rapa nui, isla de pascua, easter island
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Chilean island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania.
Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapa Nui people. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage Site, with much of the island protected within Rapa Nui National Park.
The island is about 24.6 km (15.3 mi) long by 12.3 km (7.6 mi) at its widest point; its overall shape is triangular. It has an area of 163.6 square kilometres (63.2 sq mi), and a maximum altitude of 507 metres (1,663 ft). There are three Rano (freshwater crater lakes), at Rano Kau, Rano Raraku and Rano Aroi, but no permanent streams or rivers.
Polynesian people most likely settled on Easter Island sometime between 700 and 1100 CE, and created a thriving and industrious culture as evidenced by the island's numerous enormous stone moai and other artefacts. However, human activity, the introduction of the Polynesian rat and overpopulation led to gradual deforestation and extinction of natural resources which severely weakened the Rapa Nui civilization. By the time of European arrival in 1722, the island's population had dropped to 2,000–3,000 from an estimated high of approximately 15,000 just a century earlier (Btw - that first Dutch explorer added to the loss by shooting and killing a dozen or so natives). European diseases and Peruvian slave raiding in the 1860s further reduced the Rapa Nui population, to a low of only 111 inhabitants in 1877. Out of these 111 Rapanui, only 36 had descendants, but all of today's Rapanui claim descent from those 36.
Easter Island is one of the most remote inhabited islands in the world. The nearest inhabited land (around 50 residents in 2013) is Pitcairn Island, 2,075 kilometres (1,289 mi) away; the nearest town with a population over 500 is Rikitea, on the island of Mangareva, 2,606 km (1,619 mi) away; the nearest continental point lies in central Chile, 3,512 kilometres (2,182 mi) away.
Easter Island is a special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888. Administratively, it belongs to the Valparaíso Region, and, more specifically, it is the only commune of the Province Isla de Pascua. The 1982 population was 1,936. According to the 2012 Chilean census, the island has about 5,800 residents, of whom some 60 percent are descendants of the aboriginal Rapa Nui.
tl;dr: moai !!!
more per wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island
lost in translation
aeropuerto mataveri
hanga roa
hanga roa is the only town on easter island
school
hanga roa bay
a rustic casita
another swim area
ahu tahai
this is a polynesian ‘hare paenga’ or boat house foundation
an ahu tahai moai called ko te riku
moving on, this is another area on the island called ana te pahu
caves where islanders could hide out
stone beds down there
ahu akivi
ahu = the stone pedestals the moai are placed on
the moai all line up well lol
ahu akivi are the only moai that face the sea, the rest face inward ---> per wiki:
-- most moai were erected along the coastline, watching over their descendants in the settlements before them, with their backs toward the spirit world in the sea.
cool gate!
puna pao
puna pao is where islanders mined the red scoria and made the pukao, or moai hat (which is actually a man bun top-knot, not a hat)
- the belief was that mana is preserved in the hair
- the later addition of pukao to moai meant more status, as far as is known or speculated.
the mined area
nice views
these are marae cabanas back in hanga roa - recommended!
https://www.marae.cl/en/
more of laid back hanga roa town
night -- near the airport
no one was up in the club -- oh well lol
ovahe
burial area
ovahe is on the northernmost side of rapa nui island
it is sort of an adventure in hiking and climbing over sharp volcanic stone to an isolated beach
ahu anakena
basically anakena is the polynesian beach of your dreams
i mean sure there are plenty of nice tropical beaches….but they don’t have moai
these moai are called ahu nau nau
not fighting the light, the view from behind is better
this moai guy is ahu ature huki
beachy time
flying the rapa nui longboat flag
hanga roa cemetario
the modern island cemetery is a colorful and fascinating mix of cross cultural influences
rano raraku
rano raraku is where they carved out the moai -- the type of rock is called tuff
the moai all certainly have their own personalities, as was intended
moai with gages and long ears are newer and those with regular sized ears are older
more nice views of the island from up on the volcano quarry
moai lean around because they were never moved to their sites and are buried in volcanic mudslides
a moai carving site -- if you look close you can see a moai to be -- that was not quite to be
this huge unfinished moai is amazing
a moai guy a ways around the volcano hillside is pretty special
he foreshadows the next site….
….and he kneels -- his name is tuku turi
if you had to pick, this view is probably thee easter island money shot that you may have seen
rano raraku moai point of view
a hike up above the moai quarry is the peak of rano raraku volcano
there is always a straggler!
post-hiking chillaxin --
wut?
ummm, no
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