May 2010, Easter Island, Pacific Ocean.
The beautiful EASTER ISLAND is known in the traditional language as RAPA NUI and in Spanish as ISLA De PASCUA.

Join us on a truly unbelievable visit to the worlds largest open air museum.

We left the Rally and Miss Tippy in Tahiti in search of some adventure on remote Rapa Nui.

Rapa Nui is the most remote and isolated, inhabited place in the world.

The natives of Rapa Nui are known as the Rapanui.
We were greeted warmly with the word ‘Iorana’….used for hello and goodbye.
‘Maururu’ is thank you.

Moai are believed to have been carved by the natives between 1200 and 1700 AD.

Rapa Nui is in the middle of the Pacific ocean 4025 kms from Tahiti and 3720 km from the nearest mainland Chile.

The island is 14 miles long and 6.8 miles wide the island has more than 20,000 archeological sites.

The Rapanui people are thought to be Polynesian in origin and spent 700 years here without any contact from the rest of the world.

Tribal wars, famine, deforestation and cannabilism almost caused the extinction of the Rapanui.

Since 1772 when the Rapa Nui were discovered by the western world they have been subjected to killer diseases, kidnap for the Peruvian slave trade, and stripped of their freedom, were banished to a small area of their own island for 75 years.

During it’s peak the island was home to over 9,000 people however in 1877 a census revealed there were only 111 Rapanui people left.

Times have changed now for the most isolated people in the world but memories are long.

There are actually a few people still living who actually remember their parents bringing them up as children in caves and burning cow and horse dung for fuel to cook due to a lack of wood.

Up until around 1963 there were hardly any people or houses on Rapa Nui.

Until visitors came to the island the natives felt that there was no other world outside of Rapa Nui.
Annie, Charlie and I rode the horses around the island without crossing a road, the quiet countryside did truly feel remote with sea on all sides and Moai scattered all around the coastline.

After years of watching islanders picking up rocks to clear a long strip of land, some people remember the first aeroplane coming into the new runway.

In 1960 the peace and quiet of Rapa Nui was shattered as the plane came in to land, some of the local children thought the enormous bird was flying in to eat them!
Now the local children are used to foreign visitors like Charlie!

Rapa Nui has a population of 4,000 people who are outnumbered by 6,000 horses!

Today, few cars use the roads alongside the many horseriders who ride around the town with home made saddles and no stirrups but great style, speed and control of their animals.

The culture is now a mix of western from the governing country Chile and the ancient Rapanui.
The woodcarver plays football for Rapa Nui and Chile.

The view is constantly changing.

The island is spectacular.

Every Rapanui has a love of this spectacular and magical island.
It’s very easy to feel the same way as a visitor.
This was our 17th wedding anniversary so was an extra special day in an extra special place.
Thank you Mam and Dad for the lovely message from Washington!

It’s been so exciting and I have so much to tell you that I will post more about Rapa Nui soon.
Love Sheila x

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