Day 47 - Rapa Nui (Part 4)

Monday, 29 September 2014

Our pick up came at 3 pm. We first went to Ahu Akivi, where there were 7 moais facing the sea rather than facing inland. This was believed by some to be in honour of the 7 young men who were sent by Hotu Matu'a to find Rapa Nui and cultivate vegetation and animals before the arrival of the entire population. If one looks closely at the ahu that they are on, it sort of resembles a canoe, which would have been the boat they used to sail in. Some others believed that this was used as a sort of calendar to see the winter and summer Solstice and Equinox, which was important for crop cycles. 

Then we went to Puna Pau, which was a quarry of red scoria. Here is where pukaus were carved and transported with their moais to the ahus.

The last place we visited was Huri A Urenge, where we saw one moai, located inland rather than at the edge of the sea, and it has 2 sets of hands. Scientists actually took an x-Ray photograph and determined that there were really 2 pairs of hands carved; it wasn't vandalism or erosion that made it look as if there were 2 pairs of hands. Of course, being the blind bat that I am I couldn't see the 2 pairs of hands. And then the tour ended!

Before returning to the hotel I asked Sofia about what I could do tomorrow since I have a free day, and she recommended trekking up the highest volcano on the island, Terevaka. It is an easy trek but it takes about 2 hours going up (I probably need 3 hours) and 1 1/2 hours coming down. There is also a cave nearby known as Ana Te Pahu which I could explore. I needed to take a taxi to this place and tell the taxi driver to pick me up again at an appointed hour, and this will cost between USD20 to USD30. 

I returned to the hotel at about 5 pm, and I asked the hotel guy about booking a cab to take me to the museum, and thereafter to Terevaka, and to fetch me back to the hotel after I am done, and he contacted his brother who is a taxi driver, who quoted 20,000 pesos (about USD33) for this, and as this was the price Sofia had mentioned anyway, I agreed to the price and so this will be my activity tomorrow; museum and trekking.

Then I spent a lot of time updating my blogs, I was behind schedule due to various reasons, mostly matters of the heart, and at about 11 pm I went to bed but couldn't sleep I have no idea why, although the sound of waves crashing onto the shore in the distance was very soothing. As soothing as it was for my ears, it didn't make my eyes heavy with the result that I heard crashing waves almost all throughout the night interwoven with wind and rain, and with tiny clusters of sleep in between.