Day 3: Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Rano Raraku (aka the Nursery)
On Tuesday we woke up early and commenced our epic bicycle circuit around the island. We headed toward the east coast of the island while the sun was still rising. At Hanga Hahave and/or Hanga Poukura (not sure which), we came upon a crumbling ahu. At Vaihu we found a small harbor with eight toppled moai. At this point the sun had risen and we resolved to make it to Akahanga without stopping. Upon reaching Akahanga we discovered (surprise) more toppled statues. At Henga Tetenga our guidebook promised us a toppled moai and ahu with bones visible inside, but we didn’t find the bones (possibly because you’re not supposed to walk on or near the ahu).
From Akahanga, it was on to Rano Raraku, otherwise known as the Nursery. On the way we took a wrong turn and had a run-in with a “mean loc”, wearing a salad bowl on his head for some reason, who was obviously annoyed with the number of tourists turning down his private road in search of an archaeological site. After that, we encountered a small herd of wild horses on the road to the site. Given the situation we had witnessed the previous day, we proceeded very cautiously, but without incident. In any event, Rano Raraku is the volcano where the moai were carved, in situ, before being cut free to slide down the hillside for transportation to their final location. As we later learned at the museum, It’s really amazing to think that these enormous statues were carved and transported without mechanical assistance. At the Nursery, numerous moai are visible in various states of completion. Needless to say, we took a lot of photos!
Onward to Ahu Tongariki, site of fifteen moai. This site was damaged by a tidal wave in 1960 and later restored by the
Ahu Tongariki
Japanese. We passed the Poike headland where one of the island’s three volcanoes are located. In addition, Poike is the site of the Cave of White Virgins, where a virgin was kept before marriage to the victor of ceremonies during the time of the Bird Man cult. Pretty intense stuff! But.. the Poike headland is actually private property and we didn’t have time to venture out there, anyway. So, our next stop was Papa Vaka, where various petroglyphs are carved into large, flat horizontal rocks. The informational displays depicted numerous designs, including boats, marine animals, and fish hooks, that we had trouble seeing in the rocks. From Papa Vaka, we stopped at Te Pito Kura, site of a 10-m-tall moai, one of the largest ever to brought to a platform.
At Anakena we found a white-sand beach where we did some swimming. Also at this site are two ahu, one with seven partially restored maoi. Upon leaving Anakena, I experienced a mild panic attack when my bike was not found where we had left it. For some reason, someone had tossed into some nearby bushes. On the ride back to our residencial, a rainstorm soaked us. I stopped briefly to examine some type of NASA/Chile experimental research station, which appeared to be no longer in use. In the evening, we visited our favorite artisanal ice cream shop by the harbor, Mikafe, to celebrate our successful 50km bike ride.
Day 4: Wednesday, December 9, 2009
On Wednesday, we headed to the Museo Antropologico Sebastian Englert, where we learned a whole lot more about the Rapa Nui culture, the maoi, and the Bird Man cult. The centerpiece of the museum’s collection is a coral eye, discovered by Thor Heyerdahl. It is hypothesized that all of the maoi once had coral eyes. After leaving the museum, we were temporarily adopted by two dogs who accompanied us to the Tahai site, where we ate lunch. From Tahai, we biked to Ana Kai Tangata, a cave with bird paintings. After a brief stop at the CONAF office to ride out the daily afternoon rainstorm, we continued on to Vinapu. The road passed the airport runway, which our guidebook told us has been extended to provide an emergency landing site for US space shuttles. At Vinapu, found two ahu and a wall whose stones are fit tightly, similar to Inca construction. On the ride back to our hostel, we were once again caught in the rain. We walked to Mikafe for our last evening ice cream.
I love the pics!
I love the pic of all of them lined up w/the water in the background, and we enjoyed the video-especially the random dog catching some shade from one of the maoi.
That random dog followed us around the site and kept getting in the way of our picture taking! If you don’t shoo the dogs away immediately they take it as a sign of affection and become your dog friend.