Chile Easter Island

“When we arrived at Ahu Tongariki, it was indeed great to see these wonderful sculptures up close, despite seeing them from afar earlier during our bike ride. Our guide even suggested to take a photo of us beside them where it looked like we were the next moai in line… a bit cheesy, but honestly one of the more hilarious pictures that we have from this trip. Next up was the big one. Rano Raraku. And my oh my, was it mesmerizing. Seeing all of these failed/incomplete moai of various sizes on the side of this mountain was our favorite site on the island. This is where you get a lot of the iconic photos that you can see on postcards. Even though a small part of it was closed off due to a fire the year prior, it was STILL the most majestic part of the island and my favorite site.”

“The first stop was the Rano Kau crater, which was great to see again but we had already seen it from our hike two days prior. The next stop was the most alluring of this day, Orongo. For those not in the know, this was the site of an ancient competition that involved men of the island having to swim to the nearby islet of Moto Nui to steal an egg from a bird’s nest and then climb with it back up the 300m cliff to where this settlement was located. The views from here were incredible, and knowing the historical context made the sights that much more impressive. Definitely one of the coolest spots on the island.”

“This was perhaps our favorite day on the island, to anyone who likes to bike when travelling - we highly recommend it here! And it wasn’t even over… In the evening we booked a show to see some traditional dancing. We booked it with Kari Kari, and it was wonderful! The 30000 peso per person price included a drink (pisco sours ftw), and the show itself showed a range of Polynesian dance styles, and the way that they engaged with the audience was great! I even went up to dance too when they asked for volunteers, which is now one of the greatest/most embarrassing videos of me haha.”