Quick facts: Polynesian culture that built stone monoliths called Moai; GPS: -27.148291, -109.430584; GMT-6; Altitude: 32′
Today is Easter Sunday! I woke up early and got ready because the first thing on the list for today is another tour. I arranged a sunrise tour back at Ahu Tongariki with my guide from yesterday. Patricia picked me up at 06:15 in order to get to the Ahu by 07:00.
By the time we got to the site there were already quite a few people there. I walked around a little to find a good spot to set up my gear and got started taking photos. I brought my tripod on this trip mostly for this moment and put it to good use. After a little while I decided to move to get higher for a different angle. While the sun officially arose at 07:36 this particular geography didn’t allow the sun to peek until several minutes after 08:00. I spent another 15 minutes or so taking pics with the sun coming up and then called it quits. Next up on my itinerary is to go to Sunday Mass, my guide drove me back to town so I could get to the church before 09:00 and get a seat.
I am not a regular church goer by any means, I did like the idea of attending church today per the exceptional circumstance of being on Easter Island on Easter day and being able to experience some local customs to boot. While, at least in the Western world, the island is named for the fact that a Dutch ship landed on Easter day, April 5th 1722, so not to the date but to the day, it occurred 297 years ago. That’s kind of cool in a historical way. Although this is the culture now, it would’ve been a lot different all those years ago. I would be much more interested in seeing it back then, in its true form.
After the service was over I decided to walk around town, see the sights and find somewhere to have breakfast. I walked down to the water and then along the coast for while before I could find anything that was not only open but also serving any kind of food. Luckily for me, Polynesian coffee & tea turned out to be pretty good. I ordered a cappuccino, yogurt with granola, and a croissanwich with egg, avocado, and cheese. Everything was good and it was nice to have a relaxed breakfast looking out at the ocean from the covered porch setting.
Along the way back to the hotel I stopped at some shops looking for a shirt I saw a guy wearing at church this morning. It was pretty cool looking, it was a short sleeved collared shirt that had moai and the bird man symbol on it. Even though I went to several different stores I couldn’t find that exact shirt. I found some that were similar but since I have a few days left to keep looking I decided to wait and see if I could find it.
I took awhile to get back to the hotel and by the time I did I was a little wiped. I wound up taking a nap that lasted longer than I would’ve liked. But since I didn’t have anything going on, I guess it doesn’t matter. I made my way back to the water with the intent of heading to Ahu Tahai for sunset.
It’s not a far walk but heading north on Policarpo Toro Rd was unchartered territory so I took my time. There are lots of little things to see along the way like some more moai, other smaller sculptures, and an overfilling cemetery. Once I got to the Ahu there weren’t as many people as I thought there would be, so lucky me. I took some pictures and walked around the site but the sunset wasn’t that great because of the clouds.
On the way back I stopped at the #2 ranked place on the island, Neptune Island restaurant. I was the first person to be seated and while it was early I was surprised since I thought it would have at least one other person there with such good ratings. I don’t know if it was because it was early or there wasn’t anyone else there but I was not impressed with the service or the food. The only real thing going for this place was the view and that was rapidly diminishing over the horizon.
I left and headed back to the hotel room. On the way I stopped off at Tuava Cherry Ice and got a couple of scoops of ice cream. It was a nice turn around from dinner. I didn’t exchange too many words with the lady behind the counter but she was so upbeat, friendly, and happy it really made my mood. I thanked her and enjoyed my scoops while I walked back. Back at the room I was in bed and sleep in no time.