Vacation - Tahiti and Easter Island - Day 10

This is Tuesday, June 23, the sixth day on Easter Island. After driving around the island yesterday, today we go the other way and walk around a good portion of it, literally. Today we are going to attempt the North Coast Trail, for which there is not a lot of documentation and even less signage. We read about this in some of the tour books and online reviews, and it sounded like the kind of thing we would enjoy. We were right.

As shown on the map below (blue line along the north west coast), the trail follows the coast of the island, from point a few kilometers north of the village all the way to Anakena Beach. In between there is nothing but island, waves and a lot of cows and horses. Oh yea, a bunch of ahu and moai as well. This was a 17 km hike and took us about 6-1/2 hours.



We were dropped off at the trail head by a friend of the innkeeper. I am glad we didn't try driving up the access road. Several very large "puddles" made the road almost impassable. This is also the road to Ahu Akiva. This one of the first ahu restored and is unique due to it's location far from the coast. Although the moai face the ocean in this instance, in reality they simply face the gathering place at the foot of the ahu.

This is also the road to the trail to Maunga Terevaka, the highest point on the island. Hiking up this volcano was the one thing we did not do that I had wanted to. But the following hike was more than fulfilling.


This was the condition of the trail. Apparently there is a low and a high trail. We tried wandering around to find a trail, but in most cases, this was as good as it gets.


This instance of ahu is fairly well preserved. There were many of these along the hike, but some were literally only a pile of rocks. Pictures are so-so here as the weather was overcast.


We saw a few moai like this, face up in the ground.


This another typical scene for the day. Beautiful coast, waves crashing on the black volcanic rock and ancient ruins.


This gives you a view of the magnificent coast line and some perspective on where we were hiking. Other than at the end, I don't think we ever got real close to the water.


The water from above. Unfortunately, without anything for reference, the height cannot be properly discerned from this image. The beautiful colour of the water also did not come through either.


These are a couple of pictures of the cattle pastures. They seemed wary of us at first, but then they simply ignored us.




These two pictures show how an older, earlier generation moai is incorporated in to a new ahu.




I was trying to show the scale of the landscape in this picture. The tree on the horizon is a full size tree.


One of many, albeit larger, moai strewn around the ground. This one is a few hundred meters from the shore and the nearest ahu. It was near what was believed to be a birthing place.


Still along the west coast of the island, we also ran in to horses.


Us at lunch.


Our view at lunch.


A wall in the middle of a field. Without a good guide book, and with no signage along the way, it was difficult the figure out what a lot of what you were seeing was.


Me, in hiker mode. It may look a little nerd like, but it all works to make the experience enjoyable. The pants are convertible, that is the legs zip off to become shorts when it is really hot. They are cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather. The shirt is synthetic, drys quickly, wicks away sweat and protects you from the sun. The hat shades my eyes, the sunglasses covers my eyes, the walking stick stabilizes you (2 versus 3 point contact) and the pack carries stuff (like water and lunch). The thing on my belt is the camera case, which is almost redundant as the camera is in my hand as much as it is in the case. There, get your laugh for the day.


This is the corner of the island, where you in a sense turn from the west coast on to the north coast. We are headed to the horizon, and beyond. Look for the picture later looking back to here. The large vertical wall on the right is the north side of Maunga Terevaka, the tallest volcano on the island (the one we didn't get to climb). I don't think the picture gives the sense of grandeur nor imensity.


Continuing along the north coast, we soon came across an outpost. I believe this is a seasonal place used for tending the many horses along the north coast. You can just barely make out the white cross in the left side of the picture.


The next couple of pictures show more of the wall as I think of it. In particular, the second shows the typical ground conditions you are walking in. This rock strewn terrain made up a least half of the 17 km.




This is the picture looking back where we came from.


Hiking along the north coast.


At this point we seemed to be following a higher trail, so we did not get too close to these three sites, right next to the water.


This picture captures a part of the island we didn't get to, Poike. This area at the east end of the island is off limits to all vehicles in order to protect the landscape. The three hills to the left were the sites of three crosses erected by the Spanish shortly after the island was discovered by the Europeans.


Another view of the three hills.


As we wandered along we often came across groups of horses. This young one seemed very interested in us and posed very nicely. The colors came out beautifully.


Another fantastic view of the ocean crashing in to the coast. The water was a beautiful teal, aquamarine green blue ..., can't describe it and of course the picture doesn't capture.


Our first glimpse of our destination, Anakena Beach. Just as our guide had stated, it is still a good half hour hike away. Even more when you get lost.


So even though we were already hiking the high trail, it appears that we should have gone even higher at some point. We ended up running in to a dead end of sorts, where we found a cave by the ocean. We climbed up some steep hills and tried to continue along the coast, but eventually we had to turn inland. At one point we traversed a gully leading down to the ocean and this is the result. You have to climb out the other side eventually.


We finally found the trail for the last km, and this was our next glimpse of Anakena, only a minute of two away now.






So that was our second last day on Easter Island. 17 km, 6-1/2 hours, hundreds of horses and cattle, countless breathtaking vistas, and dozens of historic sites and artifacts. No people. This was my favourite part of the trip.

We picked up are car again tonight, in anticipation of our last day on the island tomorrow.

Vacation - Tahiti and Easter Island - Day 7

So this is when it really gets interesting. It is Saturday now, our second full day on the island. We arrived Thursday morning, settled in, walked through town, watched the sun set. Friday was a walk in the rain to the museum. Today, is our postponed tour of the island. There are a lot of pictures (to choose from and) to see. I am going to add a map so you can get a sense of where we are on the island. Click on the map to expand. Yellow markups highlights areas discussed.




SOUTH COAST
This is where I fell in love with the coast. The black rock with the blue water cascading into white over it was startling. I would go back just to see more of the coast, as shown in the next two photos.
The south coast of the island has numerous moai and ahu along it. Simply drive along and you will see toppled moai everywhere. A few of the sites have been developed, but not restored.


South coast with Rano Kau in the background.


A lone moai with the face visible.


The toppled moai in the foreground appears to be on a separate ahu that has eroded in to the ocean. Another ahu with toppled moai is in the background.


This image gives a good sense of scale, for this relatively small moai.


As the rain clouds came and went, we were treated to sun drenched slopes of Rano Kau like this.



RANO RARAKU (The Quarry)
This is the area where all the moai were carved. After the work here was completed the statues were moved up to a dozen or so kilometers away, all over the island. How is still a mystery, although there are several theories, none of them proven as far as I know.

Most of the pictures are in no particular order as there is no order to the quarry that I know of. There are two sides to the quarry though, an inside and an outside. Most of these are of the outside, as we could not make it all the way to the inside on this trip. We returned in a few days to revisit the inside.



Us at the quarry.


Our guide advised us that in general what you see above ground is about 1/3 of the total height, so double what you see and that is what is buried beneath the ground.


This is a picture of an incomplete moai. They were carved face up, right in the side of the mountain. The back acted like a keel on a boat and when the appropriate time came, the keel was chipped away and the statue was moved in to a vertical position. In this vertical position, the back was finished and probably some fine detail added. Remember, the eye sockets were not added until the moai was stood on the ahu, which helps identify moai abandoned along the road.






This is a very unique statue. It is (I believe) the only kneeling one on the island. This kneeling posture was a key for Thor Heyerdahl's conclusion that the original inhabitants were from South America, which we now know is incorrect. They are of Polynesian ancestry. It was Heyerdahl's expedition in the 1950s that uncovered and righted this statue.


Inside Rano Raraku. Those dots are moai buried in the ground.


Closeup of inside the quarry.


The gap from inside to outside.








Visible in this shot is the largest moai ever carved, El Gigante. Unfortunately, it never made it to the vertical, let alone on to an ahu. The moai is centered side to side and about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up the photo. It is about 70 feet tall, or 7 stories.












This pictures shows a moai with a carving of a boat on the front. Below the boat and buried is another carving of a turtle.


This is a sneak at our next stop, Tongariki, with 15 standing moai.



TONGARIKI
For me, Tongariki was the most memorable site we visited on Easter Island. I say site, as my most memorable experience is a hike we did three days later.

This is the ahu with the most standing moai, 15 in total. Not only was this site toppled by the inhabitants, but in the 20th century it was inundated by a tidal wave that picked up the multi ton moai and tossed them hundreds of meters (yards) inland. It was restored in the 1990s, supposedly in pay back for allowing one of the moai to travel to Japan. Major support for this restoration came from a Japanese crane company called Todano.

The size is truly impressive. Whereas my wife found the quarry the most fascinating place, it was Tongariki for me. From afar, or up close, it was always captivating. There will be more pictures from here later, when we return for a sunrise visit.



Us in front of Tongariki.




These portions of moai are behind and to the left of the ahu. I think these were moai from an earlier generation and may have been buried within the latest ahu (altar), whick was not uncommon apparently.

If I remember correctly there were three generations of moai, or at least two. The first being more short and wide, and the latter being taller and thinner. Perhaps, only possible after they aquired the skill to work with taller, thinner moai?






These are the topknots leftover after the restoration. I don't know why they were not placed on top of moai. Perhaps they could not determine whick topknot went with which moai.



ANAKENA
This is Anakena Beach on the north coast. The rain was threatening again, hence the gray clouds. Legend has it that the discoverer of Rapa NUI, Hotu Matu'a, landed here. It makes sense, since this about the only place you can access the island from the ocean without coming up to a wall of volcanic rock. Better pictures will follow on another day.



This is the moai that Thor Heyerdahl had the residents stand back up during his expedition in the 1950s. It was his book about this trip, Aku Aku, that inspired my wife, as a school child, to want to go to Easter Island. Although some of his original concepts about Easter Island and the inhabitants origins have now been proven wrong (genetic testing), I find it commendable that he took the chance and started the discussion through this expedition and his book.


This is another ahu at Anakena with several moai on it. This is the back of the ahu, facing the ocean. If you look closely you can see the face of a moai used as a stone in the ahu wall (under the third statue from the right.) It is thought that the ahu where normally oriented so that the moai faced the people in the village, and hence normally had there backs to the ocean.


The same ahu from the other side.


A closeup of one of the moai. This shows the topknot (red hat on top of the moai) very well.



The end, of this day at least.


Added August 22, 2009

I failed to add that we also went to see one of the shows this night. We had planned on going Monday or Tuesday, but ran in to some other guests after dinner and accompanied them to the show.

Matatua is one of four(?) shows on the island, all somewhat similar. Local music and dancing. It was very enjoyable.