At the airport all new arrivals were welcomed with live music and flower necklaces. What's more, there was a spicy fresh aroma in the air - after 6 months Santiago I almost forgot how wonderful air can smell! It gave us the vacation feeling in an instant :-) Most tourists come to Rapa Nui for the famous stone statues and you will find them scattered literally all over the island. However, after seeing the first nearby statues and petroglyphs, we skipped the real sightseeing for the day after and went to a local restaurant to energize our taste buds with tuna steak (an island speciality) and freshly squeezed mango juice. Weather was great and we still had half a day left. So we hired a quadbike and headed straight to Anakena beach!
Today fast growing eucalyptus trees have been planted to work against erosion, the population is back to 5000 and some impressive Moai formations have been reconstructed, like the famous site at Tongariki.