Half day city tour in Hanga Roa

Hanga Roa is the main town, harbor, and capital of the Chilean province of Easter Island. It is located in the southern part of the island’s west coast, in the lowlands between the extinct volcanoes of Terevaka and Rano Kau. The population of 3,304 (2002 census) comprises 87 percent of the total population of the island. For much of the twentieth century, the rest of the island was leased to the Williamson-Balfour Company and closed to the Rapanui; in 1914, the population of Hanga Roa was just 250 and the rest of the island was inhabited by large populations of sheep. Hanga Roa means ‘wide bay’ for the body of water on which the small city sits. After hotel pickup, your guide takes you to the open-air artisan market, where 40-some grass-hut stalls offer for sale original driftwood and shell carvings, as well as the island’s famous statues known as moai, wide-eyed human figures carved out of rock, a traditional form of art by the indigenous Rapa Nui. Continue to the Father Sebastian Englert Anthropological Museum, founded in 1973 and named after the German missionary who had lived on the island for more than 30 years and documented the Rapa Nui language, customs, and culture. Look upon the museum’s top exhibit: a female moai with a white coral and red scoria eye, discovered at Anakena Beach and considered rare, as most moai statues found are male. Most of the displays appear in Spanish but don’t worry if you don’t speak the language — your knowledgeable guide explains the island’s history and the significance of the artifacts that you see along the way, including obsidian stone tools and fishhooks.

Your next stop, the Church of the Holy Cross, provides a great example of how Catholic and Rapa Nui cultures combined and share the same space. See the façade’s classic Christian themes juxtaposed with birdmen motifs, along with Rongorongo inscriptions, a type of Rapa Nui glyphs. Return to the hotel