Easter Island Day 3

This was our second full day on the island and we went for another full day tour around the other side of the island. Our guide and many of the people on the tour were the same as yesterday.

Our first stop was Vinapu. There were two platforms here built at different times. That made it a lot easier to see the development of architecture. The older platform was built with a combination of red stone (same as the topknots) and basalt. The blocks for the ahu were not as carved into perfect blocks. The newer platform was made only of basalt. The blocks were perfectly carved with straight lines and lined up perfectly in three neat rows. We also saw a few toppled heads that landed face up, and a statue that had been half buried in the middle of being carved. Also unique to this location was a very eroded statue with two heads. The statue was also female because it has breasts and a symbol carved on the stomach to symbolize fertility.

The next stop was the crater called Rano Kau. It is nearby Hanga Roa. At the edge of the crater looking in, there is a lake about 20 meters deep. On top of the lake are totora reeds like the ones on lake Titicaca. There is also lots of fruit and taro growing along the edges. A dip in the crater directly across from where we were is where competitors for the bird man competition would climb down to the ocean to swim to Motu Nui.

We took a short drive to the other side of the crater to visit Orongu village. The ancient village has been restored. Our guide described the purpose of the village similar to that of the Olympic village. The dwellings and site were only used in September during the Birdman competition. The competition was originally competed by 7 people, one from each tribe. It then grew over the years to include more tribes and around 20 people competed in later years. The competition ran for 300-400 years until a sacred moai was removed from the village by the British in 1876 and brought to the British Museum. The strength competition took place from the village. After the first bird landed on Motu Nui, competitors would have to climb down from the village, swim 3km from Rapa Nui to reach the island. They would have to wait for the eggs to be laid. Once the birds began laying eggs, the competitors would have to get an egg, swim back to Rapa Nui, and climb back up to the village without breaking the egg. The winner became the ruler of the island for the year until the competition the next year.

After visiting the village, we drove up to explore some caves. The caves were created by a very long lava tube that has air bubbles that broke through to the surface. The pockets of light meant that the native people could farm inside the caves because there was light and room for the plants and trees to grow. We walked over the top of the lava tube through the lava field before entering at Ana Te Pahu. There were a lot of banana trees and taro growing here. We followed the lava tube inside to two more garden pockets. At times it was very dark, but was nice and cool in here compared to outside. It makes sense why lower class people chose to seek refuge in here. It just must have been so dark! But I guess they did spend there time mostly outside only seeking shelter in extreme weather.

Once we climbed out of a small exit at the next pocket, we walked back to the car and drove a short distance to Ahu Akivi. This ahu and moai are the only ones that intentionally look out to the ocean. They look towards where the rapa nui people came from.

After dinner we walked to Tahai to see a restored moai with eyes. It was very strange and I imagine all the moai we've seen with eyes would have been very intimidating to look at. The sunset spot was very busy though. On our way back to the hostel, we walked past the cemetery and it was all lit up with twinkling Christmas lights. I don't know if those are there year round, but it looked so peaceful and cheerful. All the graveyards we've seen in South America have been colorful and celebrating the lives lived. It's really nice and quite different from western graveyards.Read more