We go up at 7:00am and ready for an 8:00am pick up by a lady taxi driver. She picked us up and drove us 35 minutes to Anakena Beach where we would be starting our hike. The sun was just started to come up so this was perfect time to start hiking.
I must state that this was an awesome 24km, 7 hour hike from Anakena to our accommodation in Hanga Roa. For anyone planning to do this hike, I recommend that you save this to near the end of your time in Easter Island as it will give you time to develop some knowledge about the ancient culture and about respecting what you discover. For example, when you see a Moai that is laying down you do not step on the platform or touch the Moai, this is respecting the culture.
This is a foundation for a home that is complete.
Petroglyph found along the hike.
An interesting structure.
Entrance to an ancient shelter.
Old bones found in a fire pit.
A petroglyph found on the ceiling of the dwelling.
There are many things that I learned prior to this hike that was helpful. For example, when stones were placed in a specific location I was aware this was the cooking area and could identify where the houses were and where the Moai used to be. This hike held many sites that are not visited by many tourists and are still in the natural location and condition, without being altered or vandalized … so awesome.
During our hike we did not run into a single person until close to the end of the hike which was amazing. To think we had walked close to 19km before seeing any people. The funny thing is that a dog stayed with us the entire journey from Anakena Beach to our accommodation. During our hike, this dog chased horses and cows similar to the dog that stayed with us on our last long hike.
Something different was the number of cow and horse bones we saw along the way. In one place, a horse had recently died and the dog stopped to get a little something to eat. A little over half way and we approached an isolated area where there were at least 4 dogs that immersed out of what I believe was a cave, barking. This was quite a spooky area, to hear these dogs barking and no one around … hoping that they had enough to eat and were not interested in us. LOL
There were so many interesting things to see along this coastal walk, from original foundations …
… many Moai …
… ancient artifacts …
… caves that are ancient residences …
… entrance to homes that are original and unchanged inside …
…. Petroglyphs …
… and so much more.
There is so much more that has not been discovered yet on this island, this is for certain … so many caves that have not yet been discovered. What a great time and so much untouched history. I was in my glory!!!
