Easter Island - Day 2 (These statues look familiar)

Like any ancient culture there are far too many sites to describe them all, so we will hit some high points. Again, we are brave travelers who take on most nations by ourselves, but being in such a remote place with little knowledge of the culture we hired a guide for the day and can't speak highly enough about Chris at Easter Island Spirit. He is an American who moved to the island fifteen years ago and appears to know the culture and history of the island better than many of the natives.

The first site to check out is Tahai, the closest site to the city of Hanga Roa. Here you will see two unique ahu, or ceremonial platforms the moai rest upon. All moai have their back turned from the water, not because of any issues with sea gods, but because they kept watch over the people in the villages. During the time of tribal warfare in the 18th & 19th Century, all of the moai on the island were toppled when one tribe would overrun another. This meant that most of the 20th Century was dedicated to archaeologists returning the moai and their ahus to their original states.  The single moai on the right is called Ahu Ko Te Riku, and is the best depiction of how the moai would have appeared five hundred years ago, with a corals eyes of white, and a red stone top dress that most likely represented the long flowing red hair of the ruling class that was worn in a bun above the head. You will notice a difference in the moai. The older statues have a shorter, fatter body, while the newer ones focused on height and are more lean.

Leaving Tahai, we headed to the opposite end of the island to visit where most experts believe the original settlers of the island landed and set up their colony.  Anakena is one of the true sand beaches on the island, and looks like a paradise, even in the 21st Century.  Since most of the island shore is made up of volcanic rock, it is an obvious point for any group of people to use this easy access shore as their home.  A public beach now, there was almost no one there because it is on the opposite side of the island from the city of Hanga Roa.  There are, as there are everywhere, horses grazing in the fields around the beach.  We got the excitement of watching a young colt sprint up and down through the park as some other horse had clearly called him a name he didn't like.  The moai at this location were excavated by Thor Heyerdahl in 1955.  Heyerdahl helped bring attention to the island with his 1948 book Kon-Tiki, which hypothesized that early settlers of the island actually came from South America.

From there we left and headed to the quarry of Rano Raraku on the opposite side of the island. This site is something to behold. The original king of Rapa Nui was a man named Hotu Matu'a.  After his death, his kingdom on the island was divided between his six sons, who divided themselves into different tribes.  One of those tribes, the ones descended from his youngest son, were in control of a portion of the island that contained a giant mountain of compacted ash stone. This fortuitous location led them to great power as they controlled the only location on the island where these monolithic giants could be carved from.  At this quarry you will seen hundreds of completed moai that were simply buried if the people who ordered it didn't come up with the payment after years of work. Behind the mountain is a lake that is home to many of the thousands of horses roaming the hills now.  You can watch them graze on the hill as they wander around moai faces staring back at you. You will also see unfinished moai carved in the mountain, including the largest one ever carved at more than 70 feet tall, and more than 270 tons. Walk around the side of the mountain and see the kneeling moai, the only one of its kind on the island.  Most believe this moai represents a priest, but some have other theories of fallen heroes or a grieving father.  Look at the stomach sections of some of them for early petroglyphs carvings of their god Make-Make, sea turtles, and one with a European boat sailing up with three sails.

From there cross the street to the site of Tongariki, the largest set of standing moai on the island. Returned upright to their ahu in the 1990's, these moai have become the iconic image of the island. They are backed by a stunning bay that looks like something out of a Treasure Island movie.  While you are there check out the collection of top dressings that fell from their heads when they were toppled in war. These top dressings are as heavy as ten tons each, so the nearly impossible task of getting them carved from their own quarry on the other side of the island was matched by being able to elevate them onto the head of each moai.  There are also a few petroglyphs, such as this sea turtle carved hundreds of years ago that still is visible today.