Journaling Jerry's journeys

Rapa Nui, 12 October 2015

Today's journey begins at the Rano Raraku quarry, where the Moai were carved from volcanic rock.

Some moai are just about underground.

These two are still being carved.

Migration of the Moai.

Ernie and Bert.

Rock stars.

Anahanga as seen from the quarry

Petroglyphs at Papa Vaka

There are two horizontal slabs with significant petroglyphs at Papa Vaka, both depicting marine life, fishing, canoes, and other glyphs to ensure a good harvest.

Octopus? Crab? Spaghetti?

A tuna, and a shark. Other glyphs are there but are more difficult to see.

Seven Moai

Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey

More Moai. These seven were along the road returning to Hanga Roa, I didn't catch their names.

Dinner and a Show

For dinner, we splurged on a traditional celebration and show by a local Rapa Nui cultural group.

Traditional Rapa Nui entertainment

Before dinner, we were serenaded with traditional songs sung in Rapa Nui.

The cooking pit, minus the sand and the blankets

Dinner was cooked over hot rocks in a pit in the ground. The food was inside hollow bamboo stalks, covered in banana leaves, then blankets, and finally buried in lava sand.

The lava blocks around the pit have holes in the top. Traditionally, the blocks were set in the ground parallel to each other a canoe-width apart, and the length of a canoe. The holes held the ends of the wooden ribs to form the hull of an upside-down canoe, bent over from one row to the other. This held the ribs of the canoe in place while the rest of canoe was being built.

Rack with bamboo stalks

Here's dinner, still inside the bamboo stalks. There was chicken, tuna, some other local fish, sweet potatoes, and banana cake for dessert. All cooked in the pit. The Dutch and their ovens have nothing on this!