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When I was on the day tour of the island I'd chatted to Jess (American girl) about possibly hiring a car for my last day to return to my favourite sites on the island. She was really keen to share it and come with me.
I woke early and picked her up in town at 6:20am and we drove out to Ahu Tongariki, the site with 15 moai. We'd been told that watching sunrise here was a must do. We stood with other spectators and watched as the sky gradually lightened, a backdrop of orange and pink colored clouds with the 15 moai silhouetted in front - it was spectacular and definitely worth the early start.
As the weather was clear we decided our priority was to head to Orongo. I'd been here before (see blog entry for 2nd May) but had awful weather so wanted to return. We got there just as it opened and had the whole place to ourselves. I liked it the first time I went but got so much more out of it this time, taking it in slowly and seeing the views. The better weather also made it easier to make out some petroglyphs I'd missed the first time.
Afterwards we hiked around the outside of the Rano Kau crater and then visited a large cave close to town called Ana Kai Tangata. This contained several colourful bird paintings on the wall, relating to the birdman competition held each year at Orongo.
Our next stop was to drive to Puna Pau. This is the quarry where they carved red pukao (topknots) for the moai. It was similar to the other quarry in the sense that the pukao were in various stages of completion and transportation. Seeing them up close made us realise how big they were! We had a picnic lunch here before driving to Ahu Akivi (7 moai that I saw my first day horseriding), then towards the coast to see Vaipu and Papa Vaka.
Vaipu was another Ahu with fallen moai right on the waters edge. We could see the top knots scattered and apparently archaeologists had to fish a couple out of the bay. Papa Vaka was an area of petroglyphs. The largest petroglyph ever discovered, a carving of a canoe, is here and measures 12m long. To be honest some of the petroglyphs were very hard to see and I think require some imagination but there were some easier to spot turtles and sharks.
Our last stop for the day was Anakena beach again. Jess went for a last swim and I ordered a tuna and cheese empanada. We returned to town early evening having spent the whole day out.
I thought I had seen most of what the island had to offer but it continued to surprise me right to the last day. The next day I was flying back to Santiago. Easter Island had surpassed my expectations and I was so pleased I had decided to visit. Definitely worth every penny I spent and probably a highlight of my trip so far.
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