easter island rapa nui kari kari show

Easter Island Magic: Moai Don’t Lie

This is Part 2 of my Easter Island write-up. You can read Part 1 here.

Day 2

The next morning, I was woken up (I wish I could say at dawn, but really, it must have been at least 10am…) by sunshine and heat piercing through my tent. In need of transportation to visit the rest of the island, I swiftly enrolled two of my fellow campers, Clarance from Singapore and Shingo from Japan, to hire a car with me.

I soon discovered why all the vehicles on offer were 4X4 Jeeps, as I volunteered to drive and quickly found myself trying to dodge massive mud pools and potholes – a pretty interesting experience for my first time driving outside of France!

Driving Easter Island
My badass ride!

Our adventurous roamings into the heart of the island and along the East coast took us to the various archeological sites of Ahu Akivi (where the 7 explorers who first visited Rapa Nui are immortalised in stone), Puna Pau and Rano Raraku

Rapa Nui Puna Pau

Rapa Nui Panu Pau

Me, Clarance and Shingo with moai, Easter Island

Rapa Nui shrine

Easter Island Rano Raraku

A little later, I couldn’t help getting stupidly emotional at the sight of these fallen moai, lying face down in the grass a few metres from the seashore… Why, it WAS so sad..:

Easter Island fallen moai

Easter Island sad fallen moai

Having surmounted our (my) upset, we pressed on to reach Ahu Tongariki, the island’s most-photographed site with its alignment of 15 moai – a truly impressive and inspiring sight.

Easter Island Ahu Tongariki

Rapa Nui Ahu Tongariki moai

As the island’s most mystical place – and by virtue of its location – Ahu Tongariki is Rapa Nui’s official sunrise-watching spot. We vowed therefore to return early in the morning the next day to catch the first sun rays, and made our way back to Hanga Roa to get ready for our special evening treat.

Ahu Tongariki jump Easter Island

I hadn’t been sure what to expect when the owner of our campsite had suggested we attend a Rapa Nui show that night… However, I grew curious when I realized that he was going with his family as well, and later found out that they watched the show together every week: it might actually be good?!

Kari-Kari stage Easter Island

Well, it was! The hour-and-a-half show put on by the professional Kari-Kari company turned out to be a very colourful, entertaining performance of traditional dance, song and storytelling.

And in case you’re wondering what on earth that must look like, here’s some exclusive footage:

Kari-Kari footage 1

Kari-Kari footage 2

Of course, the performance that night was crowned by my own guest appearance, as I was invited by a long-haired warrior to join him on stage. No, that was not embarrassing AT ALL.

Guest starring in Kari-Kari, Rapa Nui

Kari-Kari show, Easter Island

I thought I might have landed myself a husband, but sadly I was sent back to my seat when the song was over… There was an encore for me however, as I was granted backstage access to pose with my new hip-shaking colleagues at the end of the show.

Kari Kari dancers, Easter Island

Kari Kari, Easter Island

Kari Kari band, Easter Island

On the drive back to the campsite, the owner’s son casually informed me that he enjoys attending the shows because he’s learning the dances and songs at school. Well, it certainly sounds a lot more fun than geometry!

Easter Island, bore or beauty – what’s your verdict? Have you always dreamt of going to legendary Rapa Nui? Let me know in the comments below!

If you would like to follow the rest of my adventures, consider subscribing to the blog to receive all updates by email, and connecting with Camille in Wonderlands on Facebook, where I regularly post snapshots and musings that haven’t made it onto the site.

Camille

Hey, I'm Camille! I quit my life to travel the world in 2013 – and I haven’t stopped since! I have visited 40+ countries as a location-independent travel/lifestyle writer and digital marketer. I like hammocks, scooters, eating, and scaring my mother trying adventure sports! I was chosen as a top travel influencer by Influence.co, and have co-founded Helipad Marketing to help travel & lifestyle brands soar with killer online marketing.

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3 thoughts on “Easter Island Magic: Moai Don’t Lie”

    1. Thanks for your comment Jennifer! It’s great that you’re going to Easter Island, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for a nice, cheap place to stay I’d recommend the Tipanie Moana hostel & campsite. I rented a fully-equipped tent on the site and it was very good – I’m planning to write about Tipanie Moana and give some more advice on things to do and how to save money on the island in part 3 (which will come as soon as I can transfer my pictures from CD to my laptop!).

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