Easter Island Day 2

Our first stop on today's tour was Vaihu. This site had some recreated boat houses, garden structures, and chicken coops. The boat houses looked like overturned boats and we're only used in bad weather. If the weather was good or even ok, the Rapa Nui people slept outside in nature. There were two different garden structures, one short and one tall. The rocks are arranged in circles to allow plants to grow, height depending, to help block the wind. Chickens were highly coveted on the island and were often stolen to be traded for other things. The chicken coops were huts built out of rock in an oval shape with disguises entrances that only the chickens could get in and out of. By the time a thief found the chicken's entrance, the chickens had most likely made enough noise to draw the attention of the owners to get rid of the thief. Eggs were laid outside of the coops in the sun, so you didn't have to worry about a human getting into the structures (hence the design). We walked a short while from the village recreation to an old ceremonial platform. There was a circle of rocks that the shaman was allowed into to perform ceremonies. There were several moai, statues, but they were knocked down as all statues have been from a war between the north and the south. Apparently, any statues that are standing were put back up. All moai will face inland to the people and contained the soul of an ancestor.

Our second stop was Akahanga. There were 3 ahu, altars, here: one for the king's burial site, one for the sun, and one for the moon. The moon site was also a location for lunar observations. Again, all statues here were knocked over. The ahu also had some different colors of stone and this is because the king was buried under it. Some of the red top knots had a birdman on it to symbolize the competition a king does to earn power. The red topknot is very striking, especially against the black and gray stone of the moai. On the walk back to the van, we went through the former location of the village. We saw some stones that were the foundation for the boat houses as well as some communal fires that were used for cooking. We also visited a cave that would have served as shelter in extreme weather for poorer people who could not afford an architect to build them a boat house. Apparently, some of the cave shelters can go as far as 500 meters!

Next we went to Rano Raraku. After reading about this, I was really looking forward to coming here. Rano Raraku is the "nursery" of the island. Not only is it the first volcano to erupt and begin forming the island, but it is also the quarry for all of the moai. Along the outside of the crater, there is an estimated 400 moai with another 100 inside the crater. There were 7 carving clans that carved and transported the moai. The reason for so many abandoned moai is because of the war that broke out in the 1700s that also resulted in the toppling of moai. We walked a path along the bottom of the crater and saw many moai that were in the process of being brought down the hill to be transported. The system was like an assembly line. People carved the moai out of the rock before beginning to slide it down the hill. Sometimes dirt had to be added to the side of the crater to create an adequate ramp to slide the moai. We saw some moai in the process of being carved out of the rock as well as some being slid down the hill. The most striking mid carving was the giant 21 meter moai, sadly left unfinished. Once the moai slid down, a hole was dug to help get it upright before it was transported with ropes to help it waddle along a paved road to its destination. If the moai broke at any point, it wouldn’t be able to hold a spirit so it was abandoned. The moai are carved directly into the crater rock and then slowly chiseled away from the sides to underneath where it then naturally breaks off. That was pretty interesting to learn that it wasn’t carved from a big rectangular block, but directly from the crater. While we were coming to the end of the walk, we saw a moai sitting down on his knees. Oral tradition says that this was a member of a carving clan that was born unable to walk. He was useful for counting tools and other tasks that didn’t involve carving or moving moai. It was pretty incredible to see so many of the statues all in one place, including the one used as a model for Night at the Museum.

Off in the distance from the crater, we could see the next location: Ahu Tongariki. This site was restored in the 1990s and was super cool. The 15 moai that were toppled by war and scattered by tsunami were put back on the ahu where they were originally. They were similar sizes, but some had small differences in height or head size. Some also had their topknots and we could see some toppled topknots that must not have survived the restoration. After a brief argument over picture taking...we went around the back of the moai. There was a small circle there of moai heads. Some of these were very detailed in the facial features. Our guide explained that the differences in moai reflect when they were made. Small moai, 1-2 meters, came first. Then taller moai as the people gained confidence. After the very large moai, they went back to smaller moai around 2-4 meters, but added much more detail into the carving. The other thing I learned at this location, was how many of the platforms on the island link up during different solstices and equinoxes. The island is like one giant sundial!

Our fifth location was Ahu Nau Nau and Te Pito Kura. The ahu had a moai about 12 meters tall. This is one of the last moai believed to be toppled in the war because Captain Cook saw this moai standing in a journal entry in the 1770s. Next to the ahu was Te Pito Kura, a stone circle of stacked lava rocks. Inside was a large magnetic rock surrounded by 4 smaller magnetic rocks marking cardinal directions. The large rock in the middle was brought from the original island of the people who first inhabited the island. The rock was used for ceremonies and rituals, especially for fertility. It is one of three rocks that was brought. Two were lost in the war, one by land and the other thrown into the sea nearby.

Our final stop of the day was Anakena. This stop was for a beautiful beach as well as two platforms of moai. We first got changed and spent some time at the beach. I actually went all the way in the water! It was a tiny bit cold, but much closer to Hawaii water temperature than the Galapagos was. Allan and I spent some time in the ocean before sitting under a palm tree on the beach to dry off a bit. We then packed up and visited the platforms. The first ahu had one moai. The second one had 7. These moai were incredibly detailed. They had very distinct facial features and even had belly buttons!

When we got back to the hostel we booked a show for the evening. We decided on Kari Kari. We got there at 7:30 and the show began around 8. The show was broken up into two parts. The first was a lot of singing and chanting. The female dancers wore white flowers on strings made into skirts with lots of kukui nuts. The men wore feathers around their waists. The second set of dances was much quicker with drums. It reminded me of the dancing in Tahiti with the quick hips and men with the moving knees. We were a little bit disappointed that the show was only about an hour for the price we paid, and people trying to take pictures and videos kept standing up in front of us. Allan also got into a disagreement with a man on the way out because he wanted me to move out of the way. We went for a walk after the show because it was a nice night and had some of that negative energy to burn off before bed. It was a pretty full day!Читать далее