La Cabalgata

Después del amanecer, regresamos al hostal y nuestro guía para la cabalgata nos recogió. Este día fue una aventura/experiencia inolvidable. Nuestros guías fueron Rapa Nui legítimos. Nunca habían ido de la isla y cuidaron de sus caballos todos los días a veces dando tours como lo nuestro. Recorrimos a caballo la costa norte de la isla. El paisaje era espectacular para los siete horas del tour. Por la izquierda era el mar tan azul que no lo creía. Por la derecha era el volcán más grande de la isla.

La propiedad del guía. Our guide's property.

One of our guides. Interesting fellow. Didn't speak much.

I was taking blind pictures all day and happened to snatch this one of Katie!

Después de dos horas, paramos a una cueva con petroglifos. Ya había empezado sentir los efectos de montar un caballo. Montamos una hora más y luego paramos para almorzar. Bueno, primero los guías tenían que pescar y cocinar los peces. Como dije, una aventura.

 

The cave with petrolyphs. 

Lauren and the crew

My trusty steed, Elle.

 Los peces tenían un sabor muy bueno y no podían haber sido más frescos pero todavía no podía comerlos. Yo escogí el carne que (por supuesto) vino de un rancho que habíamos pasado hace como 30 minutos. Super rico. Otra dos horas a caballo y llegamos a nuestra destinación: una playa magnifica. Compré joyería de una mujer en la playa y tomé un vaso de jugo de guayaba (delicioso!) sentada en la arena (casi no podíamos caminar). Un día fantástico :)

Our guides catching fish.

It's an okay lunch spot.

After sunrise, we returned to the hostel and our horseback ride guide picked us up. This day was an unforgettable adventure/experience. Our guides were legit Rapa Nui. They had never left the island, took care of their horses all day and sometimes gave tours like ours. We rode along the northern coast of the island. The scenery was incredible for the seven-ish hours of our tour. On our left was the unbelievably blue sea and on our right was the largest volcano on the island.

Yep

After two hours, we stopped at a cave to see petroglyphs. I had already started to feel the effects of riding a horse. We rode for an hour more and then stopped to have lunch. Well, our guides had to catch lunch first and then cook it. As I said, an adventure.

Beach!

The fish had a great flavor and couldn't have been fresher but I still couldn't eat them. I chose the meat which (of course) came from a ranch we had passed about 30 minutes before. (Happy cows make delicious meat) Another two hours on horseback and we arrived at our destination: a beautiful beach. I bought some jewelry from a lady on the beach and had a glass of guayaba juice (awesome) sitting on the sand (we almost couldn't walk). What a great day :)

Unable to walk anymore

Don't forget the moai!

Ahu Tongariki at Sunrise

El domingo nos levantamos a las 6 de la manana para manejar al otro lado de la isla y mirar el amanecer a Ahu Tongariki. Las fotos dicen todo.

We got up at 6 in the morning on Sunday to drive to the other side of the island and watch the sunrise at Ahu Tongariki. The pictures say it all.

Easter Island - Day 2 Part 2

Vamos a Rano Raraku y Ahu Tongariki! Rano Raraku es la cantera donde tallaron los moai. Todavía hay 400 moai que ellos nunca movieron o nunca terminaron. Es interesante que puedas ver el fallecimiento de la gente de Rapa Nui allá. Los habitantes nativos explotaron la naturaleza de la isla tanto que no tenía  arboles para transportar los moai. Cuando la isla fue 'descubierta', la gente estaba luchando y había recurrida a canibalismo. 

Mi primera vista de la cantera. My first view of the quarry.

El cráter del volcán. Este es el otro lado de la cantera. The volcano's crater. This is the other side of the quarry.

An excavation!

Now to Rano Raraku and Ahu Tongariki! Rano Raraku is the quarry where they carved the moai. There are still 400 moai that were never moved or finished. It is interesting that you can see the demise of the Rapa Nui people. The native habitants exploited nature to such an extreme degree that they ran out of trees to transport the moai. When the island was 'discovered', the Rapa Nui were fighting and had resorted to cannabilism.

Caballos en todos partes

Moai olvidados. Forgotten moai.

El único moai sentado. The only seated moai.

Faceplant

Es probable que hayas visto fotos de Ahu Tongariki. Esta linea de moai ha caído dos veces pero siempre ha sido restablecido para continuar proteger la isla. Regresamos el día siguiente así que vas a ver muchas mas fotos de este (:

It's likely that you've seen pictures of Ahu Tongariki. This line of moai has fallen twice but it has always been restored to continue to protect the island. We went back the next day so you will see many more pics of this (:

Easter Island Day 2 - Part 1

 El día siguente, arrendamos un auto para explorar la isla. Hay calles (una calle en realidad) que recorre la costa sur, la mayoría de la costa este, y el centro de la isla. No puedes recorrer la costa norte en auto así que hicimos una cabalgata después para ver esa parte! Empezamos en Orongo lo que estaba un pueblo ceremonial usado solamente durante unas semanas cada ano. Hay estas 'casas' hechas por piedras al lado del cráter inmenso. Es difícil entender la magnitud del cráter pero puedes caber cinco Estadios Nacionales en el fondo (el Estadio Nacional en Santiago tiene una capacidad de 500.000 personas). El cráter tiene un diámetro de 1,6 kilómetros.

The next day, we rented a car to explore the island. They are roads (one road really) that run along the southern coast, the majority of the eastern coast, and the middle of the island. You can't travel along the northern coast in a car so we saw it on horseback later! We started in Orongo which was a ceremonial village only used a few weeks per year. There are stone 'houses' next to an immense crater. It's hard to understand the magnitude of this crater but you can fit five National Stadiums of Chile in the bottom (the National Stadium has a capacity of 500,000 people). The crater's diameter is 1.6 km or 1 mile.

I hate it when people step the petroglyphs.

Continuamos por la costa sur hasta encontramos un lugar perfecto para almorzar (sandwhiches de jamos y queso. La comida es super cara en la isla). Durante todo el fin de semana, no podía creer el color del agua.

Pienso que hay mas caballos en la isla que gente. I think there are more horses on the island than people.

Katie getting the perfect shot.

Starfish (estrella del mar) UNDER water. The water was perfectly clear.

We continued along the southern coast until we found the perfect place to lunch (ham and cheese sandwiches. Food was super expensive). Throughout the whole weekend, I couldn't believe the color of the water.

 

Erizo de mar. Sea urchin

Katie and Lauren, my new friends from Wisconsin