Month: April 2016

Date Explored: February 2, 2016

Our second day with our rental vehicle began last post, during which we visited Orongo Village. But we wanted to catch one of the Tapati Festival events. Seeing as SILly and BILly are “horsey folks,” we decided to attend the horse race. Turns out it was being held on the very road we had driven the day before. So we headed back there and parked and gathered with the other tourists and Chileans. Photos:

“Attending a Tapati event” accomplished, we continued exploring the island. Finally, in the afternoon, there was a spot on the map we hadn’t visited yet. There was some discussion about whether we should stop to see “another” big giant head (oh, so jaded we were by then!) or head back to the cabanas for some wine. I can’t recall who was in charge that day, but it was likely SILly or myself, because we made the wise choice to visit every site we could while we had the rental vehicle. So we drove until we hit a semblance of a parking lot, for what we had no clue, but we knew it was a parking lot because there were some guys there not allowing us to drive any further on the rutted road. We were to park and walk for twenty minutes (at a brisk pace, I must say) to see whatever we were to see.

So we did that.

I recall about halfway on the walk some muttering and complaining about whether we should continue because we were not quite sure where we were going. But along the way we would encounter the odd person or couple making their way back from the spot. There was always a language barrier, but the gist of these conversations was that our journey would be worth it.

Finally, we reached a little area on the right that looked set up to sell souvenirs. There was a woman there but no souvenirs, so it was likely siesta time. On our left we could see the ocean and a chicken-scratched sign. We tried to make out the words on the sign. Now, everywhere else we went on Easter Island had matching, very-easy-to-read signs. This site, I don’t know if the signs had been removed or stolen or were simply taking a siesta, but we made out some words we eventually realized could be interpreted as “Windows to the Sea,” or the Ana Kakenga Caves, as we realized looking at our map again later.

We looked up from the chicken-scratch sign. There was a dog several feet ahead, and, wait, was that a person climbing out of the ground? We had to go find out.

This poor doggy (lots of dogs on Easter Island, sitting under the rush umbrellas on the beach, napping) was monitoring the humans climbing in and out of this hole in the ground. A human emerged, so we attempted communication with our bad Spanish. Our foursome decided to descend into this:

The first attempt was not successful. You see, we had neglected to bring a flashlight and the batteries of both cell phones we had with us were dying. BILly attempted to descend first and declared that our light might not make it. So he and I wimped out and went to look at this lovely view below:

Whilst (yes, I said whilst, showing that tiny bit of British in me bones), BILly and I were admiring the view DH and SILly decided to try the hole again. So I’m taking pictures of the sea thinking, “Crap, this is like when S and I were at Machu Picchu and I was too freaked by my fear of heights to continue on the path to the Inca Bridge! Cindy, you’re a wimp. I hope he comes back and gets you.” He did come back to get me at Machu Picchu, and he came back to get me again on Rapa Nui!

SILly and DH were excited to come back and get “BILly and me” (note Sheryl Crow reference) and lead us into the hole. After about 10 or 15 feet of squeezing and climbing down, twisting and turning to get the best foothold, the hole opened up wider, and eventually the lava tubes opened into two separate “windows” in the cliff face, the Windows to the Sea! It was incredible. No fences, no gates to keep you out, NOTHING to stop you from walking right out of a window and landing on the rocks below and splitting your skull open. Simply your own personal responsibility and sense of balance.

If you compare, you can see that the lava rock in the ocean behind us is the same as the landscape photo above.

Cindiana Jones had lived to see another day!

From that point, we used what meagre light we had left on the phones to crawl back out and head back to the parking lot. The doggy we had seen monitoring the hole was sleeping under our vehicle. We returned the vehicle to Jorge and spent the next day, our last full day on Easter Island, relaxing at the beach again.

We flew back to Santiago on February 4th. It was the perfect amount of time on Rapa Nui. Five nights, four full days, two with a vehicle.

I am afraid of heights and suffer from motion sickness. Traveling over the last six years has forced me to try and overcome both to some extent.

Now that you know the tunnel is only 10 – 15 feet or so, would you crawl into the hole in the ground?

Dates Explored: February 1 – 2, 2016

Last I left off, we were hopping in our rental vehicle and driving to Rano Raraku Quarry. We had eaten breakfast in town before leaving to enjoy the views, and we’d purchased fresh pineapple and watermelon and grapes and cheese and water and sliced meat and doughy crusty things. So we kind of had a picnic lunch that we nibbled on as we drove and explored. We called it the Two Squares a Day Plus Pisco Sours for All and Wine for the Winos/Water for Cindy Meal Plan. Because, apparently, I “had” to eat several times a day or I would “crash.” But, let me say, I drink a lot of milk back home and, honestly, I just had to make up those missing calories. Not being a wino myself, I had to ingest, you know, actual food.

At any rate, it was amazing to catch sight of the quarry out the car window:

There is so much to see at the Quarry! We hiked up to a crater lake, and across the lake we could see more Moai. They are just everywhere.

After enjoying a light lunch (our snacks) near the quarry parking lot, we headed to see more Moai, the iconic rows of statues I remembered from my parents’ pictures. We could spy them way, way far away. So we drove to them.

We also explored some cave paintings and petroglyphs. There is so much to see on Easter Island!

The next day wasn’t sunny. We visited Orongo, the ancient village. It was pretty cool but we didn’t stay there long. I do believe it had started raining. We walked around and had a look, though.

Another thing we did our second day with the vehicle was visit one of the Festival events, a horse race. I’ll cover that next post, plus we had quite an adventure exploring the Windows to the Sea, which were another surprise…