Volcanoes, bird cults and more moai

Today's itinerary consists of two half day tours. After breakfast, we are picked up again by the bus with the Frenchman and Australian older lady rejoining us. We add a Japanese couple with their own guide. Only Mateo joins us as a guide. We start today at Orango, where the birdman ritual took place, next to the other volcano on the island, Ranu Kau. This spot is extremely windy. There are two small motus (islets) off the coast where manutara birds used to nest. Competitors would live in little stone huts until the competition. Then they had to climb down the cliff, swim to the islet, steal an egg, put it in a special crown eggholder, swim back and climb back up the hill to present to their chief. The winner lives in seclusion for a year with a village virgin. From the site of the birdman cult, we walk to the other side of the hill to see into the volcano. It's really a spectacular place, with a small lake filled with water plants. I've never seen anything like it! The sun is still low in the sky and makes the water shimmer. After we explore this area, our next stop is a view site from the other side so we can take photos. Our final stop of the morning is a place with several unrestored moai, including one that is clearly a female with two heads. Most moai aren't distinguishable by gender. There are also a few 'hair' stones where we can see the hole carved in to slot it onto the statue's head.

We have a long lunch break so we first go to the tourism office to get our passport stamped with a special moai stamp. Then lunch at a waterside restaurant where I have a fresh whole fish with caper and pineapple sauce and fresh maracuya juice. We then walk back to the hotel for a short rest before walking back to the rendezvous point, passing a post office to send some postcards to the nieces & nephews.

We add a young Asian girl with white hair to the group before our first stop at a private moai. The owner of the property allows tourists to visit. There is only one moai on a large platform and we are told this one is aligned with the solstice on June 21. The next stop is the quarry for the pukao or hair stones. There are several of varying sizes. The stones need to be transported to the final site of the platforms, up to 12 km away. The view from the hill is amazing. Our final stop of the day is at a site with 7 moai facing the ocean. We can also see the pukao quarry hill from here. The weather turns just as we are finishing up and we all rush to the bus and are taken to our hotels.

For dinner, we wander back into town to a place near the street where our hotel is located that always looked busy. The food is fine, but I'd say our best meal was the place we ate on our first day. We also stopped at the tour company office to book a seat on a sunrise visit back to Tongariki. They will then take us straight to the airport after. Finally, we stopped at a small market to pick up morning snacks and have a pastry for dessert.