The best of Eastern Island

-Welcome with flower necklace

-Transfer to the lodging

We started the tour around 3:00 p.m. from the town of Hanga Roa visiting the Ahu Vinapu, a ceremonial center with three ahus used by the islanders in the year 1,200 AD. The first has six moai that are demolished and painted red; the second, with a supposedly female moai that had two heads and of the third, the oldest, only removed stones remain.

We continued our way to the Puna Pau quarry, an archaeological site east of Hanga Roa located in a small crater of red scoria, from there the pukaos or headdresses with which the moai were crowned were obtained. Along its old exit path you can still see some unfinished and abandoned ones.

We continue our route to the Ahu Akivi, the first Ahu scientifically restored on the island around 1960. With seven moai, this platform is characterized by being one of the few located in the center of the island with statues that face the rising sun. According to legend, these moai would represent the seven young explorers sent before the arrival of Hotu Matua to recognize the island.

Our adventure ends at the Ahu Huri a Urenga Moai.

Return to Hanga Roa lodging.

Leaving Hanga Roa around 9:30 a.m., we head towards the south-east coast of the Island. Our first stop is the Ahu Akahanga or “king's platform”. Legend says that the tomb of Hotu Matua would be near this place. Here you can see four platforms, twelve moai and eight pukaos. Towards the interior of this Ahu you can see one of the best preserved villages on the island.

We continue the excursion until we reach the Rano Raraku volcano and quarry where most of the island's statues were sculpted using the volcanic rock from its slopes. Nearly 400 moai can be seen in various stages of carving. Our journey heads towards the Ahu Tongariki, the largest on the island with fifteen moai. Further on, we find Ahu Te Pito Kura, which has the tallest statue on the island erected in an Ahu, the 10-meter-high Moai Paro. high, 85 tons and a pukao of 11.5 tons. Next to this ceremonial temple is a large spherical stone that is identified as the navel of the world, Te Pito o Te Henua, which, according to legend, was brought to the island by Hotu Matua in his boat.

Next, we will contemplate the Ahu Nau Nau, a temple of complex construction due to its different levels. Here you can see five moai with pukaos and petroglyphs on the backs of the statues. Ending our adventure, we visited the wonderful Anakena beach with a landscape of white coral sands chosen for the arrival of the Ariki Hotu Matua and her sister Avareipua. The name Anakena corresponds to a small cavern in an adjacent ravine.

Return to the Hanga Roa lodging.

We begin our tour around 09:30 hrs. from Hanga Roa. On the way to the Rano Kau volcano, we will visit Ana Kai Tangata or the "cave of the cannibals", one of the most interesting and accessible caves on the island where you can still see art in the rocks inside.

Then we headed to the archaeological site of Orongo, an ancient and magnificent ceremonial city located on the western summit of the Rano Kau volcano, made up of about 53 elliptical-shaped houses with flagstone walls and a small square entrance that overlooks the sea.
In this place the most important ceremony of the second period of the island was carried out: the election of the Tangata Manu (Bird Man), which was stopped approximately 150 years ago as a result of the arrival of the first Christian missionaries.

Return to Hanga Roa lodging.