We arrived in Easter Island a couple of weeks before Easter (have to work on our timing) and were met at the airport by our host Marcello, who greeted us with lays made from fresh flowers and drove us and Gary and Sheree (a really nice American couple from Colorado) back to our "home". The accommodation was quite basic but clean and the layout of eight rooms surrounding a common area for eating and relaxing made for a very friendly environment. Our fellow residents were a varied group including an English couple from Kent, a couple from Western Australia, a German scientist called Doctor No(e) - His name was Frank and as he was on vacation, we dropped the Bond reference and called him Doc Holiday instead. The final resident was called Max and he lived in Zurich but sent his dogs to France for dental work (not surprisingly he turned out to be quite eccentric). Food on the Island was generally good (cerviche - raw fish chemically "cooked" in lemon juice) and most nights we went out for dinner with Gary, Sheree and Frank.

The next few days we explored the island mainly with Gary and Sheree, we hired bikes together on our second day and a car on our third and fourth days. The island is famous for its stone sculptures called Moai (we have all seen the photographs) - "Up Close" the size and detail of them is awe inspiring. The sheer number of Moai runs into several hundred and they can be seen all over the island although the largest concentration (over 600) of them is within the quarry area which surrounds one of the island's volcanos. In the half-light of evening, the sight of fifteen of these Moai (lined up like a rugby team before an international match) staring into space, with their backs to the shoreline and wild sea crashing fiercely on the rocks behind them evokes a strange surreal feeling of aliens waiting for the return of their mother ship and forces beyond our knowing subtly at play……. Can I hear the X-Files theme?

The island coastline is very rugged, being relentlessly battered by the ironically named Pacific Ocean but also provides some very nice beach areas where we went swimming and snorkelling and saw lot of interesting fish although not quite in the same class as Moorea. Inland the terrain is remote and bleak, wild horses roam the interior, primitive drawings, petroglyphs and the remains of tools and weapons of a long past time are evident - one feels strangely privileged to witness the remnants of a passing culture.

Rapa Nui is the native name for the island and also the title of a Kevin Costner film based on the Bird Man ritual (The film flopped - KC not having a good time in recent years). The ritual involves all the different tribes selecting a Champion. Then starting from a village based at the top of the biggest volcano, the champions swim to an offshore island and retrieve an egg from a rare bird. The first to return to the village with an egg intact is the winner (a sort of triathlon and egg & spoon race combo) and his tribe will provide the "Chief of Chiefs" for the united tribes.

Easter Island turned out to be an enjoyable injection of culture after the pure holiday experience of Tahiti.