From the Atacama to Easter Island

There is not much choice as to how to get to Easter Island! Only one airline, Latam, flies to the island........and at the moment has only 5 flights per week...instead of the normal 14!. The island was  closed for 2 years because of covid.

It's about a 5 hour flight from Santiago,Chile!

It was actually a good time to visit.......not many tourists on the island!

Again I stayed at the Nayara hotel....... an easy choice, tours arranged and food and drink included!

Our first tour was to the Rano Raraku quarry where the Moai were carved out.... indeed we saw a few only partly cut out. It was amazing to see these figures,  a lot having been abandoned.

 Then down the hill one could see 14  Maoi in the distance. All face inwards so that the spirits could ward off evil.

Next day we checked out some other Moai...... Ahu AKivi, inland... apparently more sacred but not as dramatic!

Afternoon was spent visiting Rano Kai, a volcano crater ......

There used to be a once a year competition to find the first egg of the season on a close by small island and the contestants practiced beforehand by  running up and down those steep slopes!

The people who competed were called Birdmen, and they had an old ceremonial village, Orongo, close by......
a tattoo on our guide's arm of what they looked like!!

The village was originally ceremonial and later was only used at the time of the competition....

We were very fortunate in the timing of our visit to the island... the islanders have a once a year festival, Tapati Rapa Nui  but dates are unclear. We happened to arrive at the time they have their ending parade......

It was amazing!

It was quite noisy!! Lots of very loud music!

Next day we drove to Anakena where the original people arrived by catamaran......  one of the few beaches on the island.

We also hiked into the only other two beaches on the island!