Easter Island Day 1 (more pics)

I sat next to a nice German chap called Marko on the flight. Works for Merc Benzs in the travel logistics dept. He has just been to Iguassu falls, Santiago now Easter Is and then returns to Germany - all in 7 days which seems a bit of a rush to me.
I was welcomed by the hotel shuttle driver with a garland of, what i can only describe as Calamari tied in knots on a piece of string. Luckily it smelled better than that. Needless to say the women got nice flowers!

Marco and I arranged to meet for a beer after we had settled in to our respective hotels. It was harder than we imagined. There are no roads signs and about 3 street lights on the whole island. Luckily it is a small town and we bumped into each other whilst trying to find each other!

When it rains here, it pours but it is brief and it is warm

Access to the interweb is limited so i am typing this in the wifi cafe (who subscribe to some whizzy satellite) with the great and good of the island chatting to their mates - how am i meant to concentrate?

After breakfast I asked about tours. They have plenty but involving 15-20 people. It is just not the way I want to see the island so considered hiring a car. It is a small triangular island and so i am unlikely to miss anything although a bit of history would be nice to hear.
I went for a walk and saw a Motorbike hire place. That is much more in keeping with my "motorcycle diaries" so, against all my principles of not riding in shorts and T shirt I booked one. A Yamaha XT250. It certainly isn´t the Beamer and the brakes leave a lot to be desired!

 The wifi is so poor I couldn't even pay for it! Needles to say, i did at the end of the hire.

There are 2 major concentrations of the "sights" with many individual ones dotted along the coastline.

I headed up the red earth road towards Orongo on my new steed. Orongo is an old village of 54 drystone houses. It sits between the edge of the volcanic crater Rano Kau and the sea. both sides are very steep! it was built in the 16th century and was only used for a few weeks each spring for ceremonial purposes (they think).

They carved stones with images (that are not easy to decipher) but all have great significance I am sure. Ancient graffiti prior to the invention of the paint spray can.

The crater is out of bounds due to rare flora but it would be difficult to get down and probably impossible to get out again as the sides are so steep. There is a lake at the bottom with floating reed beds.

I bumped into an Aussie (just for a change) who was hiking up to the village with no shoes. Not sure why but he was cheerful enough.

I  headed back down and visited some caves with some paintings (obviously after the carving but before spray cans) at Ana Kai Tangata. It is a beautiful coastline with dramatic caves and volcanic rock formations.

The paintings are of "Birdman". He was more Godly than our Batman but didn´t have the cool wardrobe. I will come back to him later. The aussie guy turned up at the caves but still hadn´t found his shoes.

After this i went further along the coast. Every few hundred yards there are Moai "remains". These massive stone monuments were likenesses of the great and good of society and the religion of the time required them to worship their ancestors. This was fine until that fell out of fashion and Birdman took over as number 1 Deity. As with all loving religions they ripped down the totems of the competition. This happened in the 18th Century and is why they are all lying face down in the dirt. By the way - all the faces look towards the land not the sea (keeping an eye on everyone).

The red blocks dotted around are their "topknots" or hats that once crowned the statues but rolled away after being pulled down.

There are over 400 Moai´s on the island and you do get a bit punch drunk with yet another tumbled down wreck. There was better to come!

All the statues were carved from the same quarry on the side of another volcano Rano Raraku. The whole hillside is covered with them. looking across the landscape with unblinking eyes.

They were partially submerged under a lava flow. Further up the volcano you can see the partially carved blocks of stone about to become more effigies.

Apparently the island used to have immense woodlands but some say that there were cut down to move the stones. It would certainly fit with the Stonehenge explanation of how they moved the stones around the island.

From the slopes you can see on the coastline below a row of erect Moai´s. This is Tongariki. In the 1980´s the local council with financial help from Japanese repaired one site to its former glory. I am glad they did as it is stunning and great to see what they were like before Birdman did his worst.

More another day but Internet is too slow!

ciao