The tour of the North and East side of the Island
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2011
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Trip End
Aug 20, 2011
Easter Island, Chile
Saturday, December 12, 2009
For the most part the tiny island is now fairly barren except for short grasses--a product of overpopulation, cutting down too many trees, ecological issues, internal civil strife and environmental issues. But its got those magnificent moai to draw people from all over the world to make it an amazing place to visit. The MOAI (pronounced MOW-EYE) are the volcanic stone carvings the islanders carved out of the side of volcanic craters, and moved down the volcanoes to their villages. Each chief had a moai built that would be the embodiment of his "power." They would set the moai up on rock platforms or shrines, called AHUS. Many moai also had headdresses of some kind, we heard they were hats or hair topknots, called PUKAO (pronounced PU-COW). The moai would face their village. These moai are all over the island--there are estimated to be over a thousand of them. All of them were knocked over at one time during internal civil war, and most are still lying flat on the ground where they were knocked over, many broken in pieces. Interested countries and people from abroad have raised some of them on their platforms again. They are enormous--most of them are about 20 to 69 feet in height.
Our favorite site was the volcanic quarry of Rano Raraku, where most of the figures were carved. There are over 400 figures in various stages of completion, and you can walk among many of them. The faces are almost all the same style--long faces and ears, long pointed noses, long chins and pouty, thin lips--serene yet almost comical in appearance. Its beautiful up by the quarry, and you can see down to the ocean, with various moai all over the landscape. Its fascinating to see the moai stopped in time, half dug out of the side of the volcano, never finished, now sleeping half completed. From the crater you can see the magnificent 15 moai near the beach at Tonga Riki, which is where we headed next. It was amazing to stand in front of them, so big and powerful looking. These have to be some of the biggest moai on the island. You really could feel the power and spirit of them.
We stopped at the navel of the world, and got to touch it--ancient round stones. We then went on to beautiful Anakena Beach, where we saw the Royal Moai, with beautiful hand carved fingers, features, and "tattoo carvings" on their backs. Bill swam in the water, looking back at the moai on the beach. Really an amazing day at an amazing place.
