We had another full day tour today- Moai Monuments. We did indeed spend most of the day visiting Moai sites and then returned back to the hotel in the afternoon.
We learned that the Moai faced the village so they could watch over the people. They didn’t face the ocean.
We learned that the Moai had eyes made of shell and obsidian(pupil) that decayed over time. Once in awhile a Moai would have the white & black eye but they were modern and not the original.
We learned that Moai that were royal got a topknot- a special red block made of reddish-pink volcanic rock on top of their heads. All of these topknots were from a single location on the island.
We learned that during the civil war all the Moai were tipped over and many were buried with stones. At a few sites Moai were uncovered, tipped back up and restored to their original position.
Here are some of the sites we visited:
- 5 + 2 Moai at beach in town
- 7 Moai at the Anakena Beach (Hana Ray Anakena)
- 15 + 1 Moai at Ahu Tongariki
- Untold number at Rano a Raraku (the volcanic quarry where most Moai were created)
- number of fallen Moai at various sites
There were so many rock structures/piles on Rapa Nui it’s hard to determine which are ruins. Some are fences, some are piles of rocks covering Moai, some are buildings that have collapsed, some are chicken coops, some are just rocks and some are protections for plants. They use rocks to create a barrier to prevent the salty air and wind from damaging the plants.
Cows and horses are free-range and we had to mind our step whenever we walked around- even within the National Park sites.
As we left the quarry, Tibor bought us each a small pineapple from a vendor at the entrance to the quarry. The vendor cut off the skin of the pineapple and folded the leaves down, leaving us with a pineapple popsicle. We ate it like corn on the cob and left the center piece thinking it would be woody and fibrous like our pineapples at home and not really edible. When I took the left over bit back to the vendor for disposal, the vendor said the center was the best part and he was right. It was sweet and juicy.
In the evening we went to a cultural show at a local restaurant. It was amazing. The dancers were fabulous and the costumes were pretty neat too. Before the show we got a design painted on our faces- we never did learn if there was any meaning to each design. We ate dinner at the restaurant where the show took place. We were there very early so we were finished with our meal before the show started. Many folks were eating and drinking while the show took place.
This time I was the one that got the unexpected dinner. I ordered abalone and thought it would be prepared like we prepared it at home- breaded & fried. Instead it was marinated in lime? juice and not cooked at all. It was on a bed of lettuce with potatoes covered in something like mayonnaise. The lettuce and potatoes are tasty but I gave almost all of the abalone to Tibor to have with his dinner.
