Our plan for the day was to walk from the town to the volcano, Rano Kau, on the southwest tip of the island. We headed into Hanga Roa first to get some water but realised, after the 4th mini market, that the stocks had been depleted. However the coffee shop where we grabbed some breakfast (the electricity had been switched off for maintenance work at the cabanas) sold us a couple of bottles so all set, we walked the 2kms to the park office, which was at the entrance of the climb up the volcano. We went to pay our park fees only to be told they were not selling them as the dispute was still ongoing and we couldn't get access to any of the national park, part of which lies our objective. Unperturbed we thought we would chance it and started the climb up the path, through initially woods and then meadows, trying not to be concerned when we saw a plane abort its landing at the airport. (It subsequently did a circuit of the island and landed without any issues.) We arrived 30 mins later, unchallenged, at the mirador (viewpoint) to be greeted by an amazing site which neither of us quite expected. In front of us was a huge crater, which was filled with a lake and covering the surface was lots of vegetation, making it very green. The edge of the crater was equally impressive and we saw that the far side was extremely steep and had sheer 400m drops straight into the Pacific Ocean below. From the crater rim we walked out to the furthermost tip to the ceremonial village of Orongo. This was used by the people who populated the island originally as a place to welcome the start of spring and everyone came to live there for 3 weeks. Whilst the tourist office was closed we still were able to walk around the village, seeing the restored stone shelters and marvelling at the fantastic view out to sea, including the 3 islands of the coast. We set off back down the hill just as the rain started to intermittently fall and when we got back to Hanga Roa noted it had been quite a heavy tropical downpour there. As we were damp and the rain threatened a return, we went back to our cabanas and enjoyed the eat remaining empanadas from yesterday, sitting out on the terrace reading and watching the heavy rain return. As it was our last night we went back to the nearby restaurant we went to on our first night to enjoy a local fish dish (Simon) and pasta (Diane) looking out over the sunset across the ocean.
 |
| Rano Kau |
 |
| The crater lake |
 |
| Orongo ceremonial village on the right |
 |
| The houses in the village |
 |
| The village on the crater edge |
 |
| An example of the early houses |
No comments:
Post a Comment