March 19th
Left about 7:30am and made our way to Ahu Tonjariki. Two vehicles were following close to my tail and eventually passed heading to the same location. We got there and couldn’t believe how many people were there to watch the sunrise. However, soon could understand why … what a beautiful sunrise! It is such a great location to watch the sun come up on Easter Island.
From here we backtracked a short distance and took the road to Rano Raraku. It didn’t open until 9:30am, a half hour wait for us. It was worth the wait as the sun was at the golden hour and made for some amazing photo moments. This area is known as the quarry where they made the Moai’s. There were Moai’s all over the place … what an incredible place to visit after the sunrise.
During the walk around, I met one of the gentleman that works at the site and he gave me a little history about this specific location. He indicated that this is the best place to start the tour as it is where the Moai all began. He stated that there were usually five or six people that died per day while building the Moai’s due to accidents. This was a great morning for photo opportunities and learning about Easter Island heritage.
We continued our drive around the island and had to stop at Hanga Taharoa. We both saw how beautiful and brilliant the blue water was in this area. The water color was almost surreal and a photo could not duplicate that color … such an amazing blue color.
We stopped at Ahu Te Pito Kura and it looked like it was just another Moai that was knocked over. On the way down to the site I had to walk passed some horses. Just when I approached the site I heard some hooves running and turned to see a colt with the mare running in my direction. I got a couple photo’s that was just so neat to watch in the morning.
Then I witnessed to horses having a little disagreement and I got a few shots of that.
When I finished taking a couple shots of the main structure, I walked to one side of the main structure and there was a circle of stacked rocks with five round stones in the center. One stone was in the very center and the other four I believe represented directions. This was a unique feature that we had not seen before and I will have to research to see what it is all about.
We had to return the vehicle to the car rental facility as the driver side window would not go back up. Just before getting to the car rental place the window went completely out of site. They gave us another vehicle to use for the second day … this one was much better.
We went back to our accommodation for the afternoon as it was extremely hot … too hot to be hiking. We ate and then headed out later in the afternoon when it had cooled off a bit to explore more of the central part of the island.
We visited Ahu Huri A Urenga, a lone standing Moai before heading to Puna Pau.
Puna Pau was known for the quarry where they made the red hats the Moai once had. It is so hard to imagine how they moved the hats and the Moai from their quarry to their final destination. Some of these hats were taken over land over 12km! They were huge and weighed tons. So hard to imagine this engineering accomplishment.
After a short visit here we then drove further up the road to Ahu Akivi. There were seven Maoi’s standing side by side at this location. Made for great photo’s.
Just a short drive from here we parked and entered a gate to walk in to Hare Paenga, a lava tube of caves used for dwellings. I looked for the attendant and saw him laying down on the ground in the station. I asked if I needed a stamp and he indicated that I did not. The park closed within an hour so only got to the first section of lava tube caves. The path was not well worn and when I looked at Maps.me
I noticed that we should have stayed on the main road as it would go passed the main dwellings. If we have time we will return here. We got back to the gate entrance and the chain was around the gate, but the park entrance guy was gone. No problem getting out though. LOL
March 20th
Got up this morning around 8:30am and headed to Anakena Beach. When we arrived, there were only three other people there. The water was a nice temperature with small waves.
A very nice area indeed. Apparently, the King of Rapa Nui people first landed on this area of Easter Island. They were the first inhabitants and set up settlement dating around 1200AD. … what a paradise that they discovered. My curiosity is how did they manage to find this little isolated island in the middle of the ocean in 1200AD?
After a couple of hours, we headed inland back to the region of Hare Paenga to hike one kilometre in to see the cave and Petroglyph: Bird Man. We got a chance to see the cave, they call the Banana Cave, that was inside a lava tube, very impressive. In the entrance they actually have banana plants they grow here.
We walked through the cave which went a long way back in on three different sides.
After touring the cave we did not have time to see the petroglyph as we had to return the vehicle in less than half an hour.
After returning the vehicle, we took it easy for the late afternoon and evening as we have a long hike planned for tomorrow. After supper, I went to the beach to take some wave photo’s and then headed to Ahu Ko Te Riku to take some sunset photo’s. A very relaxing afternoon and early evening.
