Moai Tour
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| The red lines indicate the roads one takes to see the sights. You can see the one going south that I walked from town to go to the Rano Kau Volcano. Everything north takes you to the main locations of the moai along the coast or through the center. There are a number of possible tours that are done along these two main roads. The island is anchored by, and probably the product of, the three main volcanoes. Because of the nature of the island, I think there are not many mountains that are not of volcanic origin. All is quiet nowadays, however. This is the most remote island on earth and the small map gives you an idea how remote that really is. |
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I took this at the first stop, and this seems really primordial to me. |
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Boats/ships were built here, but there are also some broken moai (probably transported here) and a lava tube.. |
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And great souvenirs. I did not buy - being a backpacker. |
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From here we headed straight east to Rano Raraku. You can see it on the map near Poike, a small volcano with water in it - we'll hike up there as well. |
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And there I finally stood at the place of so many stories, National Geographic articles, TV specials, and a place I often thought of but never expected to go to, the huge moai production site of old. I could hardly believe it. This was an incredible sight. |
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Traveling in the off-season has is drawbacks and at times like these, its definite advantages. There were just a few groups here and mostly this fascinating place was empty of people. |
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Broken ones are not unusual. They were, like the Egyptian obelisks, carved whole from rock and then lifted out. Any fracture in the rock and it was over. |
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3D