Easter Island

Easter Island—it may not be on everyone’s travel A-list, but those who venture into the mid Pacific Ocean to find it are in for a magnificent experience.  Patricia and Stephen sent me these pictures from their holiday.  (They also visited the Acoma Desert for a few days.  The two trips make a great ten day experience!) 

Your flights to the Island begin and end in Santiago, Chile, but Easter Island is a long way from the mainland, both geographically and culturally.  Even a brief stay on the island provides an insight into the unique culture, history, traditions, and beliefs of the local Rapa Nui People, 

 

who call this island “the navel of the world”, that is, the center.  Their archeological sites and authentic activities, their ceremonies and cuisine are open for you toexplore.

Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is an open-air archaeological museum of a fascinating but vanished culture.  We still do not know for sure how or why the first inhabitants carved, transported, and raised their monolithic stone statues, or why these “moai” face inland instead of out to sea.  But as you walk with your guide you can contemplate the enigma of the nearly nine hundred mysterious idols created over a period of five centuries by a civilization which later tried to destroy them.
You can hike to the quarries at the Rano Raraku Volcano, where the stone statues were carved, and view about three hundred of the moai in different states of completion.  See standing moai at Abu Tongariki, Abu Akivi and Anakena Beach.  Drive to the village of Orongo, once the home of the Birdman Cult, immortalized in more than one thousand artistically carved petroglyphs.  Or walk to Ahu Vinapu where the unique quality of the stonework may show evidence of a legendary Inca voyage from South America, 25,000 miles away. 

Your five day holiday on Easter Island will be a visit to a fascinating and mysterious world—a life event you will treasure!

 

 

Harriet H. Ahouse | Independent Travel Consultant
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