27/09/2019 – Day off, Easter Island, Chile

We got up and had breakfast before using the car again to explore the rest of Easter Island. It was very warm but overcast. We went to a handful of the smaller lesser visited archeological sites today. This included Vinapu, a site to see toppled moai and the best platform stonework on the island, which is sometimes compared to that of the Incas. Next we went to Vaihu a scenic little coastal spot with toppled moai and topknots. The lady sat in the little hut who checked our national park tickets had a super cute son with her, who was probably about 3 years old. He adopted us straight away. He showed us around, introducing us to the chickens, making us follow him to see the eggs and the chicks, taking us through some little thatched houses, and racing us to the seafront. It is funny how there is no language barrier with kids, you can communicate very clearly without it! Afetr we said our goodbyes to him we went to Akahanga, another set of toppled moai and topknots, a little cave, and some outdoor Polynesian oven remains, probably the cooking area for the village back in the day. Next was Pu’ O Hiro - a rock with some bird petroglyphs on it! Legend has it that if you blow through one of the holes and make a trumpet noise, it will attract fish to the shore for fishermen to catch. Josh and I tried and failed to do the trumpet noise so couldn’t test the theory! Next was Papa Vaka, a site displaying many petroglyphs. We spotted a few with some guidance from the signs, but they are pretty eroded to be honest, I doubt they will exist for much longer sadly. Lastly we visited Te Pito Kura, the largest moai to have ever been stood on a platform, measuring 10m and weighing 70 tonnes! The maoi is called Paro and is one of the few known names of the maoi. We drove home via the supermarket and the petrol station. We read our books and had dinner.