Easter Island (Part Dos!)

Easter Island has several names. The natives of the island call it Rapa Nui. In Spanish it is Isla de Pascua (the direct translation of Easter Island) On Easter day in 1722 a Dutch sailor "founded" the island, thus the Easter part. The natives tend not to like it being referred as such because they were there first.

We started out our second day on the incredible Easter Island by eating breakfast at the hotel and then getting on buses to explore. First, we went to the Rano Raraku quarry! It's the hillside where all the moai-carving magic happened.

Before the tour began, we sat on these benches until our guide got there. (Jodie and Stella)

Then we were off on the adventure! Our guide started by talking about some history. There is sooo much history, all of which I find super interesting. I'll tell snippets here and there. 

During the early years of civilization on the island, the native people were split into tribes. Each tribe picked their most important leaders, priests, medicine men, etc. and made giant stone statues to honor them. As you'll see, the moai are all of different styles and complexity. Some are made with ears, chins, necks and some are missing various components. It was fun seeing the different styles of them.

This one was one of my favorites :)

Some of them were kinda funny looking.

The island went through many periods of revolution and many moai statues were pushed down (I don't even know how! They must be so heavy!) Most of them were upright-ed, but if they were broken in the fall, they were left where they were.

The moai were carved out of this hillside! They chiseled the faces (using other rocks as tools!) and then cut their backs out. Although no one's really sure how they did it, using ropes and sheer man power was probably how they did it) And the craziest part, and something I didn't know, is that there are over 800 moai statues on the island! Most of them are miles and miles away from this quarry site where they were carved.

Now it's time to use your very best eyes. Can you make out the moai's face?

Some more unfinished ones.

This place was so cool. As you looked around, you could see heads popping out all over the place! It was so surreal. For those of you who are wondering, the moai aren't just heads. They do have bodies too! The bodies have just sunken into the ground over time.

As you might be able to tell, I love taking pictures and I take a lot of them. Bridget and I almost always could be found at the rear end of the group because we loved soaking everything in and taking pictures. I'd take her picture in one spot and then we'd switch.

Bridget, Evan, and Jodie. They're such great people. :)

This is Ernest O'Ryan. He's my Rotary counselor in Curicó. Mostly I just went to his house to get money. :P

As we took this picture, it started pouring and we all took off running down the hill towards the buses.

As we ran, we saw this site which was super exciting! The biggest line of moai on Easter Island!

We got on the buses and drove a couple miles to the site. Getting this picture with 50 other exchange students taking pictures at once was such an incredible feat. I can't even describe how much I love this picture.

This spot is one of my happy places.

I love Chile. <3

I was on top of the world! (Well, actually I was in the middle of the ocean, but I was super happy :) )

So what are these big rocks? These were knocked off the heads of the moai by the waves. Most people think they're hats, but they're actually hair. When the moai were carved, the people wore their long black hair up in buns. The style was to paint them red, thus the red, porous rock used.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to visit such a breathtaking, history-rich place.

After that beautiful site, we were back on the bus and on the way to the "Ombligo del Mundo" That's right, The Belly Button of the World. I'd just like to start off by saying that I had no idea that the world even had a belly button. Apparently the true belly button of the world is Cusco, Peru. In the Easter Island's native language, the island was once called "Te pito o te henua" which translates to The Belly Button of the World. But anyways, some people believe that the rocks that make up the ombligo (belly button) holds some sort of magical powers or luck. One of the Rotary counselors was completely convinced and made everyone touch it for good luck. It was pretty amusing. hahahaha.

 By that point, it was late into the afternoon and we were all starving. So we got on the buses and drove to the beach for a cook out lunch. We had fresh bananas (platanos!) and a type of sweet potato (native to La Isla). Ohh, and look at that weaved leaf that we used as a plate.

Can we PLEASE just marvel at how tan I am in this picture!?

While the counselors and natives cooked the meat we went to the beach. This beach was so gorgeous with the palm trees, pretty white sand, and this line of moai.

Once everything was cooked, we went back to the picnic tables and ate our lunch off of giant leaves. It was so cool. :) Chileans are so good at asados (barbecues).

Most people had gone swimming in the pristine water but I enjoyed the beach and the moai instead with a few others. There were also several stands selling tourist-y things and I bought a couple little moai statues for pretty cheap.

Just as we got on the buses, the rain started pouring down. It was so sticky, humid, and warm. After that outing, we were done for the day. We were bused back the hotel and I think we had some free time to walk into town. There were SO many shops to buy souvenirs in. Some of the locals love the foreigners (because they're easy to scam and overcharge) but some of them hate them. With a few other people, I was walking down the sidewalk and there was a lady selling fruit. She had the tiniest pineapple I've ever seen. (Seriously people, imagine a baby pineapple. It was adorable.) We wanted a picture of it, so one of asked to take a picture. She then said we could only take a picture if we bought it. We then proceeded to ask how much it was and she said some outrageous price (like fifteen dollars). When we said no, thanked her, and walked away, she angrily cursed at us and packed up all her things. So if you ever have the urge to take a picture of an adorable baby pineapple on the Easter Island, you might want to think twice about it.

Not a whole lot happened at night at the hotel. After dinner, we usually weren't allowed to leave. So we'd hang out and listen to music. My room tended to be less social than the others in order to avoid the 'smart' exchange students smoking weed. A couple of them even managed to find the infamous island drug dealers and try to sneak them into the hotel. hahahaha. Good one. While that was happening, I was in my room with my lovely room mates having a good time laughing and talking.

Anyways. Enough about that. This is day two of my Easter Island adventures. There's much more to come in the following posts!

The Easter Island!!! (Part Uno!)

When I found out I would be going to Chile on my exchange, I was determined that I would make it to the Easter Island. Finally, this dream became a reality! On May third (Saturday), I hopped on a bus and went to Santiago.

I love the beautiful countryside here:

I met up with my exchange friend India (from the US) and I stayed at her house for the night. I got there early in the afternoon and we went shopping at the mall where I picked up some headphones. She has a youth group there that she sometimes goes to and so I said I would go with. We went and failed at a scripture chase in Spanish, but ended up having a really great time with all of the great people there. When we left we were starving and went to get some Pizza Hut!

I guess there are American restaurants in cities bigger than Curicó. hahaha. Okay. Well I guess I should get to the good stuff here.

We met up with all of the district at the airport and we were all soooo excited!

Here I am with my Chilean I.D. card (carnet!) and my boarding ticket!

While we anxiously awaited the plane, I got some Cinnabon since we hadn't had time for breakfast in the morning.

Minutes from boarding the plane! (With Alexis, Bridget, Jodie, and Madison)

Once on the plane, we were headed off for the vacation of a lifetime! Easter Island is known by many names including Isla de Pascua in Spanish and Rapa Nui in the native island language. The flight was about five hours long but went by pretty quickly. I watched a few movies and shows and sat by some fun people. (Jessica and Evan)

 The whole flight, we anxiously watched our flight tracker as we neared Isla de Pascua!

Minutes from landing! (These emotions displayed were sooooo real)

The first picture on the island! Let the adventures begin!

Easter Island's airport just might be the same size as Ironwood's. We waited for a long time for all of our bags to come off the conveyor belt. Immediately, I realized how rainy and humid our visit would be. It was so humid but we didn't care.

As we stepped out of the airport, we were given leis and it kicked in that we were really on the Easter Island!

Before we could get our bags to the buses, it started pouring! So we ran and got in the buses and didn't even mind being rained on.

 On the buses soaked and happy.

After a short bus ride and without a glimpse of any moai statues, we arrived at the hotel. Right away we were greeted by the owner and glasses of guava juice. 

We chose roommates and got our rooms. Each room had four beds. Each with a cute towel and flower. :)

My three roommates were India, Bridget, and Jodie (all from the US). These three girls were so much fun to be with!

The flowers there were so pretty! I pressed a few of them.

Then we had free time! Some people went to swim, but most of us went to explore the island!

A little lagoon. I swam here a bit later in the week.

Such a beautiful place.

One of the first moai statues I saw! Just wait 'til you see the big ones.

Not everybody can say they have a selfie with a moai.

I had a nice chat with him.

How perfect is this? I was in heaven.

I know I know, this is not a moai statue. It's a fist. I don't know why, but it's there! So that's pretty neat.

I was in love with the landscape from the second I got there.

It would've been cooler if I was more flexible. hahaha.

Pretty flowers. :)

After this patch of beautiful flowers, the big moai statues were in near sight. 

 The statues were made in many styles and heights and I'll talk more about that in the next post. This particular one was probably about 15 feet tall.

 This picture basically captures our friendship. :)

 How breathtaking is this view?

 Sadly, we didn't have time to explore further and so we headed back to the hotel so we wouldn't be late for dinner. With a few minutes to spare, we enjoyed some nice relaxing time around the pool.

 Have I mentioned that the flowers on the island are absolutely gorgeous? Well, they are.

 After dinner that night, my room headed off to play some Uno and watch the sun set. I really,really love these girls. (Bridget, Jodie, and India)

A perfect end to a perfect day. I can't fully describe what a dream come true this trip was for me.