25/09/2019 – Day off, Easter Island, Chile

We got up and had breakfast before heading out in the car that Peter kindly said we could borrow for the next few days. It is so helpful for us because hiring a car or going on an organised tour is quite expensive, so only paying for fuel is a much cheaper way of doing things! We went to Rano Raraku – the quarry where the moai were carved, and where 400 unfinished moai still remain. We walked around the quarry where we could see the moai in all the different stages of carving, it seems as if one day the carvers just dropped their tools and left! We learnt that each maoi would have taken up to 2 years to be carved by a team of workers under the guidance of a master carver. That is crazy to imagine as there are so many maoi dotted all over the island. From what is known the quarry was shared by everybody, but they are unsure of if or how it was divided amongst the different tribes. It was really cool to wander amongst all the huge heads, and to see the inversion of where the statues had been chiselled away from the main stone of the quarry. We also walked up to the reed filled crater of the volcano, surrounded by cows on one side, and carved moai heads the other. We got back in the car and drove to Puna Pau next. This is a small red stone volcanic crater, and the quarry where the topknots (red hat things to represent the bun hairstyle of the time) for the maoi were made. We walked around the topknots, the size of them as we got up close really emphasised how big the maoi are. There are only 100 topknots, in contrast to over 1000 moai on the island. It used to be forbidden for important men to cut their hair, and we have seen that most rapa nui men here do have long hair. Next we drove to Ahu Akivi. The roads here are full of pot holes – like granny’s road! Ahu Akivi is an inland platform of seven restored moai. Instead of having their backs to the sea like most of the moai, they face it, which lots of people have speculated about but it is because the maoi always overlook their village and descendants, hence their orientation here. We had a little walk around them, they are so big when you get up close! Then we drove back into town and stopped at Ohi Sushi for a late lunch. We got a few bits from the supermarket and then went home. There was no hot water when we got back, and eventually, no water at all. That island life! We had a snack and went to bed with our books.