Rapa Nui

Rapa Nui lies more than three thousand five hundred kilometres off the coast of Chile, a small volcanic island with a single town, Hanga Roa. Its people raised the moai, stone figures of their ancestors, on platforms around the coast: the fifteen of Ahu Tongariki facing the sunrise, the seven of Ahu Akivi looking out to sea, the ones on the white sand of Anakena. Rano Raraku is the quarry where they were carved, with hundreds still on its slopes, and at Orongo, on the rim of the Rano Kau crater, the birdman ceremony was held every year.

Flights from Santiago take about five hours. Three or four nights are the right measure: a day for the south coast and Rano Raraku, one for the north and Anakena, a walk or a ride up Rano Kau to Orongo, and time for the museum and the evenings in Hanga Roa.

The island is mild all year. Summer is the warmest and busiest, with the Tapati festival early in the year; winter is cooler and wetter.