Iorana!

We have arrived at Rapa Nui (Easter Island)!

Although it belongs to the territory of Chile, ithas absolutely nothing to do with mainland Chile or South America. Itis downright Polynesian and Pacific.
And it is even more beautiful and impressive than we thought beforehand.

The moai, the statues, in all their different sizes and shapes, very impressive and beautiful. To realize that we know so little about these moai and their makers adds to the mystery the moai are already oozing. We were in the quarry or pit they used to cut the moai, where we saw a moai of 21 m high. We also saw unfinished moai that were waiting for transportto other parts of the island, that were in the ground up to their necks. We sawsets of moai (4, 7, or even 15 in a row) that had been restored, and also somefallen-down moai, that were facedown.Yesterday, during a 6 hour walk over the island, we saw a moai laying around, face down, almost randomly, between horses and cows.They are really everywhere!

Secondly, the cult of the Tangata Manu (Birdman) in which the tribes determined which one of them was to rule the island the next year, is quite impressivetoo. These representatives of thetribeshad to swim for 2 km in between sharks and deadly currents to pick up anegg of a stern at a small island off the coast of RapaNui. Everywhere on the island, petrogliefs of the Birdman and its cult can be found.

The island itself is gorgeous too. Three volcanoes, all dead, butone with a big crater and another one with several small ones. Yesterday, we climbed the highest volcanoe, and had a 360-degrees view of the island. Lovely! Because the island is volcanic, the coastline is rugged and wild, but gorgeous, and there is 1 picture-perfect beach with palmtrees, white sand and blue water :) And of course the flowers! Never saw so many different flowersin such an abundance!We even got a flower-necklace when we first arrived at the airport.

Furthermore, the people. Everyone is very friendly and super relaxed. Since this morning, we understand why, because our host explained us the following:Rapa Nui people do not pay taxes :) Everyone makes good money because of tourism and the fishing business, people work only 20 hours per week max, and spend a lot of time with family and friends. And of course, the sun is always shining. Hey, who wouldn´t be friendly and relaxed in those circumstances ?

In short, Rapa Nui has it all and we are going´ to stay here :)

No, just kidding, we will continue to the even more beautiful (according to our host) group of islands, French-Polynesia!!! First to the main island of Tahiti and afterwards toa piece of paradise called Tikehau and onwards to coral-bliss + tropical fish heaven Rangiroa. Man, travelling the world is really, really hard!! :)