That was quite the night, we thought that the scooter would fall down how strong the wind and rain was. That was a super big storm but fortunately at 9am sun came out and the blue sky followed.
As we had the scooter (see our previous post) until 11:30am, we wanted to make the most of it and went to the local market to buy veggies, souvenirs and dropped everything back home with the scooter. We went through the local market and bought 2 huge avocados (there were at least 3 times the size of the one in France) and went through the souvenir market where we bought a little Moai.
Once we were done, we dropped everything at the bungalow and went to refuel before giving back the scooter. You can’t miss the gas station, there are only 2 on the island. And there are nearby the main street.
Table of Contents
Map of the day
Let’s start with a map to know what and where we will go. Today we will talk about the south of the island.
Local music concert
The local authorities closed the street near the local market as a concert was taking place on the street. A local band called “Tumu Tapu” was playing. It was really cool. The music was local reggae and people were dancing on the street.
Te Ara o Te Ao Trail
Our next plan was to hike Te Ara o Te Ao Trail to reach “Orongo”. There are 2 options, the road using a scooter/car or hiking up there. Haaa well let’s hike it up.
To reach the trail head, we first had to get out of town. Nothing easier, follow south the main street until the end, turn right, pass the gas station and keep on until you found the beginning of the trek called “Te are o te Ao”
The hike takes about a hour and brings you “Rano Kau” volcano on which “Orongo” is located. It is a beautiful hike that make you walk through many different landscapes. It all starts with a garden and farming area until you reach the fences from which starts the forrest. An ideal spot for a lunch break.
From there the trail goes up, it will be green peas field until the crater of Rana Kau with a gorgeous landscape if you look back.
We started the Te Ara o Te Ao Trail around 12:20pm and arrived at 1:20pm at Rano Kau.
Rano kau volcano
Orongo
From the viewpoint, another trail around the crater will lead you to Orongo.
To enter the site, you first pass a check point where many board and poster are. Time to read guys! and learn about Orongo. It was a village especially used for rituals and ceremonies. It was habited seasonally when the time was right to try and collect the sacred egg of the manutara bird. At this time tribal chiefs and main characters would come to organize and participate in a competition.
In the perimeter, a total of 54 houses were built to be used during the competition time.
Painting can also be found in Orongo as well as Moais and petroglyphs.
Let’s look at the timing:
- between the Te ara o te aro tail and Orongo: 20min
- Arrival at Orongo: 1:40pm
- duration of visit: 30min
After ending the visit in Orongo, it was time to snack before going down to town. There is toilet there if you need for 500cu.
end of the day
We were back in town for 3:30pm. So we still had plenty of time.
We wanted to find a place with WIFI but we had already past the main street where are the coffee shops with WIFI. We were a bit tired and didn’t want to go back so we tried our chance at “Temoai” sunset restaurant where we also enjoyed a cold beer and a lemonade with a view (WIFI wasn’t good and we just managed to check-in our flight, but we also wanted to book a hostel for our next destination Valpo)
Once back home, as always, we enjoyed a glass a wine with the view and saw the sunset. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the nicest as the sun didn’t reach the ocean and where kinda hidden by clouds.
Where to stay on the Easter Island
As you probably know, there isn’t too many option to stay on the Easter Island, but some of them are unbelievable. You will need a good place to stay after hiking Easter island national park
There are no right nor wrong ways to travel, just your own way. Myself!
