Easter Island

Despite the fact that Easter Island is one of the most remote and has one of the difficult environmental conditions on the planet, the island developed with an extraordinary culture. The early settlers of the island arrived in the fourth century AD.

Rapa Nui as the society was known was divided into ten tribes, each of which controlled a territory that stretched towards the middle of the island. According to tradition, the head of a society composed of the royal family, scholars, priests, warriors, artisans, farmers and fishermen was the Ariki, who was a direct descendant of God.

The famous stone carvings that are the draw for tourists to Easter Island, was underpinned by the Polynesian worship their ancestors. Other manifestations of the culture of Rapa Nui are the rock art, which was developed through paintings and petroglyphs. The paintings highlight the figures of birds, marine, and terrestrial animals, ceremonial objects, boats, and so on.

Statues of Easter Island - the Moai

Certainly the biggest attraction of Easter Island are the Moai, these gigantic stone sculptures, are carved from Toba porous, volcanic stones. Weighing between 8 and 12 tons each. There are several thousand to be found across the island.

Moai Statue on Easter Island: Rapa Nui National Park

The Moai’s represent the gods or ancestors, platforms were built close to the sea, although conversely the statues look towards land. These statues have no legs or lower bodies and no two statues are the same. The part of the statues that clearly received the most attention were the faces, which are characterized by large mouths, nose’s and big eyebrows, the face is very conspicuous, the back of his head is flat and have elongated ears.

It is estimated that the largest statue of the whole island demanded work of between 10 and 20 men during and took a year to carve.

When the first Europeans arrived on the island in 1772, the Moai were all upright. Fifty years later, they were all laid on the ground. Many have been restored, and have been placed back onto their platforms and the statues that original bore crows have been re-installed.

There are two white sand beaches on the island Anakena, on the north and one on the south, that for some reason has no name.

Trip to Easter Island

Where is Easter Island?

Easter Island is found in the south-east Pacific in Polynesia. The island is officially a territory of Chile.

The island is not as difficult to get to as it was for the Dutch sailors who first landed on Easter Sunday in 1722. LanChile fly from Tahiti to Easter Island twice a week, it is practical to stay as little as two days on the island when traveling by air. The same company also flies from Santiago Chile three times a week.

Hotels and lodging

Most of the accommodation on the Island comes from guest houses whose agents will never miss the arrival of tourists, and rates are very reasonable. There are also a couple of good quality hotels available.

Restaurants on Easter Island

There are around 30 eating places on the tiny island; a lot of the food is fish based, as everything else has to be shipped the massive distances to the island.