Patagonian cruise, circum-Andean drive and a Pacific island hop back

[RooFlyer]

The Orongo village was the centre of the Birdman Cult. As I understood it, by about 1800 the society on Easter Island was breaking down. Ancestral worship declined, as did the power of the aristocracy / priest class across all the clans.

What evolved was an ?annual competition, held at the Rano Kao crater, the cliffs down to the water and the islands pictured above, where a young bloke representing the 'non aristocracy' of each clan competed by scaling down the cliffs, swimming 2km to one of the island, obtaining an egg from the Sooty Terns there (waiting until one was laid by the returning migratory birds) , swimming back, climbing back up the cliffs and presenting the egg to his Chief. That clan chief then became the 'Supreme' King over all the island (the Birdman) until the following year, and his clan got benefits also.

Orongo was the ceremonial village which was occupied during the month of festivities.

View of the islands and ocean from the village. And yes, that blue colour again




The houses were low structures made of flattish rocks and covered in sod.




Lots of petroglyphs in the area, celebrating the Birdman cult.




Turned around and saw the daily LAN flight arriving (3 flights a day in high season)




It had been a hot and humid day, so we returned to the hotel for a coldie. The Oriana has a 'sea pool' - a low concrete wall in between 2 lava flows a short walk down the hill. Its actually pretty dangerous - in front of the wall is a bit of a narrowing channel. Large waves, say every 30 min or so would rush up the blowhole and inundate the pool; if you were resting near the wall, you'd likely get sucked out, over the rocks ... Nice and refreshing at this end, though

 

[RooFlyer]

Hmmm ... better wrap this TR up soon - the next one starts on Monday!

Like the rest of Chile, Hanga Roa has a substantial population of stray dogs - large dogs, which seem to be well looked after. The one on the left adoped us for about 30 mins as we walked around. But its hot! So they all need ways to cool off ...




We walked around the waterfront; our preferred restaurant was closed, so we were waiting for a table at another place. There is a crummy beach at Hanga Roa ... the sand is brought in.




Haka Honu, also on the waterfront. Quite busy.




A rarity - an average Chilean Sav Blanc. So we supplemented it with a couple of pisco sours - very strong!




Another ceviche, another great meal. Mostly red tuna, locally caught, of course. We missed the sunset ... to much enjoying the meal.

 

[Denali]

Pisco Sours = lemon lighter fuel in my book. Very strong!

Did you have many horses wandering around your accommodation? We would get 3 or 5 horses wander in every day, to eat the guava off the trees and grass. One night, they were running around our cabins. The only time we were told to buckle up our seat belts was when driving in the dark, because of the horses.

 

[RooFlyer]

Chilean piscos seemed to be much stronger than ones I had in Peru. And the ones on Easter island - yes, lighter fuel!!

No horses where we stayed.

Next day was a bit rainy, but it cleared up in the afternoon for a great finale.

First to Haka Hana site, where the moai were all akimbo, evidence, we were told that they weren't toppled by people, but rather an earthquake/tsunami.



Then, up to the north coast and Ovahe and Anakena sites. The first is a small bay, with some sand and a cremation site. Ahakana is a large, sandy bay, by far the largest patch of sand on the island and curious as to why it accumulates here. This is where the Polynesians first came ashore on Rapa Nui and was the base for the fore-most clan on the island, the Miru.

There are three platforms, and the main one was restored by a team led by local anthropologist Sergio Rapu in 1978. These moai are in very good condition - the sand had covered the toppled statues, preserving them from erosion. The palm trees were introduced from Tahiti not long ago.




Note the hands and navel:




The beach is swimmable, although we didn't. There are several grass hut type restaurants here - no permanent settlement, everything is brought in daily and generators keep things chilled; also toilets available. I had yet another ceviche but this one wasn't as nice as the others I had, in town.




On the drive back, more nice volcanic landforms (3 parasitic cones, big open cone). Would have been great to have been here when things were popping!

 

[RooFlyer]

Next stop was a return to Tongariki - which was our dawn stop yesterday. This is where our guide (I'm sure not the only one) was thinking beyond just the tour. Tongariki is a great platform of moai, but at dawn, in fact all morning the sun is behind them. So we returned after lunch to see them in good light. Well worth it!




Like elsewhere, you can see erosion taking its toll on the statues - they are carved from very soft rock. Our guide (a Rapa Nui man) emphatically ruled out any preservation, or erection of shelters. For the descendants, he said, having the statues of the ancestors where they should be outweighs long term erosion.




Our next stop, and the last was the highlight - Rano Raraku, or the quarries where the moai were carved. On approach, we thought 'are they what we think they are'. Yes, they were. Dozens of 'proto' statues stuck in the ground.







At tis site, there are statues which were partially carved but still in the host rock, part finished statues and almost finished ones (none were finished here - the detailing was done at the final location). Many were stuck in the ground like this, but I think the conclusion was that the statues were, at the time, in 'hollows', probably to give better access by carvers, but over time, the hollows got filled up by soil and only the tops are left poking out.

 

[OATEK]

Must have been solid members of the community to achieve immortality. I hadn't realised just how many statues and parts thereof were strewn about the island.

 

[RooFlyer]

Apparently there are over 900 moai, including almost 400 incomplete and 'ready to go' ones at the quarry. I think maybe 50 have been restored upright.

There was something like a production line at the quarry. Statues were carved there to maybe 90% complete - facial details left generic; obviously a lot of 'spares' at any one time (maybe to allow for breakages of the statues during 'walking'). Then, when required on-site after the death of a clan 'king', one was selected and walked across the island to the platform, and there the facial details were completed, so it more resembled the person in question. A 'topknot', sourced from another quarry would be then put on the head, and the whole thing erected on the platform.

Method of 'walking the statue' and even how they got the statues upright is still a matter of debate.

 

[amaroo]

Finally had time to catch up. Very cool photos - how many days would you suggest is ideal for visiting Easter Is?

 

[RooFlyer]

We arrived early afternoon of day 1 and left after midnight day 3, so had 2 full days of touring and were pretty happy with that. Days weren't rushed or long. If you wanted some more down time then add a day or if you were into diving and/or surfing, add a few more!

You could easily hire a car/4WD and tour yourself but as we found, having a private guide and being driven adds a lot to the experience and with a private tour you can change the itinerary around to suit.

 

[drron]

I'd back up Rooflyer on this.We also stayed 3 nights and had a private tour on the 2 days with a young British researcher who had been there 6 years.Really informative.

 

[clazman]

Great photos and TR, loved the iceberg blues

What camera did you use?

Did you bring back many wines?

 

[RooFlyer]

I used my old faithful Sony DSC HX50V, that I've had for ages. As it was showing its age with a few dodgy settings, I had bought the next model, DSC HX90V but I discovered in Santiago, when I first took the camera out of its case, that I had accidently packed the old one!!

The pics degrade a bit on AFF. I past pairs of pics into Word and then take a screenshot and put that into the posts, so lose a lot of resolution, and then I think AFF takes it back again. But the colours remain fairly true.

Only brought back 2 good bottles of Malbec from Argentina. I meant to buy a third, but no opportunity arose :shock: .

 

[RooFlyer]

Here are a couple of moai still in situ, abandoned when the quarry ceased to function.




A head, pock-marked by impacts of gunshots. I think it was the Peruvians who used them for target practice, showing its not just the Brits (Sphinx) who were inclined to that sort of thing! BTW, there is a full moai buried beneath the head. Thor Heyerdahl first hypothesised this, and did some excavations to demonstrate it. After being freed from the solid rock, the statues were placed in shallow pits, so carving on the back could be completed. Over time, the pits filled up, leaving just the upper part visible.

On the right, a kneeling moai, maybe the only one. Its feet are visible on the other side. Tongariki in the background.




Tongariki from the quarry.




Most of the maoi were quarried from the outward face of a volcanic cone. We climbed into the crater to find yet more statues.




The quarry was a terrific experience, and a true final highlight of our tours. I never did figure out why there were so many statues 'stored' at the quarry. It ensured that when a chief died, he could have his statue up fairly quickly, but unfinished maoi at the quarry and nearly half the number of ALL moai on the island!

At this time of year at least LATAM fly one flight a week to Tahiti, close to mid night on Mondays. We decided to book this, rather than flying back to Santiago as non of us had been to Tahiti and it seemed like a good place to 'recover' from the main holiday. We had checked out of our hotel, but they allowed us to return in the evening to shower before the flight. We got a dinner booking at Te Moana restaurant that we wanted the night before; ranked #2 on Trip Advisor. First impressions were good.

 

[RooFlyer]

Part of the menu. I chose the ceviche Mixto. Again, CLP10,000 is A$20 for example.




Frankly, it was awful. A goblet of raw fish and (cooked) prawns etc but swimming in juice and therefore soggy. Over-marinated and much of the fish was grey on the outside. I picked a bit but left most of it uneaten. Also, they didn't have the first 2 sav blancs we selected off the wine list, so we gave up. I had ... a coughtail of some kind, and water.





Inside and outside dining. JohnM, you'll never guess who we came across laid back in one of the good seats outside? The Norwegian couple from Salentein !




Sunset sort of made up for the coughpy dinner.

 

[Denali]

Finally had time to catch up. Very cool photos - how many days would you suggest is ideal for visiting Easter Is?

We were there for five nights, arrived on the same flight as RooFlyer, but hubby had a few 4am photography sessions to get the milkyway and dawn. We had 2 guides, one was Chillian married to a local and he also did Pacific Island Nat Geo tours as a cultural historian. The other guide was also a photographer and got permission to go into the quarry after hours/at night. Im patiently waiting for those photos.

 

[Denali]

Had to laugh. Travelled all the way to Easter Island and the day we arrive, our friend tells us we should have gone to Bunnings.

Our friend also bought one for us and it's sitting in the garden. Hubby wants more.

 

[RooFlyer]

That's priceless! I'll have to head into Bunnings today.

After dinner at Te Moana, the evening headed downhill even further. On return to the hotel I checked the status of our outbound flight to Papeete and got the first indication of a four hour delay :evil:.

Headed to the airport about 10pm and due to road works, we had to go 270 degrees around the entire airport and so copped double the taxi fare. Check-in confirmed the delay and we were given a voucher for meals at a restaurant in town and a shuttle bus was running between there and the airport.

I include the pic on the left as, on arrival at the restaurant we were told that the voucher was good for a certain main course only (we already had dinner of course) and while we waited for some drinks to pass the time, poochie here plonked himself down and scored a rub on the tummy for my and one of my friend's shoed feet. Big mistake - flea bites ensued!!

After some napping at the restaurant, they eventually evicted us, and others and we returned to the airport. Immigration still wasn't open, so we just veged in the small check-in area that didn't have enough seats.








The RH pic above was after immigration, who eventually turned up so at least we could progress that far.

Or maybe not. I recount here my experience at exit immigration that night (morning). 'Bizarre' is an over-used term, but that would adequately describe my experience.

Thankfully the inbound plane arrived and we boarded about 4am local.




... which meant we arrived about the same time at Papeete. cough experience continued as we got a taxi driver who blatantly tried to rip us off and when I said what the fare was supposed to be (researched, of course), he told us to get another taxi ... which fortunately was just behind.

We had the night booked a the Airport Hotel, which is up the hill a bit behind the hotel given the hour, darkness, luggage and tiredness we decided beforehand that we'd get a taxi but another time I'd just walk.

View from the airport the next morning and out my hotel window a bit earlier - the LATAM flight was just about to depart. That's Moorea, our destination, in the background. Then, another view of the airport and the breakfast at the hotel, which we groggily turned up for at about 9am. The bread and pain au chocolate proved we were in France (sort of)

 

[tgh]

Ahhhh Papeete, funny how one remembers stuff…

er … um … big smile …. Hi Mr tgh ,…er um er ….. we will arrive in Papeete in a an hour but sadly your luggage will not…
Well at least they were polite and upfront about it, the bag was already on it's way via Japan and arrived a day later, justas we boarded the Paul Gauguin

opps .. butting in again .. mea culpa .. great tr …

 

[Denali]

Gosh. I dont remember them even looking at our passport, it (customs/immigration) happened so fast but we both have new passports so all those pesky visas from other countries can no longer be looked over.

 

[RooFlyer]

Later that morning we headed for the ferry terminal for Moorea. That's the ferry on the left (the FAR left!), and Moorea as we approach. About 30 min ride.

Why Moorea? My friends and I are both Accor stayers (or I was then) and I was Plat (then ..), so we were bound for the Sofitel Moorea Resort, which was 'only' very expensive, as opposed to obscenely expensive elsewhere.




Had to get a taxi from the ferry terminal on Moorea to the resort, which I thought was a bit cheap, but we had a lovely old bird as a taxi driver, worth the fare for just the local gossip! We had both booked the cheapest room type, a 'garden view', and on the left is what we booked. But we were both upgraded to 'beach view' villas, both right on the beach (could have been 2 or 3 back from the beach).

Very happy, Jan




The front of the villa (check the reflection), and the view from my deck.




Room was large, well air conditioned and well appointed. Bathroom also very large and ditto.