Day 99: Easter Island (April 16, 2011)

Saturday was my best day on Easter Island because I saw so many of the Moais.  I opted to join a small tour of the island instead of renting a car, because the cost would have been almost the same, and even though the island is small, I didn't want to spend half my day looking for things to see.  Plus, I knew I'd learn something from the guide.

The largest restored group of Moai on the Island.

There are about 900 Moai on Easter Island.  Many are on the coast (some are restored to their standing positions, some are not) and there are many scattered around the Island, sometimes just left lying in a field between the quarry and the coast.  And a whole bunch are still at the quarry itself.

Near the beach (the landscape here is very different from the rest of the Island).

Abandoned near the quarry.

I did not know that the Moai were carved directly out of the side of a mountain.  If I'd thought about it, I would have guessed the islanders found large rocks and carved them.  But no, the entire thing gets cut out of the side of living rock.  And the islanders used only stone tools to cut and shape them.  Another quarry, which I didn't get to see, has softer and more pourous red stone, that was used to make the topnots you see on a few of the statues.

Part of the quarry for the Moai.

Two Moai still partly embedded in the living rock.

The Moai that look like just heads are actually attached to bodies, but they've sunk into the ground.

Abandoned near the quarry.

The last stop of the tour was at the beach.  Now, this is what I expected French Polynesia to look like:  Wide white beaches, with plenty of room to lounge and swim.  (As I already noted, it's possible that some of the islands there have beaches like this, but not the ones I saw.)  The water was warm enough to swim in, but cooler than I expected.  The waves came right up to the beach, but were small enough I could just kind of bob around and float, like I enjoy, rather than fighting currents or being dunked under.  This area is not typical of the coast of most of Easter Island.  The rest of the coastline is very rocky and cliff-like, and made of black and dark red volcanic rock.

Saturday evening, five of us from the hotel dined out together, then three of us went to one of the island's many shows.  There are several each night, by different companies, so I think that every young person on the island must either dance or play an instrument in one of these shows.  It seems to be a pacific islander thing, to host dance shows.  Last night's show was the least polished of the three I saw (New Zealand, Polynesia and here) but it was fun to watch anyway, and the price was reasonable.

Mark, Jose, Erick & Kim.

Last little tidbit:  Have you heard that Easter Island is sometimes called "The Navel of the World"?  No?  Me either, until I got here.  Well, here is the rock formation that the original inhabitants called The Naval of the World.  The centerpiece is a magnetic stone, which means it is full of iron and it will screw your compass up, and it's considered good luck to touch it. Apparently it is a rock native to the island and is naturally round like that (although some Rapa Nui myths say it was brought to the island by an early king).  The stone really stands out, as all the other rocks I saw around here are are either really jagged (like obsidian), really pourous (pumice-like stones), or are still part of the mountains.  So no wonder this stone would have caught the eye of the natives.  I do have a photo of myself touching the rock, but I think there are enough cheesy photos of me in this blog already.


The Navel of the World:  a cute place for an afternoon tea.