Tuesday 27 March 2012

Birds, boats and bikes

They were very serious about today's walk up to and around the crater rim. "It's a steep climb," they said. "We have sticks." I almost had second thoughts, but went ahead anyway - and it was a piece of weasel. The 132 Rahui Road steps did me proud, and I was up that piffling slope like a mountain goat - of which there were some, standing on the 45-degree crumbling 250-metre cliff that we walked along the top of, and which the lodge people hadn't thought worthy of mention. Nor the bull that was on our other side.

So it wasn't steep, but it was a long and sweaty walk, three hours up to the crater and around the rim to the ancient ceremonial village that's been reconstructed after the British came through heavy-footed, picking out the best bits of native art and leaving the rest rubble, tch. The views out over the sea were splendid, all blue water and black rocks and sweeping squalls of rain that fortunately didn't bother us.

We were down on that brilliantly blue water after lunch, bouncing out on a boat for a circuit of the islands that are part of the old birdman ritual which makes popping down to the henrun for the eggs seem such a doddle in comparison (climb down cliff - see above - swim 1.5km to the islands, avoid getting grated on the rocks, wait a couple of weeks, possibly, get a sooty tern's egg, and race back to the top of the cliff again, egg intact). They don't do it anymore - life is much more laid-back in Hanga Roa these days. This is about as busy as the main street gets:

2 comments:

Brighton Travel said...

The picture at the top is really beautiful! At first it seemed like a pond with scum on it, and then I realized that it's a whole crater!

TravelSkite said...

Welcome, Brighton Travel! Yes indeed, a whole crater, and full of totora reeds that originate in South America and are yet another Easter Island mystery.

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