Rapa Nui

We arrived on Easter Island on the 13th of March at 5am. We were really tired after 3 flights, but our first impression was great. We were greeted with flower necklaces, and it seemed like we were no longer in Chile. Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by the natives, has more of a Hawaïan vibe (not that we've ever been to Hawaï)...

Our campside was located on the shoreline in front of a 15m cliff. We set up our tent with ocean view...

That day we explored the town of Hanga Roa (the only town on the island). After that we we opened a little bottle of wine, had some veggies and dip and enjoyed the beautiful sunset right in front of our campside.

 

The next day we decided to hike along the shoreline to view some statues, called 'Moai', and other archeological sights. We hiked for about four hours and saw some beautiful sights. After that we hitchhiked back to town.

 

 

The next day we hiked to Orongo Village, that is part of the national parc. The ruïns of Orongo village are set right beside the crater of Rano Kau. Inside the crater of this beautiful volcano is a swampy area with a microclimate where avocado's, bananas and all sorts of crops grow.

  

From the village you can see the island where to natives used to swim to for the yearly birdman-competition. The first one to return with a stern-egg could choose who would be elected birdman, the leader of the tribe.

On the 16th in the afternoon we rented a quad.

 

We drove to an archeological site with 7 Moai, where we had some apetizers.

   

Since it hadn't rained in a while the roads were pretty dusty...

After that we drove to a cave called 'the two windows' that was used before as a hideout. Max went inside to see what it was all about, the entrance was really narrow. You had to crouch the first 15m and it was pitchblack! After a small chicane in the cave, it got more spacious and a you started to see some light. Ten meters further in the cave you could see two 'windows' towards the ocean. It was really a magnificent sight!

 

 

We stopped at the 'Moai' near the town to see the sunset.

The next day we woke up at 6 and hopped on our quad to get the other side of the island in time for the sunrise. It was magical to see the sunrise behind a row of 15 'Moai'! Absolutely breathtaking.

  

  

When the sun was up we drove to the volcano, Rano Raraku. We arrived at the entance of the national parc before it was even open, so...

This volcano is where the 'Moai' were manufactured. This place is what touched us the most. The 'Moai' we had seen before were either standing on their own, or in a row by the shoreline, but here, there are hundreds of 'Moai' scattered all over the volcano! Outside as well as inside. It seems like the volcano is producing them and they're just popping out of the ground. A truely wonderful and mystical sight!

  

  

We were so happy to be there and see all those 'Moai'. Some of them were even happy to see us!

After spending all morning there, we drove to the only two beaches of the island! The first beach was covered in palmtrees and has a very different vibe than the rest of the island. There, you really seem to be in Polynesia (not that we've ever been in Polynesia)...

A couple more 'Moai' are overlooking the beach here...

 

The second beach, was 200m away from the first one, but it is completely secluded. It's at the bottem of a 30m cliff and there were just 4 people there. We didn't have bathing suites, so we went swimming here in our underwear.

 

On the 18th, Max went surfing. The waves were good, but the water was pretty shallow and the bottem of the water was covered in rocks.

  

The last day we hiked to the two archeological sights of the island we hadn't seen yet! The first one was the volcano where the 'hairdue' of the 'Moai' were manufactured.

The last sight we visited were a couple of more 'Moai' who were no longer standing.

That night we also went to see a show with traditional dances. Of course they came to get some people from the audience... Of course it was us...

  

On the 20th of March we took a plane to Lima where we stayed two days to do some shopping. We left Lima on the 22th of March to go to Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil.

Comments

[carole]

woow kei toffe foto's!!
haha en nike ge sta er echt overal GEWELDIG op!!
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