Mar 8th - Last Day on Easter Island

Mar 8th - Last Day on Easter Island

Our last full day in Rapa Nui and we wanted to make the best of it so we got up to watch sunrise over the 15 heads at Tongariki. It wasn’t too much of a challenge as the sunrise time was 8.13am !!

Just a little later than our usual……….. We set off at 7.30 after cramming Janette & Mandy into the back of the tiny jeep, which with Steve driving meant one of them had to sit across the back seat as there was no leg room !!  After 40 mins of Easter Island potholes in the dark there were some choice phrases coming from the back row !

Believing that we would be the first and possibly only people there, we were surprised to see over 100 people already there and feeling all spiritual.

We got to the site and Steve got set up with tripod & camera and we all then just stood & watched the sun slowly rise over these massive Maoi statues.

It was incredibly atmospheric & not something we will easily forget. Just a wonderful sight.

After another 40 minutes bumping, cursing & yelping back to Hanga Roa in our executive Jeep for a good breakfast and then we were ready for our next foray.

We headed back to the coast road and stopped at some of the other sites along the way to Anukanah where we stopped off at the beach for lunch and a swim.

Back then to Hanga Roa via 2 more sites for the compulsory afternoon ice cream where we watched the world go by and checked out some of the high end cars on the island…………

t was a very tight fit in the jeep...fortunately we are all good friend
...well we are now!!

The car then had to go back and we headed back into town for dinner & drinks at our favourite sunset spot.

What a special place Rapa Nui is. Full of history and legends, defined partially by its remoteness but with a friendly people with a huge sense of identity in a little island paradise. We have all loved it here and found it so not what we had expected. We will be sorry to move on…..but move on we must and now we are getting ready to fly back to Santiago and then on to Mendoza (the hard way) which turns out to be very different to the plan.

Next - Mendoza, home of Malbec wine