The area to the northeast was particularly barren and windswept. The road was rough and at times, potholed. The sun was setting and it look all our concentration to keep the car out of the potholes which could have easily blown a tyre or worse. There were few cars on the road that late in the day and the only living things that we saw were herds of wild horses. These apparently have grown and thrived in the area.
As it was going dark, we were on a single road so we couldn’t really get lost, or could we?
We did get back to town and elected to go for dinner at Hakanonu’s, a great little place with views over Pea Bay. The restaurant has an expansive seafood selection. The sun was setting behind the clouds leaving us with a golden sunset, as we downed a beer to celebrate our island circuit. We found the meals and drinks here quite expensive as almost everything has to be flown in. One of the tips that we were given was to bring your own liquor with you if you plan to stay for more than a couple of days.
The next morning we were again greeted with heavy cloud over the west of the island. We discussed our options with Edith and her sister. I noticed a photograph on the wall of the dining area and asked her about the person in the photo: “Who is this?” She replied, “That’s my mother”. As we chatted I was surprised to learn that she had twenty brothers and sisters, all by the mother in the photograph. “Oh,” she said “That doesn’t count the six children that died in childbirth”. Her mothers name was Tomisa Araki and her father Esteban Pakarati. I was so taken back by this information that if forgot to ask if her mother was a descendant of the Royal Family of Rapa Nui with a family name Ariki. Wow, what a family.
We packed our rain jackets and headed off towards the airport road. Turning onto a signposted side road we followed a narrow and twisty road along the side of the dormant volcano, Rano Kau. The road was criss-crossed a number of times by a trail that led to the top of the crater rim. It was quite a climb. Near the top we stopped to look over the crater of Rano Kau. Far below us was a sunken lake which had beds of what looked like various forms of flowers floating on the surface. The mists swirled in over the broken western rim, giving the scene a totally eerie effect.
