Easter Island Evacuation

After a six hour flight from Lima, we finally arrived in Easter Island at 6:30pm. On our descent to the island, our captain did a flyover so we could see the island from the air. At one point, you could see the entire stretch of the island within only 3 airplane windows. We flew over the moai of Ahu Tongariki, the Orongo ceremonial village, the Rano Kau volcano and crater, and the town of Hanga Roa.

The entire island

Flying into Easter Island

Flying over the far side of the island which is less populated than the main town of Hanga Roa.

Flying over Ahu Tongariki, where I had planned to photograph sunrise.

Meanwhile, behind the scenes I was starting to cry tears of happiness as this was a huge bucket list destination for me.

Photographing out the plane window.

Perched on a narrow ridge with the crater of the Rano Kau volcano on one side and cliffs that fall down nearly 1,000 feet on the other, the Orongo bird man ceremonial village is considered to be among the most spectacular archaeological sites in the world.

Circling the runway before doing our flyover.

About to land into Easter Island.

Finally landed in Easter Island!

Easter Island is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, roughly 2,300 miles due west of Chile and 1,200 miles from its nearest populated neighbor Pitcairn Island. Easter Island receives roughly 90,000 visitors per year including 10-15 cruise ships. However, the island only has capacity for 500 people at a time so if you visit on a cruise ship with 2,000 people, you'll have to visit the island in groups and you'd only be able to spend half a day on the island (visiting two sites) before having to leave. About 42% of the island is Rapa Nui National Park, a World Heritage site, and the island is best known for its more than 800 moai stone figures. Measuring an average of 14 feet tall and weighing 10 tons per piece, these statues were carved from the island's volcanic tufa stone by early Polynesian settlers between the 9th and 17th centuries, transported for miles, and raised onto stone platforms. It is believed that these moai represent the island's ancient ancestors. 

Lima to Easter Island

It was 7:30 by the time we disembarked the plane and proceeded through immigration and customs. 

Mom was an honorary flight attendant as people disembarked... Ha!

Disembarking the plane

Finally in Easter Island!!

We hopped onto buses for a five minute bus ride to the hotel... so we thought. 

All smiles as we were about to head out. We were greeted with leis. 

For reasons unknown at the time, we took a sightseeing detour to Ahu Tahai. This is one of the oldest settlements on the island whose earliest remains date back to 700 AD. Out of all the moai sites on the island, I believe these are the least in tact with the faces falling off. One of the greatest debates to this day is why exactly the moai were built and how they were moved. There are many theories, but there is a local legend that has proved to be possible. The legend states islanders knew that in order to reach their proper place, the statues had to walk. Using ropes, the Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl and Czech engineer Pavel Pavel showed it was possible to move a 9 ton moai with the help of 17 people. 

Quick iPhone shot of the grassy area with the moai

Most moai don't have the eyes filled in anymore. This one has coral eyes.

Close up of one of the moais at Ahu Tahai

Clouds rolling in over Easter Island at Ahu Tahai.

In the middle of our sightseeing tour, we were told there was a protest going on at our hotel. Earlier in the car ride, we had driven by what I thought was the hotel surrounded by black flags, tons of signs, and 20+ people gathered outside the entrance gate. Out of curiosity, we asked what was happening not knowing at the time that we were talking about our hotel, the Hangaroa Eco Village & Spa. We were told that many years ago, a local Rapa Nui woman sold her land to people not native to Easter Island in order to better provide for her family. In fact, she was the first person on the island to live in a house and have a washing machine. Now, her children are protesting (and have been for years) because they want the land back from the Chileans who own the hotel's property. There was apparently a LATAM flight that landed shortly before ours and an individual on that flight is not well liked by the Rapa Nui people, which is why the protest was happening today. It seems like it was a lot of built up anger. Our guides were hoping the protest would end, so after our sightseeing it was determined that we'd have dinner at a local restaurant instead of the hotel as originally planned. By now, it was 8:30pm. 

By 9pm, we were finally eating in different restaurants (our group had to split up). At 10pm, there was still no word on what was happening, when we could go to the hotel, if we could go to the hotel, or what the plan was. Meanwhile, all throughout dinner we saw our local guides and staff members running around on their cell phones. Trying to get a read on their facial expressions, I observed them. Around 10:15pm, a bus showed up. We thought we were finally going to the hotel... and then our local guide Hugo said "yeah, I have no idea why the bus is here". Not a good sign. At 10:30pm, we finally had news. But it was not good news. We were told the protest had turned violent and one of the local agents had been punched in the face while trying to reason with the protesters to get our group inside the hotel. Rocks were also thrown at her. Another agent had to crawl under a fence to retrieve a suitcase from the hotel so she too could be evacuated. The protests were now getting violent, even with the mayor and governor of the island working with our staff to solve this situation. While this is not the first time the group had been protesting, it was the first time the protest ever got violent. We had asked why the police can't get involved and we were told that the Rapa Nui people wouldn't listen to the police because the police are Chilean. Instead, it would only add fuel to the fire. Prior to coming to Easter Island, I had no idea how complicated the dynamic was between Rapa Nui people and mainlanders. While Easter Island is Chilean property, a lot of Rapa Nui people (not all) refuse to acknowledge Chile as having any power over them. In my opinion, it seems to be a free for all. Yet again, I don't know the entire history... This is just what I've observed and processed in the short time I had been on the island. On the other hand, Chileans have been coming onto the island building hotels, restaurants and bars and changing the island life. Unfortunately, it was determined that staying at that hotel was not safe, all other hotels were booked, and we'd be leaving on a late night flight to Tahiti and overnighting there. By 11:30pm, we were at the airport frantically waiting around for our boarding passes. 

Quick iPhone shot of a deserted airport at midnight.

Thankfully, LATAM air was holding the plane for our group. This process took hours and at almost 2:30am, we finally took off from Easter Island on our 5 hour flight to Tahiti. We arrived in Papeete at 7:30am Easter Island time (2:30am Tahiti time) and didn't arrive at the hotel in Tahiti for another hour. We've been up 26+ hours, are incredibly disappointed that we didn't see the moai (though we did see Ahu Tongariki from the air on our flyover), but we are safe and sound in Tahiti. What a bummer... But we were also told the protests got worse (there were later fires in buildings) and it was a good thing we left. There's still a lot of the trip left, and after this series of unfortunate events I hope it gets better again. 


Meanwhile, Tahiti is gorgeous though we weren't able to see much of the island as we were incredibly sleep deprived. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia at 403 mi². At our one dinner here, we were treated to a seafood buffet full of fish, lobster, sushi, oysters, and more.  

Open-air dining area

Fish on the buffet

Fresh lobster

Oysters

Sushi

On the morning of the 30th before our departure to Samoa (now continuing on our original route as planned), I took a quick walk around the hotel's property before yet another flight.

Morning view from the hotel walkway

The pool area is surrounded by sand

Over-water beach bungalows with access to a private beach

It's been a short stay here in Tahiti, but we are now re-energized and ready for Samoa. Thanks for reading about my adventures… Stay tuned for what’s to come and be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified of new posts! As always, follow my Instagram @elissatitle for more pics.