9:30 AM start-a civilized time. Regarding breakfast I forgot to mention there was also some decent scrambled eggs available every day. Coffee is fresh brewed and they always offered two different fresh juices; today there was a strawberry juice which was quite tasty.

Our first stop was at the local tourist center where we were able to have our passports  stamped with Rapa Nui stamps-for no charge!  Note: They are missing an opportunity  for funds as many European communities now charge to get a stamp!

The next stop was at the local Father Sebastián Englert Anthropological Museum in town. Given the size of the town/island I certainly did not expect much of a museum. I was pleasantly surprised. It was excellent with well laid out descriptions of the history of the island and its people, with both Spanish and English everywhere. A great amount of history and artifacts came from the collection of a revered German Catholic priest who came to Rapa Nui in 1935. Father Englert lived here, studying the life and language of Rapa Nui and published several books, until he died in 1969. It was such a good museum that several of us bought the museum booklet describing the exhibits. We commented to Wladimir that it would have been great to visit this first before exploring the island so we would have a better understanding of what we were about to see. He agreed but said we had to do it this way because we arrived on Sunday and the museum is closed then.

Leaving the museum we drove to the nearby site called “Ahu Akivi” , an important sacred, archeological site for several reasons. It is the only site not located on the shoreline; it is 1.4 miles inland. There are seven identical moai and they all face the sea, another unique characteristic, as normally they faced inland. One of the theories is that they were to represent the original seven explorers who came here, and they are facing the direction from where they came.Thirdly, it is a celestial observatory, in that the moai directly face the sunset during the spring equinox.

We then drove to the nearby quarry, called  Puna Pau, which provided the red stone used to make the “pukao”, the red colored topknots seen on some of the moai. The pukao was not really a hat; they were meant to be representative of the long hair worn as a bun by important men in the early Rapa Nui society. This is the only location on the island with this type of stone. Only about 100 topknot still exist on the island. About 20 pukao remain on this site, never delivered to their final location. The ones that were delivered had to travel up to 12 km to the other end of the island to be joined to their moai. They weighed up to 12 tons each, but because they are cylinders, scientist feel they were simply rolled there, but no one is sure. The views of the surrounding valley, Hanga Roa, and the ocean were great. The quarry is at the end of the road. if you wanted to explore the northern portion of the island you had to walk or ride a horse. We did neither.

Working our way back to Hanga Roa we made a quick stop at a single moai at Ahu Huri, one of the first restorations overseen by Dr. William Mulloy, an American, in 1972. He has been praised for his work because he worked closely with the inhabitants of the island to make sure that the restoration was done correctly. This site is inland but was important as an astrological site, having a sundial as part of the site. The moai is also unique in that it has two sets of hands as part of the carving. No one knows why.

Our last stop was at the Catholic Church in Hanga Roa, that dates back to 1945. It is simple in design and what caught my eye was a wooden sculpture that was obviously not you would expect in a Catholic Church. Nico said is a representation of a combination of ancient pagan religion and Catholicism-a winged bird with Angel wings. The other surprise in the church was they had not yet removed their manger scene or decorated Christmas tree.  Island time in action?

Those who wanted to stay in town were given the opportunity and the rest of us returned to the hotel about 1:30 for lunch and relaxation before our planned evening event to have a picnic on the water during sunset.

We left the hotel at 8:15PM and drove to the edge of town to a location called “Tahai” where there once was another ceremonial site. There are two ahu there with several moai, including the only one that has the eyes (made of white coral and obsidian). The grassy slope was a favorite spot for sunset worshipers and tonight was no exception. There were dozens of both locals and tourists with their cameras to capture the moment. Wladimir had arranged a picnic for us which included tuna empanadas ( the local favorite), cheeses, lunch meats, crackers, chips, watermelon and that tiny sweet pineapple. For beverages we had wine, beer, soda and juices- way more than any of us could consume. The sunset, around 9:15, was a good one and we took way too many pictures of the moai and the sunset. We traded toasts with our local guides about them, Rapa Nui and our travel group. It was a great ending to our visit to Rapa Nui.

The people of Rapa Nui live a truly unique life, one based on the past. Nico, our local 27-year-old guide, lives alone in the country. He is a true free spirit. He owns beautiful acreage in the country, given to him by his grandmother. He is building his own home by hand. He has 22 horses, many chickens and a couple of pigs. He has no running water, limited electricity from a generator, no indoor plumbing, no way to heat water except by fire. He must come to town to get internet connection. He does not have a credit card. He must act as his own vet for his animals. He rides his horses, paddles in the ocean each morning, surfs when the sea calls him and in his spare time acts as a local guide for people like us, telling us the history of the land and the people as told to him by his ancestors. And he is happy as he can be!

A funny aside about Nico. Apparently he met a girl from Texas recently and asked if we thought someone like that would be willing to live the life style of the Rapa Nui. We advised him that the chances were slim to none that an American would give up her life style to join him here. He would be better off finding a local girl(to whom he is probably related to) or one from one of the other Micronesian islands.

Our visit to Rapa Nui is over; we return to Santiago tomorrow morning.