HOW TO GO TO EASTER ISLAND

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Day 22: Santiago de Chile - How to go to Easter Island - Hanga Roa

After arriving last night to Santiago de Chile quite late, from spending half a day in the Blue Lagoon in Torres del Paine, since the flight was delayed for half an hour, as was the transfer from the Manquehue Hotel Santiago Airport, today when it is 5:30 we get up to try to work a little before starting this last stage of the trip to Chile and Easter Island, where we will finally know this magical place that everyone talks about and that is Easter Island.
We have the transfer to the airport at 7:30 in the morning, for which we pay 3000CLP per person, and where we get on after a bit of breakfast "insignificant", to put it in some way, in which the only thing we can have is a couple of coffees, since the rest of the food in the buffet simply does not even enter our eyes to make an attempt to try them.
Once we get in the car, we see that it is not a TransVip service like the one we did yesterday, but it is a normal car, so to speak, in which we set up 5 hotel guests, waiting for two that take more than 20 minutes of the scheduled time.
We arrive at the airport of Santiago de Chile in 10 minutes, where we approach directly to the check-in counters, where we have to make a queue that we did not think and it is that at this time of the morning, we have to wait practically 1 hour to be able to check in and Pass security checks.
Once we have passed the controls, we go straight to the boarding area where we take the opportunity to have another coffee and on time we embark on a LAN plane, the only one company that flies to Easter Island.

Flight to Easter Island

How to go to Easter Island

Although it may seem a lie, going to Easter Island is much easier than you can imagine. Not because of the difficulty itself, but because of the fact that if you are going to take a trip normal, in which you cannot spend several days on the boat trip, the only solution is to take a flight, and the choice is based on a single company, LAN, which is the one that flies from Santiago de Chile to Easter Island .
Prices usually vary, depending on the time in which you want to travel and the time with which you book the flights.
The flight is from 4: 45h one way and a few more minutes to the return, a time that we assure you, it is spent flying, we imagine that by the emotion of the place where you are going.
In general, the flight from Santiago de Chile to Easter Island has an approximate cost of about 400 euros round trip, although you can find it somewhat cheaper if you look ahead, or something more expensive if you book it shortly in advance.
In times like the month of February, which is when Tapati is celebrated, the traditional Easter Island holiday, flight prices can increase up to 1000 euros per person.
A extra advice is that if you can, choose to sit on the right side of the plane on the way out, and on the left side on the way back. In this position you can see Easter Island from the sky, another of the great experiences of the trip.

It is time to put on the belts and wait for the 4:45 hours that separate us from what they say, it is one of the most incredible places in the world, where we are heading right now.
After a quiet flight in which we took the opportunity to download some photos we had pending and read, we approached that small point in the Pacific, which we have been flying over for a few minutes, with an open mouth and a terrible desire to know and that now , from the air it seems tiny but perfect.
It's 12:40 at noon, when just then, Easter Island can be seen through our windows.

First views of Rapa Nui. How to go to Easter Island

Awesome Easter Island

We could not assure how many minutes it has taken us to land, what we can say is that they have been one of the most intense minutes we have ever lived. Knowing that we have only a few moments left to step on Rapa Nui, that destiny we have been dreaming about for a long time, makes us live this landing as one of the most anticipated.

Landing on Easter Island

Once on land and unable to look away from the window, we begin to feel the magic. A very special magic is that landing here is not like doing it anywhere else. Rapa Nui is something incredible and as soon as you arrive it shows you.
We left the plane in a few minutes and just get off, we realize that feeling of tranquility and energy, which we had been told so much feels on the island, begins to get drunk. And we don't lie to you. It is something impossible to describe with words, but it shows as soon as you arrive.

Newcomers to Rapa Nui

Mataveri airport. How to get to Easter Island

Upon entering the airport we find a ticket office where it is possible to purchase the ticket to Easter Island, which we will talk about later, and that we will buy tomorrow directly at Hanga Roa.

With suitcases already in hand we left the baggage claim room and met the reception manager of the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa, where we will stay for the next 8 days, who comes to find us to transfer to what will be our home the following days.

After the presentations, a typical flower necklace and 5 minutes in the van, with which we travel part of Hanga Roa, in a first contact in which we explain several curiosities of the island, as well as the main streets and the services they offer, we arrive at one of the places we know, the more we will remember Easter Island, the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa, a fully integrated accommodation on the island, which already makes us fall in love with the naked eye.

Our room at the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa

After the presentations at the reception and receive the necessary information, as a first contact, we go to the room to take a quick shower and being the time it is, we approach the Poevara Restaurant, the restaurant of the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa, where After reviewing the letter, and wanting to ask for everything, in the end we opted for a tuna ceviche and an octopus dish as starters and tuna with potatoes and fish of the day as seconds, plus two desserts and coffees that give us enough energy to continue with This first day on Easter Island.

Book the best rated Spanish tours and excursions in Easter Island by travelers:
- Tahai, Orongo and the Rano Kau volcano
- Easter Island and Anakena Beach Tour
- Offer: Ahu Akivi + Anakena + Orongo
- Excursion to Ahu Akivi
- Guided tour by Hanga Roa

Kaloa Restaurant

Ceviche

Fish of the day at the Poevara Restaurant

Knowing that we have ahead of us, nothing more and nothing less than 8 days to meet and enjoy Easter Island, we decided to return to the room to rest for a while and when it is about 4:30 in the afternoon, we set off to get closer to the center of Hanga Roa which is approximately 10 minutes walk from the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa.

Road to Hanga Roa

What to see in Hanga Roa

The first thing to keep in mind is that Hanga Roa is the only population on Easter Island and although it might seem quite the opposite, it is quite small, something that has many advantages, including being able to fully cover it on foot , besides being able to find everything you need in basically two main streets.
We leave you what has been our first route through the town, including the most tourist places that we will be detailing below.

If there is something that has surprised us in these first minutes of walking on Easter Island, and during the brief tour we did from the airport to the hotel, it is the streets and houses we see. Surrounded by nature and that emanate, in a certain way, that tranquility with which the island has received us and that seems to be in all its corners, something we hope to fill and let ourselves go, to enjoy to the fullest.

Streets of Hanga Roa

The first stop we make in Hanga Roa is in Entel, the only telephone company that exists on Easter Island and where we bought a free SIM card to be connected these days.

SIM card in Easter Island

Tell them what they tell you, if you travel through Continental Chile before, you must keep in mind that in Easter Island, the only telephone company that exists is Entel.
You can find the store on Kiri Reva Street, just in front of the State Bank. You can easily locate it since it has a giant satellite dish right at the door.

Entel Store Hanga Roa

The 1GB package costs 7500CLP and 1150CLP the SIM with 1000CLP in calls. Initially they will sell you the SIM and the recharge separately and explain to you how you should do the recharge. We did not understand it too well and by asking them to do it to us, they helped us to leave everything ready and to be able to connect when leaving the store.

With this procedure already done, we decided to take a walk through this area of Hanga Roa, finding ourselves practically in the center of the town, so we are starting to see many more people and the atmosphere is also much more lively.

Entrance of the State Bank

Hanga Roa

After recreating in this area, we approach one of the main streets of Hanga Roa, which we can summarize in two: Atamu Tekena Avenue, where you will find car rental offices such as Oceanic and Te Pito Ote Henua Avenue, which is the street that goes from the church to the Caleta.
The first is where you can find more stores, small supermarkets, restaurants, bars and other tourist places, which we take advantage of to buy a book that has been highly recommended and that you can only buy on the island: Discovering Easter Island, by James Grant-Peterkin, which you can find in most stores, for about 15000CLP and that we assure you, is the best support to know Easter Island, since it explains in detail, but at the same time with very basic words and explanations , all locations on the island.

Discovering Easter Island

With the book already in hand, we approached one of the areas of Hanga Roa that we most wanted to know, Playa Pea, a beach where what we are told is where the locals come to surf, something we see nothing more to arrive, but which also many people approach to bathe and sunbathe, taking advantage of a kind of natural pool that is located at the foot of the restaurant.
Right in this place is the ceremonial platform Ahu Tautira, which being so close to the beach, many people do not see and use it as a push to climb. You have to be very careful and avoid doing it.
A good option to learn more about the history of the city and the island is to book this guided tour by Hanga Roa in Spanish.

Pea Beach

From here we continue a few meters until we reach La Caleta, where most of the island's fishing boats dock.
In this area you will also find two of the most important dive shops, Killer whale Y Mike Rapu Dive, in addition to several restaurants and cafes perfect for stopping and having a drink in front of incredible views.

La Caleta in Hanga Roa

Here is also the first moái that we see on Easter Island, which was brought from the inside, although it was placed facing the sea, a placement, as we will see on the subsequent days in our visits, is not the usual one.

La Caleta in Hanga Roa

From what we have been told, it is very interesting to come to this area first thing in the morning, which is the time when fishermen arrive and unload the fish.
After spending a while in this area, where we take the opportunity to sit down and try to process everything we are seeing, and that we are liking so much, we continue the coast approaching to Hanga Vare Vare, a wide open space, in which every February The Tapati festival is celebrated, of which the next days we will have the immense luck of being able to see the rehearsals and that although we have just arrived, we are already clear that we will return to live it personally, we hope that soon.

Hanga Vare Vare

From here we continue our walk, always bordering the coast until we reach the cemetery of Hanga Roa, a cemetery that has been used for the past 100 years, to the point that today it is practically complete and a new location is already being sought.
It is striking to see how many of the tombstones are incredibly sculpted, while it is not necessary to observe too much to see how Christian motifs with Rapa Nui symbols are mixed at all times, making this place one of the places to visit in Hanga Roa, we recommend you not to get lost. Of course, always taking into account that it is a cemetery and not a tourist place, so you must pay maximum respect.

Hangaroa Cemetery

In the central part you will see a red cross that is carved on an old pukao(touched moái), from which the round part can still be seen at the base of the cross.

After this brief stop we arrived at one of the most visited places in Hanga Roa and that we wanted to visit the most: Tahai.
If you come directly from the downtown area of Hanga Roa, it will not take you more than 10 minutes to get here, so with this you can get an idea of how close the majority of locations are, both in Hanga Roa and on the island .
Here we meet the ahus (platforms), most visited in the town: Ahu Vai Uri, Ahu Tahai and Ahu Ko Te Riku, known for being the moai you can see, for being the only one with eyes on the island.
If you come by car we recommend parking in the Tahai car park, from where you have the most impressive perspective of the area, being able to see all three platforms in the same plane. If you have come walking, like us, you will probably enter the cemetery area, to have this perspective, you only have to climb a small slope, which as you will see, takes you to the parking lot.

Ahu Vai Uri, Ahu Tahai and Ahu Ko Te Riku

The first moái that we see up close is the one that lies face down, and that is believed to have ever been the one that occupied the sixth position on the Ahu Vai Uri platform and that when it was found it was so deteriorated, that they preferred to leave it as it was.
A little further on, we see a carved head, which shows very few details, and was found in the sea, behind the platform. As has been known, it is one of the oldest representations of the island.

Sixth moái of the Ahu Vai Uri platform and head

From here you already have perfect views of Ahu Vai Uri which when you get a little closer, draws attention to the design, which highlights its somewhat square shapes, especially the second moái on the right, as well as the carved basins of the rest.

Ahu Vai Uri

Between Ahu Vai Uri and Ahu Tahai you can see an artificial ramp, through which the canoes were climbed and that today is still used for this purpose and if you are lucky you can see how some local uses them to reach the sea.

Tahai views from the entrance

Of the three platforms that we find in Tahai, the one that we may find most striking is Ahu Ko Te Riku, a moai who, besides being touched, has eyes and is therefore known as the moai you can see.
Of course, we have to say that the eyes he has are not original, since the only one that is preserved is white coral and is today in the Museum, where he took it after finding it on Anakena beach in 1978.

Ahu Ko Te Riku

If there is something you can not miss here is to sit in front of the three platforms and enjoy the environment almost alone. In case there are any visitors, you just have to wait a while, giving it time to make your visit and again you will find yourself alone in front of one of the most incredible places in Rapa Nui.

Ahu Ko Te Riku

Tahai

In addition, this is one of the most recommended areas of the island to enjoy the sunset, something that we will do the next few days, since today we have a special appointment in a few hours.
When we realize, we have been sitting in front of the three platforms for more than an hour, enjoying a unique and priceless experience, which we recommend not to get lost in Easter Island.

As we mentioned earlier, today we have a special appointment, we have met at 8:30 in the afternoon with Cris and Carles, of Wetravel.cat with whom we also agreed in Chiloé, the day of the earthquake, in Hanga Piko, a small cove that is very close to the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa, where a representation is made today and we have believed that it is the best place for this reunion.
So when there are a few minutes to go, we leave Tahai, with the firm intention and conviction that it will be one of the places we will visit more times during our stay in Easter Island, since we found (even considering that we have just arrived) That is one of the most incredible places that we will be lucky to meet.
To go to Hanga Piko we follow the coast again, looking again at what special that is, showing us at every step its volcanic origin and giving us at every step images to each one more incredible and beautiful.

Hanga Roa Coast

We arrive at Hanga Piko when a few minutes past 9 at night, finding a small cove, incredibly scenic, especially at this time, in which the sun begins to set and gives us incredibly magical colors.

Hanga Piko

Sunset at Hanga Piko

As the sun sets, the representation is more incredible, although we do not understand too much (we must confess), it seems a perfect framework to end this first day on Easter Island and this reunion with which we have updated the last days spent in continental Chile.

Hanga Piko

Here we also find a platform, Ahu Riata, which was restored in 1998 and is also worth a visit.
It's 10:30 at night when we return to the Hangaroa Eco Village Spa for dinner, although since the kitchen of the Poevara Restaurant has already closed, they can only serve us a sandwich, which we accept very willingly to end a day that we are sure, we will not forget ...

Day 23: Easter Island: Ahu Tahai, Ahu Ko Te Riku, Rano Kau and Orongo, Vinapu, Ana Kai Tangata and Ahu Akivi