Hanns Ebensten Tours - Gay Tours

E-mail: Travlgrrl@aol.com or Call 1-800-842-4753

Archeological treasures and natural beauty on one small island

The Gods of Easter Island
Walk among mysterious statues

February 13-17, 2007

Easter Island has fascinated adventurers for years. Over 2000 miles from the nearest population center, this remote island remains an anomaly in the history of the South Pacific. Famous for its giant moai, these stone statues continue to intrigue and puzzle visitors. Once speculation included aliens and other fantastical possibilities for the presence of the moai on this isolated site, but now we know the Rapa Nui people (Easter Island natives) most likely built them themselves from the surrounding volcanic stones. Dating from the 9th century, their size, positioning and placement on the island is still amazing to witness. The faces although similar often seem to portray different emotions, sneering, diffident, even amused. Today, Easter Island remains one of the most unique places you will ever visit in the world. It is like a large open-air museum filled with history, archeological treasures, art and a culture clings tenuously to it rich past. The Rapa Nui people were the only islanders to have a written language, which has unfortunately been lost. A few tablets remain but not enough to decipher the code. Still the spirit of these friendly and independent people offer warm hospitality and we are pleased to be among the very few who offer this expedition to Easter Island as we have for decades.

Highlights of this trip include:

See the famous "moai " stone statues dating from the 9th century.
Explore the island, a virtual open-air museum of history and archeological treasures.
Enjoy the hospitality of the Rapa Nui people.
Wander this remote island which is over 2000 miles from the nearest civilization.
Swim in clear ocean waters, picnic and relax in this unique island in the South Pacific.

Dates:
February 13-17, 2007: $1,995.00

Ask about $25.00 Rebate offer!

Travelling Alone?
So are most of the people who travel with us. You do not need to pay extra to travel by yourself. Prices are per-person, and the single supplement applies only if you'd like a room by yourself.

Location: Departs from and returns to Papeete, Tahiti. Papeete-Easter Island airfare is not included in price.

Price includes: All transportation within Easter Island; All accommodations in hotels and cabins each night, with private bath; All meals except for departure date; All hotel services charges, government taxes, porterage, and meal gratuities.

Not included: Transportation to and from starting and ending points; Personal items including: alcoholic beverages, snacks, laundry, and telephone calls.

FULL ITINERARY:

To Easter Island

Easter Island travelers depart Papeete on a LanChile non-stop flight to Easter Island (about six hours), arriving 9:45 am, local time. After landing at the large airstrip on Easter Island, Chile's most remote outpost - we check in at the small Aloha Nui Hotel, where the Rapahango-Edmunds family has welcomed Hanns Ebensten Travel groups for over three decades. In the afternoon, we visit the ceremonial village of Orongo and inspect its large basalt rocks with petroglyphs of birdmen and the god Make-Make. This is a famous site for the cult of the birdmen. Each July until 1866, men raced down the steep cliffs and across the rough seas to the islets of Motu Nui, Motu Iti and Motu Kao in a quest to secure the first egg laid each year by the sooty tern.

Wander mysterious Easter Island

1: Easter Island Arrival and Discovery

We begin with a trip to the Ahu Tahai, an excellent introduction to the island's archeological sites exhibiting five statues restored by Dr. William Mulloy and Mr. Gonzalo Figueroa in the early 1960s. An ahu is a large outdoor altar, usually bearing statues, and often used for burials with rubble-filled platforms containing tombs. We will visit the fascinating museum of Father Sebastian Englert, the island's parish priest from 1935-1969, and an inspiration to Hanns Ebensten when Hanns escorted the first group of American travelers to Easter Island in the 1960s. Lunch is a special picnic served at Anakena Beach.

In the afternoon we drive to Puna Pau to see the slopes from which dark red cylinders of stone were quarried. They were placed on top of the statues either to resemble the tuft of hair that ancient Easter Islanders knotted at the top of their heads, or as ceremonial hats. Our tour continues to the island's south coast to view the Ahu Vinapu. Time permitting, we will then explore the Ana Kai Tangata, "the cave where men are eaten." With the surf breaking below, it is a forbidding place and a reminder of the period when islanders practiced cannibalism

2: Easter Vigil on Easter Island

Today offers a chance to leisurely explore Easter Island's only village, or perhaps to take an optional horseback ride across the island's rugged meadows. This evening we are invited to attend the unique Easter Saturday Mass, which starts at sunset at the cemetery, then proceeds by candlelight up the town's main street to the village church. There a full mass is conducted, complete with Easter pageantry and musicians singing both Rapa Nui and Spanish songs.

Wander mysterious Easter Island

Gods of Easter Island: Ahu Akivi, Faces to the Sea

3: Ahu Akivi, Faces to the Sea

A full day of touring includes a trip to see Ahu Akivi, the seven statues facing the sea. Legend says they represent the seven princes who came to Easter Island from mythical Hiva, to prepare the island for the arrival of King Hotu Matu'a. We continue to Ahu Tongariki, where fifteen moai have been re-erected along a dramatic coastline with deep blue waves crashing against a stark cliff and the rocks below. We explore Rano Raraku, the most fascinating and dramatic site on the island with hundreds of stone figures, many unfinished, on the outer and inner rims of the extinct volcano. Its bowl-shaped crater is filled with water and tortora reeds, and is often used as a watering hole by wild horses. A picnic lunch will be served nearby.

We return to the hotel later in the afternoon. Dinner will be served at the hotel before our check out and late departure for our evening LanChile flight back to Papeete.

4: Tetiaroa via Papeete, Tahiti

Our destination (subject to flight availability) for a full-day tour on Monday or Tuesday is Tetiaroa, the lovely private island that Mr. Marlon Brando bought after filming Mutiny on the Bounty. This beautiful coral atoll was the ancient summer residence of Tahitian royalty. We have the day to explore, relax and enjoy paradise. We will have our farewell dinner this evening.

Wander mysterious Easter Island

5: Tahiti

Informal day in Papeete to relax by the pool or explore the town and island on your own. Following an early evening checkout, we will transfer to the airport for the journey home. Depart for Los Angeles on Air Tahiti Nui, departing Papeete in the late evening.

6: Departure Day and Flights Home

Arrive in Los Angeles in the morning, in time to make same-day connections to most North American destinations.

E-mail: Travlgrrl@aol.com or call toll-free 1-800-842-4753 for more information.

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