A Wonderful Place to Call Home

It took 46 hours of travel for us to get to Easter Island or Rapa Nui as the locals call it. While on route we hoped it would all be worth it. Eventually the combination of Marlene's good planning and good luck got us here.

Peter, our Cottage and Breakfast host, and owner of HareSwiss Bungalows met us at the airport. He gave us a brief tour of the town, Hango Roa, and introduced us to our modest accommodation. We're in one of three self contained cottages, up on a hillside outside of town. It overlooks Cooks Point and the Pacific Ocean.

 It's not waterfront, but we can see the ocean and the view is pleasant. The cottage is modern, well appointed and very clean. The covered patio, where I'm sitting now, makes a great office.

We settled in, then headed for the ocean and Cooks Point. It was our first experience to get up close and personal with a Moai. Even though in our research, we learned how these lava rock figures had been carved in a quarry then moved, it wasn't until we were standing beside one that we felt the reality of it all. Being carved with rudimentary tools and moved great distances with rollers and ropes, was a monumental task.

There's lava rock everywhere! The island is made of lava from the 3 major volcanoes. The shoreline is very rugged and picturesque where the lava meets the sea.

Up from the shoreline, every field has stone fences and piles of lava rocks where the residents, past and present, have tried to tame the landscape. The soil is only a few inches thick and cultivating a field appears hopeless. The only agriculture we've seen so far are grazing wild horses, a few range cattle, hens in a couple of front yards, and this morning we were awakened by roosters. Peter provided us with local eggs for breakfast.

The town of Hanga Roa is small. There are two streets with commercial enterprises including a couple of grocery stores, rental shops, a hardware store, a number of restaurants and a bank. There's a cluster of housing around the core, but the newest development is spread up and around nearby hillsides. Apparently, the only industry to bring in outside dollars is tourism, and it's relatively new and on a small scale.

As we look to explore the rest of the island, we're feeling very comfortable in our cottage, and calling HareSwiss home.

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http://travellingwithsteveandmarlene.blogspot.ca/2013/10/hiking-to-rano-kau.html