounty's fame. In other directions you are looking at between 1,500 - 2,300 miles for your nearest neighbor. This extreme isolation has made the initial populating of the island an interesting...

Mar 5, 2006 - Te Pito O Te Henua - Ahu Vinapu

Walked down to Ahu Vinapu (and Ahu Tahira) on the coast south east of Hanga Roa, at the end of the runway. Took me absolutely ages to find it! As I've said before, signposting and maps are definitely not Easter Island's strong point. Maps seem to exist just to give a rough idea of where there are roads and sites, they won't mention the 6 junctions along the road. So, I follow the road to the end of the runway, fine, turns out I now have a choice of 3 roads, at the end of the 3rd is a tiny sign pointing to follow that road round to the right...

Mar 1, 2006 - Easter Island - Rano Kau and Orongo

Climbed up Rano Kau volcano today to the Orongo ceremonial village at the top, where there are restored ceremonial houses and lots of petroglyphs (stone carvings) of Make Make and the birdman cover the boulders at the edge of the cliffs. Good view of the Birdman Islands (the birdman cult centred on them and Orongo) which are Motu Kau Kau, Motu Iti, and Motu Nui (going from nearest to furthest). On way up found Ana Kai Tangata, which is a cave in the cliffs with paintings of the birdman and further along the road some Manavai - rock...