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| Moai along the waterfront in the town of Hanga Roa. |
Good Morning from one of the most remote inhabited places on the planet! It's Wednesday morning and the current time here on the island is around 5:45 AM (we're on Mountain Standard Time). We arrived around 11:00 PM on Monday night. As we kept flying and flying, I was trying to imagine the challenges the first inhabitants to the island faced in reaching it. Suddenly that airplane seat didn't feel quite so cramped!
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| The view from our bungalow at Hareswiss |
One interesting thing that we learned as we looked about the peaceful town of Hanga Roa (the only "town" on the island), is that because the island is so remote, there isn't much solid evidence of when the first humans arrived. One source (a book by a historian) gave a range of between 600 and 900 AD, while the museum gave the dates as between 800 and 1200 AD. One fact that is certain is that the island was discovered by the outside world on April 5, 1722 by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen. That day happened to be Easter Sunday, hence the name Easter Island. History shows the early inhabitants called the island Rapa Nui. The name of choice by the locals continues to be Rapa Nui.
When Roggeveen arrived he found the island to be mostly barren of palm trees. It was originally believed that the first settlers had over harvested to obtain building material and to clear the land for farming. Later on it was proven that the lack of trees was most likely a combination of over harvesting and a huge mice infestation. The main source of food for the mice was seeds from the trees. They consumed so many that new trees could not germinate and grow to replace the ones that had been cut down. Today, the island is lush and green with many tropical trees, banana plants and colorful flowers. The island has a very Polynesian feel to it, which it should have. It along with New Zealand and Hawaii make up the Polynesian Triangle.
We're staying at the Hareswiss, which is owned by a nice gentleman named Peter who is originally from Switzerland. His wife (Tiare) is a native of the island. She is a flight attendant for Latam Airlines. We haven't had the chance to meet her or their two young daughters yet, but I'm sure we will in the coming days.
Yesterday was a pretty relaxing day. It gave us time to recover from the long travel day on Monday and to get oriented to the area. Peter drove us the short distance into town and gave us a brief tour as well as some recommendations on the important things such as what to see and where to eat. After a quick stop at a small local market to pick up some essentials (water and wine), which he kindly carried back to the bungalow, he dropped us off to do some exploring on our own. We purchased our required National Park pass ($80 US per person for non-Chilean visitors). The pass is good for ten days and is essential since much of the island and historical sites are within the national park.
The town has two main streets, one along the waterfront and another that runs parallel to it. Most of the restaurants and shops are along these streets or the connecting roads between them. We enjoyed the waterfront and taking in views of our first moai, the statues that have made Easter Island so famous. There will be plenty of pictures of different moai in the coming days. Here are a few...…...
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| Along the waterfront. The town of Hanga Roa is in the background |
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| Main Street in Hanga Roa |
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| There are a number of well cared for and friendly dogs wandering around town. This girl joined us for a bit of our walk and relaxed with us along the waterfront. |
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| A man, a bench and the Pacific Ocean |
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| Beth and her new friend |
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| A very nice park in the center of town |
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| The new public library that opened earlier this year. The staff were proud to show it off. They encouraged us to look around both the first floor (library) and the second floor (public meeting space) |
We enjoyed some great empanada's at a small restaurant named Empanadas Tia Berta. Our server proudly told us they were the top rated empanadas on the island. At this point we have no reason to doubt him. They were huge and very tasty.
Afterwards we visited the small, but very interesting, museum that told the story of the history of the island as best as it could. The museum made the disclaimer right at the start that much of the early history was speculation. Many times it would give different theories such as when the first inhabitants arrived, where they came from, the purpose of the moai and how the heck they moved these huge statues from the quarry in the middle of the island to their locations near the waterfront.
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| Horses were grazing freely in open spaces near the waterfront trail |
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| A couple of artifacts inside the museum...…... |
I'll have plenty of information to share over the next week as we continue to explore and learn about this mysterious, colorful island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
