June 2, 2016 – Moais and More Moais, Oh, My!
Today was the big full day tour of Rapa Nui. And no day starts better than with crème brule at breakfast!
Once again boarding our minibus with Gabriel and Christian, we set off on an all-day sightseeing tour that brought us face to face with many a Moai. The real deal appeal of these monolithic masonry monstrosities cannot be captured in words or digital image. It met and at times exceeded my high expectations for the moments.
The largest Moai carved was apparently 10 meters and weighed in at a whopping 80 tons. That one was still in the Rano Raraku quarry and never made it to an Ahu or placement around the island. The largest erected Moai on record was 9.5 meters and tipped the scales at 70 tons.
Our first major stop of the day was at Akahanga, a site of ruins and toppled Moais.
From there we went to Ahu Tongariki, where 15 Moai stand vigil on their ahu. Reconstructed from toppled figures, one Moai was shipped to Japan for a promotional stunt showing how powerful their cranes were. The entire site’s Moais were painted with a special coating to help prevent erosion so that future generations can see them in their full mana-powered glory. Again, photos can’t do justice to the spectacle and emotion… but that didn’t prevent us from snapping away like paparazzi at a celeb’s drunken hangout.
This tripod assisted selfie is probably one of my favorites of the day:
I also photobombed the Marathon Tours group and grabbed a pic with Jacqui, one of my favorite tour guides and people in general that I’ve met in my global marathoning. She’s got amazing stories and I sincerely hope she does finish her autobiography some day soon as more people should hear about her. From the Iditarod running she did pulling her own supplies to the work she does with lions via ALERT in Africa, she’s got more tales to tell then ten of us put together.
At the Rano Raraku Quarry, Mom and I split up as her knee wasn’t quite up to the uneven steps and trailblazing required for the 1.5 km hike around the site. We did snap a few photos beforehand.
I hope Mom wasn’t too disappointed in skipping the climb… to be honest, I struggled a bit here and there with the mountain goat friendly terrain so I think she absolutely made the right choice. I tried to capture a few of the inclines on digital images but the truth is, much like the Moais, the photos don’t do the experience justice. Still – a few of the pics are below:
I took the brief detour out to the crater lake which had another other-wordly vibe. Rapa Nui is a series of seemingly incongruous terrains that somehow create a harmonious whole. Mark Bras mentioned to me that it was like Hawaii without all the high rise hotels and built up chains… it truly is a secluded piece of natural wonder with archeological and sociological mysteries thrown in for good measure.
Lunch at the quarry’s cafeteria restaurant afforded the chance to catch up with some old friends and make new ones. I was a bit underwhelmed with the chicken leg… and kinda creeped out at having cats and chickens roaming under foot as we ate… literally underfoot… Mom actually said to me, “Don’t be alarmed and don’t put your foot down – there’s a cat’s tail right under you.”
As an aside, toilets were available for the low-low price of 500 Chilean Pesos or US $1. As this sign attests, there were no “in and out” privileges:
I found myself wondering if there was a toilet day-pass one could buy, much like a metro card in certain cities allows you to ride anywhere that day for one low fee. I really wanted a bathroom pass so that wherever I found myself I could use the facilities without having to scrounge up 500 pesos.
POST SCRIPT NOTE: Little did I realize that this bathroom charge was a fairly common practice throughout Chile and Peru – it was something I saw at several tourist locations.
The day concluded at Anakena, a natural beach that historically is believed to be the first landing site of the Long Ears rulers of Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui’s “Royalty” claimed the beach as their homestead and one can understand why – the cove and its rolling waves were beauty personified. The surrounding palm trees were apparently imported however from Tahiti in the 1950s.
This is also the site of the first Moai returned to its standing position. Thor Heyerdahl of the famed Kon Tiki experiments and a Rapa Nui researcher of the first order, re-erected the stone headed statue of Ahu Ature Huke in the 1950s, predominately due to the work of Pedro Atan.
Anakena Beach is also the turnaround point for the marathon on Sunday… and though it’s downhill TO the beach, on the return trip it’s a long, slow slog uphill for 2.5 – 3 miles. As we drove back to our hotel on the route, I found myself ruminating about the races I’ve done with similarly long stretches of uphillness. No matter what I’ve done before, be it the mountainous run of Leadville or the crazed 10 mile stretch in Petra, it never gets any easier facing an uphill course. Hell, no matter how many marathons I do, they are ALWAYS tough – it’s 26.2 miles, folks, no matter where you are in the world. And while seeing the Moais along the way will no doubt help inspire me, it is still 26.2 miles.
We returned to the hotel and Mom and I opted to dine again at the recommended restaurant Haka Honu. We tried a different strategy though – we split an appetizer and a salad and had a few pisco sours, the latter apparently the liquor of choice in Chile. Everything was delicious… but the pisco sours shot to the top of my drinking list.
I always like seeing my mom have a drink or two as she giggles even more easily and seems even happier than she normally is. She snapped this series of Pisco Sour Sunset Pics that we both found hilarious both at the time and hours later:
And so as the sun has set on another day here in Rapa Nui, I am reminded again of how lucky I am to have these experiences and to get to share them with my Mom… and with you, dear reader of RunKevinRun.com. I’m still not sure WHO the audience is for this thing but I appreciate the opportunity to post stray thoughts and photos and that anybody anywhere takes the time to scroll through.
As a final aside, I’ve jokingly been ex-communicated by the Marathon Tours folks as I booked through TravellingFit and not through them for this adventure. I can only hope I’m only temporarily “shunned” and have made every effort to show I’m still the same marathoning guy I’ve always been… despite what they may have heard!