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Top Attractions in Easter Island

Motu Nui

Motu Nui is the largest of three islets just south of Easter Island and is the most westerly place in Chile. All three islets have seabirds but Motu Nui was also an essential location for the Tangata manu cult which was the island religion between the moai era and the Christian era (the people of the island were converted to Roman Catholicism in the 1860s). Motu Nui is the summit of a large volcanic mountain which rises over 2,000 meters from the sea bed. It measures 3.9 hectares in land area and is the largest of the five satellite islets of Easter island. The ritual of the "Bird Man" cult was a competition to collect the first egg of the manutara. This took place starting from Motu Nui where the Hopu waited for the sooty terns to lay their first eggs of the season. The Hopu who seized the first egg raced to swim back to Easter Island, climbed the cliffs to Orongo and presented the egg to their sponsor in front of the judges at Orongo. This gave their sponsor the title of Tangata manu and great power on the island for a year. Many Hopu were killed by sharks or by falling. The winning clan gained certain rights including the collecting of eggs and young birds from the islets. Motu means "island" in Rapa Nui language, and there are two smaller motus located nearby: Motu Kao Kao above sea level) and Motu Iti (near Motu Nui). Motu Nui was scientifically surveyed by the Routledge expedition of 1914, which reported that six other varieties of seabirds nested there in addition to the sooty tern. They explored two caves on Motu Nui, in one of which the Hopu used to stay while waiting for the first egg of the season, and the other used to contain Titahanga-o-te-henua "The Boundary of the Land", a small moai that had already been taken to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford, England. Although the Tangata Manu cult's rituals have long since been discontinued (the last competition known to have taken place in 1888), current visitors to Rapa Nui often enjoy the beauty of the Motus via small boat excursions from Hanga Roa, the island's only town. The diving in the sea between Motu Nui and Kau Kau is exceptional, and is a highly sought after scuba diving location for dive enthusiasts from around the world. Once heavily populated with sharks, the coastal waters of Rapa Nui are now much safer, due in large part to overfishing.

Hanga Roa

Hanga Roa is the main town, harbour 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 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. The island's main avenue, Avenida Atamu Tekena (formerly Avenida Policarpo Toro), is the heart of the town. Many hotels, restaurants, grocery stores and pharmacy are found alongside this road. In 1998, the road was renamed after nineteenth century Rapanui hero Atamu Te Kena; it had previously been named after Captain Policarpo Toro, the Chilean Naval officer who annexed Easter Island to Chile in 1888. The island's museum and also the Roman Catholic church, are located in the center of town. With the advent of the Internet and the expansion of communication services by the Chilean government, many internet cafes and automated teller machines have appeared in recent years. Hanga Roa has a multi-use stadium, Estadio de Hanga Roa, which is the home ground of the Easter Island football team. The town has a number of hotels and guesthouses which cater for tourists who come to see the island's World Heritage Sites, in particular the famous moai statues. Hanga Roa and the surrounding area have a number of impressive moai, but there are larger ones elsewhere on the island. The actual hotel capacity is about 600 beds, ranging from hostels to luxury hotels. In addition to tourism, other businesses in Hanga Roa include fishing, farming and administration. Several Chilean government departments including the Chilean Navy maintain a presence on the island. The island's only airport, Mataveri International Airport, is served by LAN Airlines, Chile's national carrier, which offers direct flights to Santiago, Papeete and Lima. It is currently the only commercial carrier that regularly serves the island. As well as a small local fishing industry, the harbour has a shipping service to Valparaíso, Chile.

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