Days 34-42 (November 11-18) Rapa Nui / Easter Island Day 6

Good things come in threes: so first we went up again to Rauno Kau. Surprise! The road was still closed, but the hiking trail was open, which we followed to the entrance of the ceremonial site - with a wonderful view of the crater! 🤩🤩

Afterwards, we drove left around the circular road to the 'factory' 'Rano Raraku' to see it again from a distance (access alone is strictly prohibited, entry is only allowed with a guide). Upon arriving at the entrance and parking area, we noticed that the road continued further - so we drove on... and after about 1-2 km reached another parking area at what seemed to be an abandoned, older access point.

The access mentioned on the first day at the crater rim was only a few hundred meters away, and there was an unblocked path! 🤪😬

The actual factory was about 200-300m to our right and was relatively sparsely attended on that Sunday, with only one guard visible from a distance on that side.

So we made a second attempt (see previous) to reach the crater rim and get into the inner area - always expecting that one of those guards would come rushing from behind - which, to our surprise, did not happen.

For our ‘daring’ act, we were rewarded after a short ascent with a very nice view into the inner part of the crater. Although the crater lake was unfortunately no longer visible as a lake due to the dryness, the vegetation was still present.