Easter Island- The most REMOTE community on EARTH… Part One

Let me share some pictures with a tale from our adventure to the most remote community on earth, Isla De Pascua AKA Rapa Nui AKA the Earth’s belly button… AKA Easter Island, Chile!!

Easter Island has always intrigued me. You always see it in conspiracy videos, these strange heads and sculptures on this remote island with all this speculation surrounding it all. I had to get there to see it with my own eyes and talk to the locals about it.

I was visiting friends in Santiago, Chile with Renee and we had the chance to visit Easter Island for four nights. Now the flight from Santiago is about six hours, basically half way home back to Brisbane, Australia. So we had to fly from Santiago to Easter Island then back to Santiago, then back to Australia. Def worth the mission though. Just goes to show how isolated this island really is. A six hour plane ride or seven days by boat, you choose 🙂

Once we got onto the Island we were greeted by our legendary bungalow owner Christophe . He hooked us up with some lei’s around our necks (true Island style greeting) then showed us quickly around the town on our way to our bungalow. 

Right across from where we were staying must have been the dead center of the island, because an old Rapa Nui burial site lays there. Now we were not allowed to be buried there… Why not you ask? Well it’s because we are not dead yet. 😉

Sorry enough of the shit dad jokes ha ha. Not far from this was an awesome cave with some original hand paintings on the ceiling.

We walked into town to hire a motorbike for our stay so we could explore the island on our own. The dirt bike they gave us was pretty worn out. I got it started once then it just kept dying on me and the mechanics couldn’t get it started. All the other dirt bikes were booked out. So we ended up with this sturdy steed for our island adventures.

Our high powered scooter that we explored the Island on and off road with, through puddles and pot holes, in the dark with no headlight using our phone as a headlight, chasing the sunrise through the pouring rain and reversing out of a bulls path.. this lil rig did it all!

Now the first thing you start to think when you begin to explore the island is “where are all the trees????” This was the first question that led to the story of the Rapa Nui demise.

As we rode around the island we noticed that there is more wild horses and cows on the island than humans which was super cool!!

As we rode around the island, and didn’t see another human for over one hour it started to kick in how isolated we really were. Only one flight comes in and out every day.

Now we are on an island in the middle of the ocean. The weather was very dramatic. Where we were staying, it would be hot and sunny, then we would ride to the other side of the island and would go through a crazy storm then back into nice and sunny. We tried to get to the Moai of Ahu Tongariki for the sun rise every morning .

But we never made it there for sunrise. Every morning we would get half way there in the pitch black with our phone as a headlight, dodging huge potholes, (and mind you the scooter has no suspension ha ha so was a super bumpy ride in the dark.) Then we would get stuck in pouring rain, and have to turn back cause it was just too damn cold and wet to keep riding. But I did get to snap this pic of the sunrise with a Moai overlooking the land.

We learned that all the Moai on the island have their backs to the ocean. This was because the Rapa Nui tribes believed that they were the only people in the world. Anything bad that would happen must come from within the island so the Moai was there to scare off the evil and protect the community.

After the failed sunrise adventure, we came back to dry off and warm up. We went into town and saw a turtle swimming around in the bay. So I got the GoPro out and waited till he swam up close to the steps so I could put the cam in the water and get a pic of this legend.

We went to the local shop to grab some beers as it looked like the rain was going to set in for an hour or two. I get the beers home (and now this was the first regret I have, from my entire South America adventure) Crack open the can and have a big skull and thought this tastes a bit weird….. I have a closer inspection of the can and I bought non alcoholic beer!….. Ha ha ha shiiiiiiit full rookie mistake.

So I left them in the fridge for the cleaners when we left. I guess they would do what any normal human would do and pour it down the drain, but for some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to wasting beer like that…. even though it was non alcoholic beer.

None the less, we found out that not far from where we were staying there was a megalith wall. Now this megalith wall was made in the exact same way as the megalith walls we saw in Cusco, Peru. These are the only two places on this entire dirt ball where people built megaliths like this. So crazy to think how is that even possible???? These two locations are so far away from each other.

So we get on our trusty steed, our red scooter and headed off to find this megalith.

It has been raining all morning so there is a lot of water on the road. We get to the turn off for the site and it’s all dirt road… So we rip it up the road. Sliding everywhere in the mud and we come to a corner (the only way to get to the site) and the entire dirt road is under water and standing right in the middle of the mini lake was a HUGE bull…

I ask Renee to get off the scooter quietly and not make any sudden movements as we are on a bright red scooter. Fully thought he would try and charge at us HA HA HA. I kill the motor and back the scooter up nearly slipping over in the mud. The bull does not break eye contact the entire time, now we have a good 5m distance between us, I turn the bike around and we get out of there with the quickness and head to Anakena Beach.

This Beach is the GOODS!!!! There are Moai statues there…

Little bungalows to have some food and drinks…

And one kick ass beach.

There was even wild horses cruising around the beach, it was such a ridiculously amazing place to be.

We spent the afternoon swimming and having a super rad time.
I think fondly of my time on the island as it truly does resonate with me.

Now I think that’s enough for PART ONE of my story.. Thank you for reading my ramblings about our adventure. Here is EASTER ISLAND, CHILE – PART TWO 🗿

Here are some tips for Easter Island-

Travel tip 101 -When buying beer at the local shops make sure it doesn’t say sin alcohol!!…. that means they are alcohol free beers and you definitely don’t want those.

The best way to get to Easter Island is to fly out of Santiago airport in Chile. We flew with LATAM. The flight takes about 6 hours. You can also get there by boat but it takes 7 days.

We stayed at Cabanas Christophe, which we highly recommend as Christophe is a great host, he will even pick you up and drop you off at the airport!

Breakfast and wifi are also included in your stay and you don’t even need a credit card to secure your booking.. We found Christophe’s place RIGHT HERE – you can also find plenty of other accommodation options here as well.

Once on the island I recommend hiring a motorbike if you can, if not a scooter will do the trick. We just shopped around when we got there and went with the best deal.