Easter Island - A 5 day driving tour - 2nd instalment

Hola
Day Two - East Coast

Today we decided to get ahead of the tour buses by travelling up the East coast to start our day at the Moai quarry called Rano Raraku.  Rano Raraku is a volcanic cone where most of the moai were carved from tufa.
 

Rano Raraku

There are nearly 400 statues just lying around, buried in the ground, or still waiting to be released form the quarry walls...

...queueing to get off the quarry...

...does anyone know where the exit is...

The site is fascinating as it shows the different carving steps.

Moai were carved on their backs with most of the detail except the eye sockets and back details.

Once the back had been carefully cut away from the bedrock the moai was slid down the slope and lowered into a prepared pit. Then the moai was stood upright so thet the back could be carved.

The moai on the right is ready for transportation.

The back, jaw and ears have been defined.

The eyes were left until the moai had been transported to and erected on its platform (Ahu). The eye sockets were then carved and the eyes opened. When the eyes were opened the islanders believed that the ancestors's mana and spirit were brought back to life.

The largest moai ever carved stills lies at the quarry, unfinished. It is 21 metres long; its head alone is 7 metres in length and once completed the statue would weigh 200 tonnes.

The largest moai was never completed so is still attached to the bedrock

You need to look carefully on the quarry face to see the largest moai at a 45 degree angle. This Moai would have stood 21 metres tall

This Moai has a three masted ship carved on its belly...

The middle Moai has a smaller head carved on its head...

A different Moai can be found at the quarry...

A kneeling Moai

Many Moai are still attached to the bedrock...

Look closely and you can see partially carved Moai still attached to the bedrock.

Towards the end of the carving period the islanders started to carve Moai inside the crater.

Moai could only be carved from the rock found at the back of the crater as the rest of the crater comprises sand

Views of the island from the quarry.

Looking South towards Rano Kau

Panorama

Looking East

About a kilometer away towards the coast is the largest single ahu (ceremonial platform) at 220 metres long, with 15 Moai reconstructed to their former glory...

The 15 wise men...

..believe it or not.. this is a petroglyph...of a turtle...

Make Make petroglyph

Birdman carving...

"topknots" too badly damaged to be re-placed, but nevertheless are still impressive at over a metre in height and weighing nealry 10 tons!!

Caracara, an introduced species...but pretty nvertheless...taking advantage of a Moai as a perch

... a little further down the coast is Ahu Hanga Tetenga...this is....

an unrestored site...you'd never guess

The Moai lay as they fell when the Rapa Nui people toppled them nearly 250 years ago.

The coast of Easter Island is littered with the remains of Ahu's some with Moai and some without; all of them have had their Moai's toppled. Some have been restored and whilst it is good to see them in all their glory, there is still an amazing grandeur to the ruins, not only because of the scale of the stones used, but in the rocky and sea strewn locations, with the Pacific as their backdrop.

We visited all of these on the south east coast stopping our car and wandering round each in turn.

Akavanga is another example of unrestored glory...

...looks like nothing from away off...

...tumbled Moai...

...petroglyph on edging stonework....

and just to give a sense of scale...here's Siobhan modelling a topknot from one of the tumbled Moai...

...stonework at the back of the platform...neat and very Inca in appearance...

...a few metres behind the platform is ...the wide Blue Ocean.

After spending all day looking at these sites we were tired, but very glad we'd taken the time to see these sites, many, often missed by visitors rushing to see the major attractions in 2 days. So we relaxed by watching the sunset on the north west shore...

Sunset Easter Island style,,,,Ahu Tahai - reconstructed platform...

also on the same evening just a few minutes later at Ahu Hanga Kio'e...you can't see them but this one has coral eyes inserted, the only one on the island.

Watch out for the next instalment - to be posted soon.