Without a tour to catch this morning, we had a much more leisurely start to the day and experienced a lovely sunrise.
But before I tell you what we were up to today, I’ll continue with yesterday’s story.
As we descended from the quarry at Rano Raraku, we saw one of the most unique moai, this one kneeling - the only one of its kind. It was also significantly smaller than the others.
It’s important to note that you are not allowed to touch any moai, step on the platforms above their graves or even walk anywhere off the prescribed paths. Clearly they’ve had issues and have learned from those experiences that tourists are great, but the islands treasures need to be protected from them. Below the quarry there were many discarded moai, many of them now disintegrating with time.
The primary burial ground for the ancients was at Tongariki beach, where 15 moai have been repositioned over their(?) tombs. Here it was more obvious than ever that each moai had a distinct personality.
We met the Oceania masses a couple of times today, but managed to miss their hordes when it came to photos. The headpieces, by the way, where intended to be hairdos and don’t appear on many of the moai because they are add ons and not part of the original sculpture.
What made Tongariki most impressive was the blue skies that appeared after the drizzle at the quarry. All moai face inland since that it where they came from. From Tongariki, we made our way on really bad roads to the the most northerly moai site, Anakena. this also happens to be the best beach on Rapa Nui.
They had planted a nice stand of palm trees here that made the location seem even more inviting. Most trees like the palm, acacia and sycamore are not native to Rapa Nui, which was fairly early on denuded of trees. In trying to replant some original species, they have found that they will no longer grow here due to climate change. Interesting, huh?
The moai here had interesting but fading petroglyphs carved on their back sides. We encountered tourist shopping at most sites, but here we ran into some more of Sam’s relatives, an aunt and cousin working the stalls. This is Sam’s cousin. Nice personality!
From Anakena, we returned to Hanga Roa, right through the interior of Rapa Nui. Our final archeological stop was at Tahai, which as it turns out is what we’ve been staring at from our stateroom on the ship.
This is the only location on the island that has a - and only one - moai with eyes. They all had them originally but through the years, none have held on to their eyes. This one had its eyes recreated.
Because the large tour groups had not yet made it to this location, the locals, with their tourist items displayed, were relaxing with a charcoal BBQ and having some lunch.
Our return to the Marina took us through the heart of the downtown, which was our objective for today. We were able to case where we wanted to return and on the way passed this interesting church.
The island, like its keepers, Chile, is Catholic. Despite the fact that everybody on the island knows each other and therefore crime is virtually nonexistent, there is a large presence of police and military here who are all Chilean.
Last night we dined for a second time with Karen and Joe, a couple who we met from Colorado. We had a great meal in Toscana and probably will meet up for some future meals. As the sun set, there was much frivolity on the waters surrounding the ship, as 3 long canoes with, I’m guessing students aboard, circled the Marina - sort of. Actually they were trying not to crash into each other. Tomorrow, since we’re back at sea, I will continue with the remainder of our Rapa Nui story.
But before I tell you what we were up to today, I’ll continue with yesterday’s story.
As we descended from the quarry at Rano Raraku, we saw one of the most unique moai, this one kneeling - the only one of its kind. It was also significantly smaller than the others.
It’s important to note that you are not allowed to touch any moai, step on the platforms above their graves or even walk anywhere off the prescribed paths. Clearly they’ve had issues and have learned from those experiences that tourists are great, but the islands treasures need to be protected from them. Below the quarry there were many discarded moai, many of them now disintegrating with time.
The primary burial ground for the ancients was at Tongariki beach, where 15 moai have been repositioned over their(?) tombs. Here it was more obvious than ever that each moai had a distinct personality.
We met the Oceania masses a couple of times today, but managed to miss their hordes when it came to photos. The headpieces, by the way, where intended to be hairdos and don’t appear on many of the moai because they are add ons and not part of the original sculpture.
What made Tongariki most impressive was the blue skies that appeared after the drizzle at the quarry. All moai face inland since that it where they came from. From Tongariki, we made our way on really bad roads to the the most northerly moai site, Anakena. this also happens to be the best beach on Rapa Nui.
They had planted a nice stand of palm trees here that made the location seem even more inviting. Most trees like the palm, acacia and sycamore are not native to Rapa Nui, which was fairly early on denuded of trees. In trying to replant some original species, they have found that they will no longer grow here due to climate change. Interesting, huh?
The moai here had interesting but fading petroglyphs carved on their back sides. We encountered tourist shopping at most sites, but here we ran into some more of Sam’s relatives, an aunt and cousin working the stalls. This is Sam’s cousin. Nice personality!
From Anakena, we returned to Hanga Roa, right through the interior of Rapa Nui. Our final archeological stop was at Tahai, which as it turns out is what we’ve been staring at from our stateroom on the ship.
This is the only location on the island that has a - and only one - moai with eyes. They all had them originally but through the years, none have held on to their eyes. This one had its eyes recreated.
Because the large tour groups had not yet made it to this location, the locals, with their tourist items displayed, were relaxing with a charcoal BBQ and having some lunch.
Our return to the Marina took us through the heart of the downtown, which was our objective for today. We were able to case where we wanted to return and on the way passed this interesting church.
The island, like its keepers, Chile, is Catholic. Despite the fact that everybody on the island knows each other and therefore crime is virtually nonexistent, there is a large presence of police and military here who are all Chilean.
Last night we dined for a second time with Karen and Joe, a couple who we met from Colorado. We had a great meal in Toscana and probably will meet up for some future meals. As the sun set, there was much frivolity on the waters surrounding the ship, as 3 long canoes with, I’m guessing students aboard, circled the Marina - sort of. Actually they were trying not to crash into each other. Tomorrow, since we’re back at sea, I will continue with the remainder of our Rapa Nui story.
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