Rapa Nui 🗿 | FindPenguins

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Trip start
December 5, 2023
Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Arrival
December 5, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 70 °F
Beautiful, bright, sunshiny day. There's a 2 hour time difference but my phone did not participate.
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Orongo
December 6, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
The history of the Birdman competition was fascinating. I don't know why it is called a "cult", it seemed like a perfectly legitimate way to elect a leader, respected and agreed upon by the governed. Maybe I'm reading too much into the word, but if you've had over 300 years of success in the process, calling it a cult is infantalizing. You know what would've been nice to see though? The stolen friend :D

Anyway the crater was absolutely gorgeous, it caught me off guard. So beautiful, so alive, it looks like it breathes. Bruno was a great guide. He really took the time to explain the history, the process and the cultural implications.Read more
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Ahu Vinapu
December 6, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
It was the perfect place to educate us not just what moais are and how they came to be, but also WHY THEY WERE KNOCKED DOWN, and why there are many that do not want them restored.

Most of the time, statues of that size commemorate gods, but moais are people--people with means. People who can keep their nails long because they don't have to tend the ground, people who have plenty to keep their bellies full (Bruno's phrasing, not mine🫡). They bear the image of respected leaders and elders, but also those who can afford them. So when resources are diverted to create statues for the dead instead of sustaining those who are laboring daily, it made sense why they were knocked to the ground, and why re-erecting them isn't universally seen in a positive light.Read more
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Puna Pau
December 6, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
It was a scoria quarry I believe, I didn't realize they get that big lol. The flowering trees were beautiful and there were stray horses. Yes, stray horses, in Santiago they have dogs, in Rapa Nui they have stray horses lol.Read more
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Ahu Akivi
December 6, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
Gotta give it up for Bruno's storytelling here. From the theory about the 7 explorers to the reveal of the farmers, to the astronomical significance of the moai's positioning and how it's ideal for the agricultural cycle... Bravo. Also, shout-out to the lady that gave me the idea to take a picture of the moais with the flower which also happens to match my dress. Salute.Read more
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Ahu Tahai
December 6, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
Last stop of the day. It's not like I didn't believe Bruno when he said the hats were actually hair, like a top knot, but he sure (unintentionally) showed me he was right. I didn't get to walk over to the other side, it was a quicker stop than I expected but it's supposed to be close to my hotel. In fact, this was the first suggestion of the hotel owner. I was just a little tired and went around too quickly haha.Read more
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Te'Raai Dinner and Show
December 7, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
Signed up for the whole package, we got a welcome drink, face paint, saw the demonstration of the "Hangi" (that's aotearoan, I forgot the Rapa Nui term), had delicious dinner and finally, a stellar show. The dancer I took a picture with was just wonderful, and passionate, I love her. All I saw was her lol.Read more
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Vaihu
December 7, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 68 °F
We went to a village and saw some "houseboats", chicken coops, and an unrestored platform with the top knots scattered by the shore. It was interesting to see houses that were used solely as shelters overnight because everything was done outdoors-eating, entertaining, living.

It was also quite nice to see an unrestored platform knowing more about the story behind them. It's quite rare to see resistance to power still on full display decades after the act. Not in a museum, not shattered to oblivion, not vandalized with paint, just facedown and humbled, right where it happened.Read more
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Rano Raraku
December 7, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 70 °F
If I had to pick one site, this was probably my favorite. The green, the hills, the sheer quantity and size of the moais... It felt like a giant art studio. It was a windows wallpaper walk, what can I say? I absolutely loved it.Read more
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Ahu Tongariki
December 7, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 70 °F
This was the site. THE site. 15 moais, against the beach. It was lovely and wonderful and awe inspiring. Quite the clan this would have been. The weather was great, and there was a cute dog who let me pet him.Read more
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Anakena Beach
December 7, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌬 70 °F
I had to pick between the platform and the beach. Some regrets lol. I did see the moais from afar. And I DID just see Tongariki. It's alright haha.
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
Terevaka on a Horse
December 7, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 68 °F
My horse was Chileno, he likes walking close to the other horses. He galloped for me for a few seconds, he was a good boy. It was a chilly and windy ride and it was a little too cloudy for a proper sunset but it was gorgeous anyway. The trail felt like a proper forest which was a completely different view and vibe from the rest of the island. What you don't think about sunset horseback tours is by the time you get back, it's dark. That was a different adventure on its own. Back it the ranch I met a friendly dog and a baby kitten.Read more
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Siete Arcangeles Hitu Merahi
December 8, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Some biblically accurate arch angels by the beach, and non-biblical words of wisdom. It's nice to find things by chance.
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Rapa Nui 🗿Hesed Payocong
The most beautiful cemetery
December 8, 2023 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
I've never seen a cemetery as beautiful, and lively and colorful as this, it was still somber but joyful. A celebration of life, not just a reminder of the end. Two of the graves matched my dress, it was a questionable and morbid sense of belongingess.Read more
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Ahu Tahai, take 2
December 8, 2023 in Chile ⋅ 🌙 70 °F
Back to Ahu Tahai. I didn't get to wander over the other side so it was nice to revisit on a quieter morning. I asked a Japanese grandpa to take my picture and he went above and beyond squatting low and framing well haha. On the other side, I asked a different tourist from the same group and then three other people started taking pictures of me. When I moved out because I thought I was in the way, they were like "no stay there you're so beautiful".

Slay. You bet I felt good lol.Read more
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Trip end
December 8, 2023