Thomson Airlines Boeing 757 Explorer One (G-OOBF)
Easter Island, Chile
Wednesday, February 10, 2010

    We began our exploration of Easter Island this morning with a ride in a caravan of mini-busses over dirt roads to an ancient quarry, Rano Raraku. It was here that the tribes carved the moai statues out of the stone on the mountain to be later moved to the shoreline to watch over the people.

    The quarry was used by all of the various tribes or clans on the island under what must have been a universal cooperative agreement, even for battling clans. It seems that a breakdown in this agreement led to a sudden abandonment of the quarry with many moai left on the mountainside or during transport to their final locations.

    Nearby at Ahu Tongariki in the national park, is a restored row of fifteen moai. These were among the first to be re-righted. The moai stand in a row facing inward to watch over the people.

    Following our visit to these moai, we continued bouncing along on our dirt road until we reached the north end of the island at a beach called Anakena Beach. It is thought by many to be the location where the first landing of the Polynesian founders arrived. It is one of the few locations with a sandy rather than rocky beach. We had a wonderful BBQ lunch here with grilled chicken, pork, beef, and fish, along with a large variety of fruits, salads, and vegetables. Some people stayed to swim, while others of us road back into town to watch swimming races at the annual Tapati Festival currently underway by the Rapanui people.

    Despite the original time projections, the racing was pretty well completed by the time that we arrived, and the stone carving was long over. The schedules for these events are flexible to say the least. I was able to snap a few pictures of the locals enjoying the day in town. Tomorrow is a big parade with traditional dress (undress, actually) and dancing.

    After returning to the hotel, we had cocktails and brief presentations by our local guides Edmundo Edwards, Claudio Cristino, and Patricia Vargas. They are all associated with universities and have been active in the research, preservation, and restoration of the Rapanui artifacts.

    These presentations were followed by a performance by the Kari Kari Rapa Nui dancing group and then dinner.

    About 10 pm, a group of about twelve photographers drove back out over the dirt roads to the AhuTongariki moai site to capture the statues at night. This required high ISO and two minute exposures, to show the incredible display of stars in the Milky Way. The statues in silhouette are interesting, but we then would gently scan a weak flashlight over each statue in succession during the long exposure to light them up. It makes for rather a spectacular photograph. Lying on the ground, I had time to just stare up at the sky while the two-minute exposure followed by the two- minute noise reduction process took place. The night sky reminded me of growing up in the high desert of California and nights spent staring up at the night sky.

    We got back to the hotel about 2 am. Tomorrow is another busy day, so I hope I sleep well.