Days 34-42 (November 11-18) Rapa Nui / Easter Island Day 4

Aside from the sites visited on the first day with our landlord (=official licensed guide🙄), there are some other places to explore - some with and some without a mandatory guide. 

And off we went to the right - this time with a rental car. Right below by the industrial harbor is the lava cave Ana Kai Tangata with an opening towards the sea. This cave has both historical (rock paintings) and geological significance. Unfortunately, the access downwards was closed.

The next destination was the volcano Rauno Kau, which we had unsuccessfully tried to visit on the first day, featuring the Orongo ceremonial site - hopefully the altercation (see Day 1) was behind us now. However, upon arriving at the top, the road and the hiking path were once again blocked about 1 km before Orongo😳 

What happened: there was a rockfall at the seaside rim just a few days ago. Therefore, the ceremonial site is closed due to safety concerns. But why is the closure 1 km beforehand and why the hiking path too?!

Attached is an image copied from Google Earth that clearly shows the cliff edge towards the sea. You can also see how far the visitor structure still stands away from the edge.

Passing by the airport again, our next destination was Hanga Te’e Vai Hu on the south coast: another row of Moai, though collapsed. However, based on old tales and existing blueprints, two grass huts and a typical agricultural setting of that time have been reconstructed here. So, not particularly special.

However, there was also a expected caretaker's booth here - but surprisingly left unstaffed. So we went in and quietly observed the huts and gardens that had been rebuilt. Suddenly loud calls and two completely outraged people in “uniform” rushed towards us, waving their arms😳 - “all clear, here they come!”😅

When being yelled at, one can either yell back or play dumb😂. The latter is our specialty - so we pretended to be clueless and asked who they were and what they wanted. What was going on?😂

Dialogue in short:

THEM: “Where is our guide?” - US: “Which guide? We have our ticket!?” - THEM: “But you need an additional guide!” - US: “Didn’t know that - why would you need a guide?!“ - THEM: “It’s required here!” - US: “We don’t understand. The whole area is easily overseen (Note: about 100x50m), one can’t get lost and he has everything in view ... and there was no one at the entrance who could have told us” 

Now he got really loud - well, no one likes being reminded they’ve left their post at the ticket booth. 😂😂

To avoid further escalation, we left - accompanied by two loudly scolding overseers - calmly heading to the exit and drove away - we had seen everything we wanted to see - two reconstructed grass huts and a garden made of lava stone … 😬😬

Note: We always stayed on the paths everywhere, did not touch anything, and were very cautious. The group before us WITH an “official licensed” guide, on the other hand, stomped across one of the garden beds set up as an example.😳😂

As initially mentioned, we drove the route of the first day again on this day. This time very relaxed and leisurely - also to have a better look at the landscape. Passing the factory and Tongariki, we headed back to the beautiful beach of Anakena which we barely had time for the first time. On the way back to town, we left the main road to head for the ‘factory’ of the red hats of the Moai. However, access was not possible: security checks, many guards, and even more tourists. We wanted to continue on the small unpaved road to see if we could get up to the north coast. In front of us was a tourist bus, overtaking was not possible. After a curve, a gate suddenly appeared, the bus went through, and we followed. Then a parking lot, right behind it unexpectedly in the interior another row of well-preserved Moai. To orient ourselves, we asked the bus driver for directions. His response was a question: “Where is our guide?” 😳😳 Our answer: “We have and don’t need one, we’re going this way,” completely threw him off. As it turned out, we had also likely passed a checkpoint “uncontrolled” while following. 😅😅 Having no desire for this pointless “where is your guide” discussion, we got back in the car - followed by a still bewildered bus driver.

We passed the checkpoint without stopping, eyes fixed straight ahead. It did remind one a bit of the old East Germany...

Ultimately, we found the way to the northwest coast. Once there, we wanted to take a closer look at two Moai statues that we had only seen from a distance the day before. Suddenly, we were greeted and waved at from below. So we carefully descended. These were indeed not those “where is your guide” people😬, but a very very friendly Rapa Nui family with friends, who were grilling between the rocks, sheltered from wind and rain by a tree - and spontaneously invited us to join them for food. Wonderful and very nice people, a lovely conversation, wine, beer, ….

A truly delightful end to the day.