Been on all our list, it has its own emoji 🗿, it’s been in the collective consciousness of all those who travel, and like Faroe Islands, it deserves to be visited before you grow too old. The 8 of us jumped on making this trip happen after Thanksgiving and here we are.
LATAM Airlines of Chile has a monopoly on all the flights in and out of Easter Island so it’s likely you will begin your journey from the domestic terminal of Santiago, capital of Chile. That monopoly is so bad that if you miss your first flight to Easter Island and every other flight would be fully booked (like for our week), you likely can never go to Easter Island at all…which is what happened to Melissa:
11:09pm Got to the gate literally at time of departure
11:10pm And they let other ppl on right in front of me bc they had a connection? It was so baffling, like why can’t I also step on this plane
11:11am: Still haven’t spoken to an agent after the gate to sort a “hotel” but my flight is at 6am and it’s gonna be midnight before I clear immigration so what’s the point? I’m just hoping I can get on the Sunday Easter island flight and that it’s not fully booked
12:23am: It’s fully booked from what I can tell
4:12am: I’m not making it at all. Boarding a flight back to Chicago in two hours
1:42pm: No I spoke with the Latam agent at 3am today and every flight on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was full. There was zero possibility . . . i didn’t ask for a standby list…i didn’t wanna go to Santiago and risk not getting to easter island, i really didn’t wanna spend a whole week in santiago
11:53am: when i told the Avianca agent that this missed connection basically fucked my whole itinerary, she asked me if there was an option for me to get from Santiago to easter island another way, like over land. in my incredible frustration and lack of eating for 12 hours i was hissing through my teeth “it’s an island. in the middle of the ocean”
Don’t let what happen to Melissa happen to you!
When you enter Terminal 1 of Santiago’s airport, turn left and make sure you find the dedicated security line for Easter Island travelers only on your right.
…because the general domestic terminal line for all other flights in Chile is bonkers crazy. Notice the difference between left (domestic flights) and right (flights to Easter Island):
Once at the “passports” kiosk, you need to show your passport, an invitation letter, and have already filled out the entry form online to enter the island before you board your flight.
The flight is about 5-6 hours each way between Santiago and Rapa Nui. Thank goodness for the in-flight entertainment onboard because otherwise it’s pretty bare bones in terms of bells and whistles.
Once arrived, we were picked up by our Airbnb hosts and locals outside arrivals, adorning each of us with a fresh lei. This is more Polynesia than South America!
We then drove on to settle in our house located on the outskirts of Hanga Roa.
A primer: Before the arrival of Western civilization, the inhabitants of Rapa Nui who had occupied all the island were of different family clans as suggested by the numerous archaeological remains found here. However, as expected from any colonial power, successive foreign occupations that took place on Easter Island dramatically changed the spatial organization of the island since the middle of the 19th century.
During the early 1800s, the Chilean government leased the island to the Compañía Explotadora de Isla de Pascua (Easter Island Operative Company) and the island natives were held in the space occupied by Hanga Roa. The rest of the island now uninhabited was then dedicated exclusively to livestock and farming. A wall with access gates surrounded Hanga Roa, transforming it into a ghetto for the natives, who were banned from roaming their own home, as well as their other fundamental rights.
This situation continued until Alfonso Rapu led an uprising in 1964, which resulted in the enactment of Law 16,441 or Ley Pascua, after which the Rapa Nui natives acquired Chilean citizenship with all their rights. Now free from their isolation, the Polynesian heritage of Rapa Nui people has mixed into the Chilean race and has taken on consumerism and tourism head on.
Hanga Roa remains the only “city” on Easter Island, where more than 90% of the population lives. Less than half are of native origin, and the rest are mainly Chilean and expats. Outside of traditional fishing and small-scale farming, the majority of the population is engaged in tourism as their main source of income.
Hanga Roa, which means “wide bay or long bay” in native language, is located geographically southwest of the island, between the volcanoes Rano Kau and Maunga Terevaka.
The city is organized around two major main streets that function like axes; first of which is the Atamu Tekena Street, named after the last ariki or king of Easter Island. This street begins on Hotu Matu’a Avenue and leads to the airport. The Rapa Nui Parliament, the LAN office, Chilean navy, the pharmacy and the Municipality, as well as a large number of restaurants, hotels, shops, supermarkets and tourism agencies are all located along this street.
The other major street is the Te Pito or Te Henua street (“the navel of the world” in local language), which begins at the sear and rises to the end of the church of Santa Cruz. You can find the post office, the fire station, a school, and another series of shops, hotels and restaurants are all along here.
Both streets converge upon the Plaza Tekena Toro, where statues and busts of Rapa Nui’s annexation into Chile line a central garden plaza. It brags on Google Maps that it’s a free Wi-Fi plaza.
If you have time, check out the coastal edge of town that that begins on the lower slope of the Rano Kau volcano, passes through the Hanga Piko port, continuing along Apina Avenue, until reaching Pea beach and the Hanga Roa Otai cove. This road continues along Policarpo Toro Street until ending at Hanga Vare Vare, a place that hosts all kinds of events, especially the Tapati Rapa Nui, which is located near the cemetery and the impressive Tahai ceremonial center, where you can find one of the best sunsets on the island.
Once settling into our lodgings, we took a walk to explore more of Hanga Roa, beginning at Holy Cross Church: The only Catholic church on Easter Island and located at the end of Te Pito Street.
Rapa Nui’s Craft Market is located in front of the Holy Cross Church:
Walking down, we reached the new Municipal Stadium located on the coastal edge of Hanga Roa; the pitch was inaugurated by Pelé.
If facing the sea from here at Plaza Hotumatua . . .
. . . turn left for Hanga Vare Vare, a large and relaxing green space where the horses tend to graze . . .
. . . as well as an event venue space for island activities.
Pea is a small beach here that is located on the coast here, ideal for surfing and bodyboarding.
Continuing up the coast this way, we reached Tahai cemetery:
From there we sat down for a long lunch at one of the seaside restaurants near the cemetery:
We bear witness to Melinda’s and KJ’s first pisco sours!
After lunch we walked back down the coast south towards the stadium, where it sits next to a tourist information office that can stamp your passports with a moai:
Afterwards we bought provisions at nearly every open market and grocery store we could find, freshening up for an hour, and then heading out back to Hanga Roa for a splendid 9pm dinner at Hotel Taha Tai for sunset.
The next morning the gang got up for our first day touring the rest of Easter Island!
At around 10 am we were picked up by Rapa Nui Dream for a two part tour around the island, starting in reverse (to avoid the crowds) at the well preserved Ahu Nau Nau: A beautiful platform with 7 Moai (4 of them wearing hats!) about 150m inland from Anakena/Hanga Rau o Te Ariki beach.
Easter Island just got served.
Nearby is a lonely moai named Ature Huki, a much larger moai statue and registered to be one of the island’s oldest completed moai:
This is all by Anakena Beach where locals head to for picnics and swimming:
This is where the national park stations begin to check our passports and a copies of our individual national park tickets before letting us enter.
We then walked down to Ahu Te Pito Kura, aka “navel of light” after the type of rock used to construct the lone toppled over moai here.
This moai used to be the guardian of a series of very rounded out magnetic stones with legendary properties, and once the location of the longest line of moai:
Next up: the crown jewel of Easter Island at Ahu Tongariki: The largest platform (ahu) in Polynesia on which 15 moai are erected with their backs to the ocean. We planned to return here for sunrise!
The moai at the entrance of Tongariki is the only one to ever have been willingly lent to and returned from a foreign country (Japan, for its world fair in Osaka):
There’s a platform at the back of Tongariki where you can look down at old rock art of times past, or ahead for a fuller view of the moai:
From here we got a little closer:
There’s another fallen moai as well:
After Tongariki, we drove onwards for a leisurely 80 minute hike to and around Rano Raraku: a crater and essentially a ‘moai factory’ with approximately 400 unfinished moai now taken over by one thousand years of nature.
You can tell they were unfinished as they are in varying stages of construction with tools buried underneath the mounds. Also interesting to note is that they are all facing the ocean, instead of those that are facing the people inland once they have been finished.
If you take your time to look hard enough at the cliff inside this crater, it becomes a “how many moai do you see” game?
90 mesmerizing minutes walking through the surreal:
We then walked up and weaved around the hill for a superb birds-eye view of Tongariki:
…and stumbled upon a baby moai, and the only one to feature a bottom.
On our return hike back we continued to notice more moai hidden within the cliffside:
We then had a quick lunch outside the trailhead and drove onwards to Ahu Vaihu: A platform of 8 moais fallen over their faces along an ancestral fishermen’s bay.
We then wrapped up our first day at Ahu Akahanga, where you can see what was an old village and representative sample “Poko Manu Mea” of Rapa Nui villages and customs.
By 6pm we were dropped off at our request at Henua Market, where we loaded up on cooking supplies for a backyard BBQ back at our AirBnB.
On Day 2 we were picked up again at our lodgings at around 10:15am for our first stop at Ahu Vinapu – 2 ancestral platforms with buried and toppled moai.
There’s 2 buried moai heads, one being more recent:
And one much older given the scraggly features compared to the other:
We then braved the winds up on top of Orongo, an archaeological site and ceremonial village located on the top of the extinct volcano of Rano Kau.
This is where royalty had lived and initiated the “Birdman” games that would determine which chief and tribe got to rule Rapa Nui for a year.
For the Birdman games, a chief selected representing each tribe would be a contestant where they’d run down to the bottom of the volcanic crater, climb down the cliffs, swim to this island, find a specific type of bird egg, and swim back carrying one of them. Whoever brought back the first bird egg back here in Orono would become king and live in this area of the island for a year.
Trying our best not to be swept away by the high winds, we ran back to our bus and headed into town to buy some lunch. Our next stop: Ahu Akivi – a platform of 7 moais facing the sea in representation of the 7 explorers.
These moai were the first to be restored with modern technology.
Then for our final part of the day, we hiked an hour and a half through Ana Te Pahu Caverns, where entire tribes used to sleep, live, garden, and hide from other tribes during times of warfare:
Don’t forget to bring your headlamp! The spelunking here features both wide and expansive hollowed out lava tube halls, as well as long hanging rock that can bump you in the head:
If you look up you can see pyrite or “fool’s gold” up on the roof!
The end of the walkable parts of the lava tunnel leads to a hidden entrance and exit for tribes to sneak away in.
We then climbed out a more normal entrance for normal-sized humans.
After 2 days of exploring Rapa Nui, we woke up early at 5am this morning to be driven for a sunrise at Ahu Tongariki on the south coast.
We were picked up at around 5:45am to arrive there by 6:15am for a 7am sunrise.
As the sun rose, we surprised Melinda for her birthday!
Even doggo came to celebrate her:
This makes it a birthday celebration on every monsoon since Syria!
We lingered here for another hour. It’s not hard to see why.
By 8am after everyone had their fill, we were driven back to our accommodations. We then dropped off our stuff and continued Melinda’s birthday celebrations at Polynesian Coffee and Tea by the coast in Hanga Roa while getting to know our new friend Sean!
They make a mean breakfast and coffee here:
Happy Birthday, Melinda! Thanks for making this your 4th monsoon in a year!
After a free day we got together for one final dinner outside by sunset:
The next morning we enjoyed a free morning and then headed out at 12:30pm for our 2:00pm flight out. Look at this line to go through migrations!
I took this photo from inside the men’s bathroom:
Having put down a $450 bid to upgrade from my $200 flight from IPC to SCL, I got a last minute approval to be bumped up to Premium Business Class!
LATAM’s Business Class is on a 2-2-2 configuration on the Dreamliner. Look at all this bedding!
My view:
The amenities bag won’t provide much other than a pair of airplane socks, eye mask, toothbrush, and ear plugs:
But the food was great:
BTW, did you notice in the photo above that I was re-watching Interstellar as I was waiting to take off?
First time I’ve put it in in 10 years when it first came out in 2014. Well, this was what was waiting for me when I returned home:
Think on this.
On my flight home from Rapa Nui — a place already steeped in its own mysteries, with the moai standing as timeless sentinels of the unknown — I decided to rewatch Interstellar for the first time in 10 years. Why? Because something about its story of time, love, and the inexplicable synchronicities across space-time resonated deeply with how my own life has always been, let alone has been unfolding more lately.
In the movie, Cooper finds himself inside a tesseract—a multidimensional space where time becomes a physical dimension. Through it, he communicates with his past self and his daughter, Murph, by manipulating gravity and time, guiding them to make choices that ultimately save humanity. At the heart of it all is Murph’s watch, a simple object transformed into a profound bridge across time and space.
As I watched this unfold at 36,000 feet up in the air, I found myself wondering: could this be what explains the serendipities in my life? Is it possible that the future versions of ourselves—or perhaps loved ones we’ve lost, like my father, or those yet to come, like a future child—are reaching back across time to nudge us, to guide us, to say, I’m here with you?
When I landed, still lost in thought about the mechanics of magic and love transcending dimensions, I arrived home to a surprise. Waiting for me was a gift from 33 of my friends and monsooners: the very same Hamilton “Murph” watch designed for Nolan’s film, the watch Cooper gives Murph, the watch that becomes the literal key to connecting across time.
The uncanny precision of this moment left my head spinning. What are the odds? That I’d watch this movie — this story about serendipity and messages from beyond — for the first time in a decade right before receiving this watch? That my friends, unbeknownst to me, had spent weeks orchestrating this exact gift — a watch that encapsulates everything I was just trying to understand?
It wasn’t just a coincidence. It felt like a conversation. A conversation with something or someone greater than myself. Maybe it was my future self, leaving breadcrumbs. Maybe it was my late father, reminding me that I’m never alone. Maybe it was someone or something I’ve yet to meet, reaching across time to let me know: You’re on the right path. Maybe it’s a future me in the tesseract?
The tesseract in Interstellar is a construct of the future, built to connect versions of ourselves across time. Maybe, in a way, we’re all living in our own tesseracts, guided by echoes of those we love, those we’ve lost, and those we’ve yet to know.
This watch, this moment, this story — they’re all part of a mystery I’ll never fully solve. But like Murph in the movie, I’m learning to trust it. To listen. To let it guide me.
To the 33 of you who made this possible: thank you for being part of this incredible story. You’ve given me more than a watch. You’ve given me a bridge, a reminder that love, friendship, and the mysteries of life truly do transcend time and space.
And to everyone else reading this: pay attention to the synchronicities in your life. Maybe they’re just coincidences. Or maybe, just maybe, they’re messages from the tesseract — reminding you that you’re never alone and that you’re exactly where you’re meant to be.
- At time of posting in Rapa Nui, it was 24 °C - Humidity: 70% | Wind Speed: 29km/hr | Cloud Cover: bipolar; pleasant one minute, then hurricane winds the other minute