Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

My dream had come true, I found myself standing in The Navel Of The World!

It wasn't long after I checked into my hostel when a bunch of Irish (You just can't escape us!!) made themselves known and we were all out on the town (Thursday night being the party night on the island) with every inhabitant on the island. All I'll say is it was an eventful night with a free flow of Escudo Cervezas, Pisco Sours and me always confusing the signs in Spanish for Ladies & Gents..ahumm! Anyways on a more serious note, about The Moai...JUST AMAZING!!! No picture can do these structures justice. The staggering size, the craftmanship and the beauty, the only way to truly appreciate them is to see them with your naked eye. All the sites with standing Moai (except one - Ahu Akivi) face inward with their stone eyes on the people of the Island. To touch any Maoi or stand on any Ahu (The platforms)is to be cursed for an eternity, or so the locals informed us after several pisco sours.

On an organised day tour to the East of Hanga Roa, we visited Ahu Tongariki the biggest Moai of the island destroyed in 1960 by a tidalwave and now reconstructed, The Fallen Moai of Ahu Akahanga, The Sacred Navel & Magnetic Stone, breaktaking Rano Raraku Volcano & main quarry used by the Moai and ending at Akenana Beach for a quick deep in the ocean. I took so many pictures that by midday day my battery was flat. Luckyily I met a great English couple (Cheers Mel & Steve!) who just happened to have the exact same camera as me and kindly lent me their spare battery..I think the Moai were watching over for me ;-)

I also got my hands on a scooter and took on the Islands dodgy dirt roads, exploring for myself the beauty of the island. Hanga Roa, Orongo and Rano Kau a flourishing crater and lake, Ahu Vinapu with Inca like craftmanship, The Moai Hats at Puna Pau and Ahu Akivi the only Moai facing to sea. But my favourite time and place on the island had to be around sunset at Ahu Tahai when the sky erupted in splendid colours behind the towering dark Moai, it had to be nature at it's best.


Pix @ Rapa Nui Album