The Easter Island showed 2 sides of itself to us: one was the beautiful countryside, fascinating and weird statues and petroglyphs, gorgeous weather and interesting culture and the other was the money hungry islanders (unfortunately). Despite this we had a wonderful time and made the most of the good part: the island itself.

On arrival at Mahina Take Take (note: do not go here!) we were told we could use the fridge and dining area whenever we wanted but after opening what seemed like something out of a horror story based in a student halls of residence we decided the fridge was probably best left alone if we were to keep our health and sanity. Not deterred by the cold water of the shower and the dirty floor and walls I was keeping up my spirits until a cockroach emerged from the depths of the sink to say hello: I was a nervous wreck and vowed we would stay this night only as it was late, and if necessary sleep on a Moai the next 2 nights. We wrapped up our bed in a mosquito net more to keep the bugs and dirt out than anything else and settled down to try and sleep. Things, however, didn´t seem so bad in the morning when we met Lucia, our hostess, and she sat and ate (nearly all, the fat lump) the banquet of fruit and homemade jams and bread with us and we met a local art teacher and a few other local characters so we decided we would try and stick it out.

We set out for some sightseeing and as we were within two minutes walk of some of the more famous Moai we set off straight away for our first Moai experience. The ones near us have several in a line with a ´topknotted one´and another just to the side and we hung around for some serene views at sunset every night we were there. Having whetted our appetite for Moai we then set off for an all day walk to see some more Moai, have a snoop around the ´birdman cult´petroglyphs and marvel at the nearby volcano. The walk started off going through the centre of the main and pretty much only town on the island and then as we walked we gained height gradually as the spectacular island views unfolded beneath us. The sea around the island is unpolluted and the amazing blue colour is unlike anywhere else we´ve ever been. Climbing steadily in the humid heat we eventually (after a good old lunch of bread and bananas) came to the volcano. 1.6 kilometers wide and 200m deep, the volcano was enormous to say the least. It lies dormant now but you can guarantee that in its day it caused a lot of bother and more than one tasty eruption. Rounding the volcano we entered the visitor centre where restored remains of the early settlers are found. Tiny houses, perfect for the exposure to the mighty sea winds are well kept and were obviously made to last. This particular village was also home to the curious bird man cult. The bird man cult mysteriously took over from the Moai religion and were responsible for the toppling of many of the Moai. This coupled with the tsunami is the reason for the state of many of them today although valiant efforts by locals and interested parties has meant many have been reinstated to their proud, upright, topknotted positions. Participation in the bird man cult involved their competition every year of young males swimming over to the nearby islets to catch the first egg of the new offspring of birds and bring it back, intact, to the mainland. The successful participant was crowned birdman and lived alone for a year in a special house. Sounds like they had too much time on their hands. The house where the judges resided is covered with petroglpyhs (rock carvings) of birds and they are still quite sharp even today.

On the way back to our lovely residence we popped in to witness the preparations and rehearsals of the yearly Easter Island festival. The festival includes many competitions of dancing, swimming, making and painting of Moai, catching fish by diving and spearing and many more open air activities. We were lucky enough to see the rehearsal of the young adults´dances which had echoes of Maori war dances from the very fit young males (Dave felt a little inadequate!) and included rather fruity butt swinging from the young females. The singing and drumming was also quite impressive and it was clear that any who was to see the real thing was in for a treat. In the evening we witnessed sunset over our nearby Moai followed by some of Lucia´s finest cooking of fish steak and fresh Easter Island vegetables and fruit. All for a very tasty price of its own.

Our second day was helped along by hiring a jeep: although quite a small island there is too much to see in one day. We saw a myriad of Moai including the nursery (over 300), topknotted Moai, toppled Moai, re-furbished Moai, lined up Moai, the only sea facing Moai and many more. One of our last stops was at one of the island´s only swimming beaches which was gorgeous and a refreshing break from the intense humidity. We rounded off the day by another glorious Moai embellished sunset and felt sad we were to be leaving this pretty island after such a short time.

Still, we had more planned and it was time to move on to our next stage: Patagonia, Southern Chile (via Santiago).