The only town in Rapa Nui is Hanga Roa. It sits right next to the ocean and sculptures line the coast.
I found these signs next to the sculptures. From what I can tell they are telling us who sponsored the sculpture. They are in the shape that is the local symbol of Rapa Nui. It looks like a boat with two heads and symbolizes authority.
Iorana is the word for ‘hello’ and ‘ goodbye’.
Easter Island or otherwise known as RapaNui is a five hour flight west of Santiago, Chile. It is actually part of Chile and everybody speaks Spanish.
As we approached the island I was pretty amazed anybody could find this little spec in the middle of the ocean. It is about the size of two Manhattan Islands. And the runway goes from the ocean to the ocean. I was glad the breaks worked. There is one flight in and one flight out to and from Santiago each day.
Today there are about 8000 people living on Rapa Nui and about 60% are native. They are Polynesian and originally populated from other islands in the South Pacific. The closest neighbor it has is over 2000 miles away.
It is known for its Moai. The large heads sticking out of the ground. There are over 1000 of them on the island. There was a large archeological effort in the 1980’s to excavate and restore them. Those are the ones seen today. There are also many Moai in museums around the world thanks to the usual looting – the British Museum, the Smithsonian, and various others. Two have been repatriated.
Here is a sampling. The Maoi are made of volcanic rock. There are many dormant volcanoes on the island but three main ones are Terevaka, Poike, and Rano Kau.
Rano Kau is the oldest volcano – 3 million years old. Avocados and Pineapples and other fruits grow inside the crater. people hike down into it to pick fruit and some go swimming. I hear the water is cold.
The view from up there was amazing.
We had lunch at a restaurant right in the ocean that happened to be just at the end of the runway. it came in practically on top of us.
Next up a walk by the ocean.