Discover Easter Island

Get ready for a trip to one of the most incredible and unknown places on Earth, Easter Island. As mysterious and fascinating as it is peculiar, this small piece of land lost in the ocean is the farthest from a continent that exists on the entire planet. And that’s just one of its many quirks. Let’s see others that will interest you and will make you fall in love with this magical paradise.

What is Easter Island like?

Easter Island belongs to Chile. However, it is actually located in Polynesia, more than 3,500 kilometers from the mainland. Even so, it is the largest piece of island land in the Andean state, despite the fact that its area barely exceeds 160 square kilometers.

Regarding demographic information, it should be noted that there are barely 5,000 inhabitants living on Easter Island. What’s more, they are all concentrated in Hanga Roa, a unique town within the island land that also serves as the capital and administrative center of the place.

Why does Easter Island fascinate us?

But, if Easter Island fascinates us, it is not because of its geographical peculiarities, but because of its extensive and wonderful history that dates back to ancient times. Let us not forget that the culture of the Rapanui ethnic group has developed there for centuries  , which also gave the place its name. Of them we have the impressive statues known as moai.

Located in what is known as the Rapa Nui National Park, the moai join a unique and very characteristic geography of the area, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Unesco, which has already declared this entire land as a World Heritage Site. .

It is not strange, therefore, that the ancient inhabitants of Easter Island called Rapa Nui as Tepito Ote Henua , which translated into Spanish means Navel of the World. It is curious, then, that a small island lost in the middle of the immensity of the Pacific Ocean keeps so many cultural and geographical wonders in its small territory.

What to do on Easter Island?

Easter Island offers a large number of activities to do and places to see. But, if you like paradisiacal beaches with a special charm, there are two in particular that you should not miss. They are those of Anakena, which is a wonderful place that looks like something out of a fairy tale, and the unique Ovahe, with sand in pink tones throughout its extension.

In addition, on Easter Island we find a magical place for adventure sports and activities in unique natural environments. Thus, along its coasts you can tour its paradises on horseback, dive into silent caverns full of unique and indigenous flora and fauna, or walk through a unique place in its entirety.

And, of course, we do not forget the wonderful moai. Sculptures that have survived to this day and that, still today, surprise the visitor with their elegance and sobriety.

In addition, you will be able to see them throughout the entire island, since there are more than 900 distributed throughout the territory.

The moai are rapa nui sculptures built mostly around the Rano Raraku volcano. But, although their meaning is not yet clear, it is thought that they were manifestations carved by the Polynesians who arrived on the island and that they represent deceased ancestors, who in this way project their supernatural power capable of protecting their descendants.

Little history of Easter Island

It is believed that Easter Island has been inhabited since the distant 6th century, when Polynesian inhabitants arrived from the Marquesas. However, its contact with the outside was null for more than a thousand years until the arrival of the Dutchman Jakob Roggeveen in 1722. The event took place on Easter Sunday and the European navigator found an incredible town full of beautiful women and kind men.

However, food shortages led to tribal wars that made Easter Island fall out of favor, which ended up in the hands of the Chilean administration. But their charm of bygone times remains today and contact with their ancestors is maintained thanks to festivities such as Tapati, in which they spend two weeks between dancing, music and fun.

And, as if that were not enough, the sympathy of its people, the always warm climate and the beauty of the surroundings, prepared to welcome visitors with open arms, make Easter Island one of the most attractive destinations on the entire planet.