Easter Island/Rapa Nui

Northwest of the "hump" at the center of the island is Ahu Te Pito Kura, location of the biggest Moai ever mounted on a platform, now ignominously lying face down in the dirt. Called Moai Paro, it stood ten meters high and weighed 85 tons.

Next to the platform is a circle of rocks surrounding a stone sphere made of whitish basalt about half a meter in diameter. The stone is sometimes called Te Pito Henua ("Navel of the World") and legend says it was brought to the island by Hotu Matua. This could be true, since the Rapanui people had a lot of magical stones that they used for fishing, navigation, dreaming, and many other things. This particular stone used to sit on the platform itself. The four stones around it were added later. Now it is the center of a tourist cult which believe that it has healing "mana." While we were there lots of tourists came and knelt in front of it, touching their foreheads to the stone, in order to receive its magical powers. Victor's compass demonstrated that it is quite magnetic.

Further west is the lovely, palm-fringed beach of Anakena, one of only two natural beaches on the island, and the legendary landing place of Hotu Matua. Gloria and I swam here because the waves were gentle and the water was comfortable. And because the day was very hot.

Just inland of the beach is Ahu Nau Nau, with five very nicely made Moai, four of them complete with topknots, that were restored between 1978 and 1980. You almost feel sorry for them, however, because they face the slope of an uninteresting hill and never get to see the beauty behind them. Because of the quality of the workmanship and the presence of petroglyphs on the moai and the platform itself it is believed that these are among the last Moai to have been mounted on their platform before the wars of destruction.

One of the more unusual sites, and probably the most famous one in terms of how familiar it is to people around the world, is Ahu Aviki, composed of seven Moai aligned with their backs to the rising sun of the equinox (or facing the setting sun of the equinox, whichever you prefer). They are unusual because they are inland, like the moai of Huri a Urenga, and not at the edge of the ocean like nearly all the other Ahu. Most people writing about them say that they are facing the sea, but that is not accurate. They actually face an area of land that is quite a fair distance from the sea, considering the size of the island. Since all the Moai represented protective ancestors, they are no doubt guarding the land, and not yearning for their homeland. Because they are seven they are associated with the seven first explorers, but this seems to be a late development, especially when you learn that six of those seven returned home rather than stay and settle.

The Tahai complex consists of three Ahu, one of which has five Moai standing, one of which has a single and relatively small Moai, and one of which has an impressive Moai complete with topknot as well as eyes! In this area there are also lots of boat houses, stone circles, umu, manavai (stone enclosures for gowing food plants), canoe ramps, and other interesting stuff.

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