Easter Island Trip - Part 1
Day 1
The flight time from Santiago was about 5 and a half hours. The flight was delayed but I was not bothered as I got to play on my new PSP although I think Jen was bored. The flight was great and with a built in enternainment centre in each seat the time flew by. I watched Mean Machine - staring Vinnie Jones as a fallen English International footballer sent to Prison - In a violent prison he trains a bunch of psychopathic prisoners to take on the prison guard team. I also watched Ice Age 2 which was very similar!
We got off the plane and were pleased to note the increase in temperature. The island airport building was tiny and we were met by a local band. The taxi was waiting to take us to our hotel and the driver presented us with flower garland neclaces which were a nice touch!
At the hotel, Hotel Orongo we met the owner, Raul, who was quite a character. He showed us to our rooms and we walked through a nice garden to get there. After settling in Raul asked us to meet him for a chat and a welcome drink.
We met him in the small restaurant and we were asked to sit it chairs miles away from where he was sitting which was a bit strange. He chatted to us about where we were from and where we had travelled. It was quite funny as he announced everything before it happened:
"And now drinks!" and he offered us a drink of Pisco Sour.
"And now music!" before playing us a CD of island music.
He also gave us a map of the island and talked to us about renting a car. We decided not too as we'd heard the roads were poor on the island and it was not possible to get insurance.
Map in hand we went off for a walk around the main (and only) town Hanga Roa. We saw our first Moai down by the sea - Ahu Tautira. We walked along the coast and sat down in a cafe with an ocean view for a beer. The beer was only available in cans and we quickly noticed that things were typically twice the price than on the mainland.
We had a great meal at what turned out to be our favourite restaurant - Te Moana, before picking up some beers from the supermarket as we couldn't find a bar that was open.
Day 2
We woke up to rain which never stopped all day and put me in a really bad mood!
We decided to walk out anyway and saw more Moai at Ahu Riata near Hanga Roa bay. This shrine was restored in the 1990s and represents the newest restoration work. Today people and companies are looking for new restoration projects, but must work in conjunction with the Chilean government and a special panel of local Rapa Nui experts.
We ended up getting soaked and headed back to the hotel to dry out. We ventured out again for tea and found a pub - The Banana Pub - it wasn't officially open but the owner let us go in anyway and play pool for free - the beers were some of the cheapest we found on the island.
Day 3
The weather had cleared, and so had my bad mood. We headed over to the museum (which was closed) but we did pick up a guided trail that took us right along the coast and up to the village of Orongo.
The trail took us to Tahai an archeological complex with three restored temples. At one site there was a moai with eyes which makes it look quite different from the others.
We headed back down passed Ahu Tautira and Ahu Riata and stopped for lunch. After lunch we headed off to climb up the Rano Kau crater to the Orongo ceremonial village. We managed to loose the trail somewhere at the base of the volcano and ended following the road up (definately the long way!!) The views from the top were spectacular and we could see for miles out to sea as well as accross the island. The crater itself was pretty spectacular as there is a thin ridge right around it and one of the sides has been battered by the weather and the sea.
From the crater we headed into the village. Strangely the ranger station is the only place on the island where you have to pay to get into any of the sites - the ticket is supposed to cover you for all the parks and Moai - however sometimes the ranger is not at the station and not everyone heads up there.
The village of Orongo was amazing - there were lots of archaeological remains of houses from the time of the "Bird Man Cult" (see previous blog entry for more details) as well as rock art and the Orongo script. The Orongo script is a form of writing unique to the island and was once featured on lots of stone tablets, however these were destroyed by misionaries. As yet no-one has been able to translate the script.
In one of the houses a Moai statue (Hoa Haka Nana La) was descovered. It is 2.5m in height, made of basalt and adorned with petroglyphs related to the birdman ritual. This moai was taken to England in 1968 and today it is exhibited in the British Museam.
We also visited an area in the village called Mata Ngarahy on the very edge of the cliff where only 5 people were allowed to stand at once. Hundreds of petroglyphs of Tangata-Manu, Make-Make god and Komari were carved on the stones at this place and it is thought that the priests stayed here waiting to see the results of the competition.
After visiting the village we managed to pick up the footpath we were meant to have come up back to town - it was a bit overgrown but we managed. At the bottom of the path we found some caves (Ana Kai Tangata) by the seashore which had cave paintings in them.
We headed (worn out) back to town where we decided to book a full tour of the island for later in the week. We went in to an agency near the hotel and met an Australian guy called Bill. he had married a Rapa Nui lady and they had set up a hotel and tour business on the Island. Prior to this Bill had worked in the film industry as a chief set designer. He made his tour sound really interesting and told us about a film about the island he had worked on - the directors were Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds - he thought it might be showing on the island. We signed up for the tour on Sunday.
That night after dinner we walked past the hotel showing the film and had timed it perfectly to catch the start. The film, Rapa Nui, was proceeded by a documentary about the island and the annual festival they hold there in February. The film itself was not very good as a film in its own right. It is a love story which tries to cram all the history of the island into a short space of time. We enjoyed it though as the majority was filmed on the island and it was good to see the locations we had seen that day and would go on to visit. Bill himself said that they were not pleased with the film at the end as they blew the budget and could not make the film the directors wanted in the time frame.
The flight time from Santiago was about 5 and a half hours. The flight was delayed but I was not bothered as I got to play on my new PSP although I think Jen was bored. The flight was great and with a built in enternainment centre in each seat the time flew by. I watched Mean Machine - staring Vinnie Jones as a fallen English International footballer sent to Prison - In a violent prison he trains a bunch of psychopathic prisoners to take on the prison guard team. I also watched Ice Age 2 which was very similar!
We got off the plane and were pleased to note the increase in temperature. The island airport building was tiny and we were met by a local band. The taxi was waiting to take us to our hotel and the driver presented us with flower garland neclaces which were a nice touch!
At the hotel, Hotel Orongo we met the owner, Raul, who was quite a character. He showed us to our rooms and we walked through a nice garden to get there. After settling in Raul asked us to meet him for a chat and a welcome drink.
We met him in the small restaurant and we were asked to sit it chairs miles away from where he was sitting which was a bit strange. He chatted to us about where we were from and where we had travelled. It was quite funny as he announced everything before it happened:
"And now drinks!" and he offered us a drink of Pisco Sour.
"And now music!" before playing us a CD of island music.
He also gave us a map of the island and talked to us about renting a car. We decided not too as we'd heard the roads were poor on the island and it was not possible to get insurance.
Map in hand we went off for a walk around the main (and only) town Hanga Roa. We saw our first Moai down by the sea - Ahu Tautira. We walked along the coast and sat down in a cafe with an ocean view for a beer. The beer was only available in cans and we quickly noticed that things were typically twice the price than on the mainland.
We had a great meal at what turned out to be our favourite restaurant - Te Moana, before picking up some beers from the supermarket as we couldn't find a bar that was open.
Day 2
We woke up to rain which never stopped all day and put me in a really bad mood!
We decided to walk out anyway and saw more Moai at Ahu Riata near Hanga Roa bay. This shrine was restored in the 1990s and represents the newest restoration work. Today people and companies are looking for new restoration projects, but must work in conjunction with the Chilean government and a special panel of local Rapa Nui experts.
We ended up getting soaked and headed back to the hotel to dry out. We ventured out again for tea and found a pub - The Banana Pub - it wasn't officially open but the owner let us go in anyway and play pool for free - the beers were some of the cheapest we found on the island.
Day 3
The weather had cleared, and so had my bad mood. We headed over to the museum (which was closed) but we did pick up a guided trail that took us right along the coast and up to the village of Orongo.
The trail took us to Tahai an archeological complex with three restored temples. At one site there was a moai with eyes which makes it look quite different from the others.
We headed back down passed Ahu Tautira and Ahu Riata and stopped for lunch. After lunch we headed off to climb up the Rano Kau crater to the Orongo ceremonial village. We managed to loose the trail somewhere at the base of the volcano and ended following the road up (definately the long way!!) The views from the top were spectacular and we could see for miles out to sea as well as accross the island. The crater itself was pretty spectacular as there is a thin ridge right around it and one of the sides has been battered by the weather and the sea.
From the crater we headed into the village. Strangely the ranger station is the only place on the island where you have to pay to get into any of the sites - the ticket is supposed to cover you for all the parks and Moai - however sometimes the ranger is not at the station and not everyone heads up there.
The village of Orongo was amazing - there were lots of archaeological remains of houses from the time of the "Bird Man Cult" (see previous blog entry for more details) as well as rock art and the Orongo script. The Orongo script is a form of writing unique to the island and was once featured on lots of stone tablets, however these were destroyed by misionaries. As yet no-one has been able to translate the script.
In one of the houses a Moai statue (Hoa Haka Nana La) was descovered. It is 2.5m in height, made of basalt and adorned with petroglyphs related to the birdman ritual. This moai was taken to England in 1968 and today it is exhibited in the British Museam.
We also visited an area in the village called Mata Ngarahy on the very edge of the cliff where only 5 people were allowed to stand at once. Hundreds of petroglyphs of Tangata-Manu, Make-Make god and Komari were carved on the stones at this place and it is thought that the priests stayed here waiting to see the results of the competition.
After visiting the village we managed to pick up the footpath we were meant to have come up back to town - it was a bit overgrown but we managed. At the bottom of the path we found some caves (Ana Kai Tangata) by the seashore which had cave paintings in them.
We headed (worn out) back to town where we decided to book a full tour of the island for later in the week. We went in to an agency near the hotel and met an Australian guy called Bill. he had married a Rapa Nui lady and they had set up a hotel and tour business on the Island. Prior to this Bill had worked in the film industry as a chief set designer. He made his tour sound really interesting and told us about a film about the island he had worked on - the directors were Kevin Costner and Kevin Reynolds - he thought it might be showing on the island. We signed up for the tour on Sunday.
That night after dinner we walked past the hotel showing the film and had timed it perfectly to catch the start. The film, Rapa Nui, was proceeded by a documentary about the island and the annual festival they hold there in February. The film itself was not very good as a film in its own right. It is a love story which tries to cram all the history of the island into a short space of time. We enjoyed it though as the majority was filmed on the island and it was good to see the locations we had seen that day and would go on to visit. Bill himself said that they were not pleased with the film at the end as they blew the budget and could not make the film the directors wanted in the time frame.
posted by Phil at 3:05 AM
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