Today was a pretty relaxed day. We drove through the centre of the island to Puna Pau Quarry…this is where they quarried the reddish rock for the moai’s topknots. There was a great view of the only town on Easter island (Hanga Roa). About 5000 people live there. Personally, I feel there are more horses, cows and chickens wandering around this island than people.
Our next stop was Ahu Akivi which is the only grouping of moai that look out to sea. They are astrogically aligned with the spring and fall equinoxes. Unfortunately the morning was not the best time to see them because their faces were in the shade so we decided to return later.
We went to the another moai site, Ahu Akahanga. This was a larger site with more knocked over moai and the remnants of a village.
We continued our drive along the coast and went back to the gorgeous Anakena Beach. We had to slow down and sometimes stop the car due to horses and cows being on the road.
Unfortunately by the time we reached the beach, it had clouded over so we just had lunch at one of the beach restaurants. Chickens were running all over the place including in the restaurant. I must confess, I encouraged them by dropping a few crumbs on the ground.
While on the island I have developed quite the attraction to cinder cones, little mini-volcanoes that are everywhere here… so cute as long as they don’t belch out any lava. ( I have not developed an attraction…John added that).
We returned to our apartment for a rest before going back to Ahu Akiva in the late afternoon. The moai were much easier to see with the sun shining on their faces.
Just before sunset it clouded over so we stayed in and watched a tv show on John’s iPad.