Easter Island, Chile
Monday, April 7, 2008
After my initial visit to Rano Raraku, the birth place of Maoi, I couldn't get over the fact that there is acutally MORE to see at this site. According to my guide book, there is a inner crater along with hundreds more moai and a smaller crater lake similar to Rano Kau. So I hired a taxi driver to take me there. The taxi driver and I started an interesting conversation in mixed Spanish and English. he explained that the island get import of almost EVERYTHING from Chile, even beef and milk. I am just puzzled why since I saw so many cows here on the island. But the taxi driver said the grass that feed the cows and horses here are so bad that the meat tastes just a dry and hard and milk is not really produced. So Easter Island still depends on Chile for its supplies. That is why everything is so pricy on the island. As I reached Rano Raraku, the taxi driver told me to walk in the small valley in the mountain range and I should see the inner crater. So I follow the trail as told and quickly arrive at the inner crater of Rano Raraku
. There is a group of horses playingand foraging in the water at the crater lake. Almost like a scene out of the Nova special on African safari. As I climb higher on the inner crater, I found at least another dozen Moai all laying in differently positions looking down toward the water, impressive. This site is not as touristy as the outer crater and it is rarely photographed in books. I finished the hike by walking along the trail to the outer crater then returning back to the taxi who is waiting for me on the other entrance. The taxi drive told me on the way back that the locals obtained their water from ground water, not he ocean. Most people collect the ground water near the cliff as the fresh water meets the salt water from the ocean. During low tide is when the fresh water is obtained. Very interesting process.
I had a quick lunch then I took a much deserved long nap until I woke up in the late afternoon. As I just found out since last night I have lost my Canon digital camera battery charge. I was nervous since I am not sure where I could have lost it at. I thought I could have left it in Steve's car because I dropped my camera bag in his car during the morning. So after I took a short walk toward Orongo, I walked back to Steve and David's hotel rooms. My hunch was right, both Steve and David did find my lost battery charger and they returned it to me. We then walked up to Ahu Tahai to see the incredible sunset once again. For dinner, I grabbed a quick bite of seafood empanada with clams.
For the night, I went with Ted to see the Rapa Nui dance show, its high energy and sweaty. David did warn me ahead of time for sitting up front puts me at risk of sprayed with sweat and he wasn't kidding. The show, however, is great fun with traditional dance and music, quite memorable.
