After
sitting in a mini van for most of our first day on Easter
Island we decided it would be good to have a day involving a good
long walk. So we packed up a picnic lunch and plenty of water and climbed up to
Rano Kau which is one of the largest volcanic cones. On the walk through the town a large yellow
dog adopted us for the day. She followed
us out town and up the hill. It was very hot and when a car driver offered us a
ride to the top we gratefully accepted. The driver turned out to be Luis Jara,
a famous Chilean singer and TV host. He and his wife Silvana were on their
honeymoon. We left the dog sitting in the middle of the road wondering where
her new friends had disappeared to.
We
stopped the car on the rim of the volcanic crater and looked down the steep
inner side down to the crater lake. What an amazing sight. The dark water was
covered with big spongy floating masses of reeds and moss in brilliant colours.
We walked the rest of the way on foot up to the Visitors Centre. There we were able to re-use the Park
Entrance tickets for our second day. The views out over the island were
stunning and we could see many of the 70 volcanic hummocks all over the
island. We could look down on the town
far below and out to sea. The colour of
the ocean was a brilliant deep blue like nothing I have ever seen before. Underfoot there were chips of obsidian, a
sharp black volcanic glass and red scoria rocks. We climbed around the rim of the volcano in
both directions. Access down to the actual
crater lake is prohibited and we could see that the scree was very loose and
unstable. Beyond the Visitors Centre we walked along the edge of the cliff
among the stone slab houses of the Birdman culture and looked down on the tiny island of Ratanui
We
walked down a track from the top of the volcano and found our yellow dog was
till waiting for our return. There are many dogs roaming around and they don’t
seem to belong to any one. A bit of food offered and a cuddle and they would be
yours for life.
By
the time we had walked down the town again we were so hot and tired. We looked into a cave called Ana Kai Tangata
and viewed the ancient petroglyphs which are becoming more faint as time
passes. We stopped at the lagoon sea pool and went in with all our clothes on. Others
at the sea pool were climbing out because turtles were swimming in there but we
didn’t care.
A
delicious fish dinner on the balcony of Kuki Varua, a local restaurant that
evening brought a near perfect day to an end.
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