My flight arrived at 6:30 am, in pitch black darkness. An hour later, through immigration and baggage claim, it was still pitch black. Half an hour later, while I was well on my way to the hostel, it finally started getting lighter. What a difference to Peru, where I got used to the sun rising well before six. Time zones are funny inventions, especially when stuff like this happens: Easter Island (Chile) is in the same time zone as Lima (Peru), even though it is 3500 km to the west of it.
One of the first things I saw then, walking to my hostel, was a man on a horse, galloping along the main street. What a weird sight, especially coming from from the traffic mayhem in Lima! Easter island, with its single village Hanga Roa and around 4000 inhabits, is quite the opposite to the frenzied multi-million people city.
Looking at the names of streets and places on the island, I noticed how similar they are to terms used by the Maori in New Zealand. Whoever postulated the (now outdated) theory that Easter Island settlers had come from South America had clearly never had any contact with a Polynesian language.
In the afternoon, I went for a walk to the north of the village. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but the island held two nice surprises for me. First was the shoreline: its ragged stones, and the waves constantly crashing on them were a really beautiful sight.
And then, in the distance, I spotted something that looked strangely out of place, somehow like... statues. As I came closer, a sign indicated that this was indeed the archeological site of Tahai. The site has three platforms, called ahu, with restored moai standing on them. The two smaller ahu have one moai each, and the biggest one has five:
Here are the five a little more up close - aren't they fascinating?
One of the first things I saw then, walking to my hostel, was a man on a horse, galloping along the main street. What a weird sight, especially coming from from the traffic mayhem in Lima! Easter island, with its single village Hanga Roa and around 4000 inhabits, is quite the opposite to the frenzied multi-million people city.
Looking at the names of streets and places on the island, I noticed how similar they are to terms used by the Maori in New Zealand. Whoever postulated the (now outdated) theory that Easter Island settlers had come from South America had clearly never had any contact with a Polynesian language.
In the afternoon, I went for a walk to the north of the village. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but the island held two nice surprises for me. First was the shoreline: its ragged stones, and the waves constantly crashing on them were a really beautiful sight.
And then, in the distance, I spotted something that looked strangely out of place, somehow like... statues. As I came closer, a sign indicated that this was indeed the archeological site of Tahai. The site has three platforms, called ahu, with restored moai standing on them. The two smaller ahu have one moai each, and the biggest one has five:
Here are the five a little more up close - aren't they fascinating?
