The Grand Tour - Thursday, April 20

James Grant Peterkin, who wrote the guidebook that we've been consuting, also runs a touring company, Easter Island Spirit, and for today we've booked his Tour A, a day-longtrip around the island. Our guide, Patricia, arrives at 9.30am sharp to pick us up, but we're slow to get going - disorganized, looking for water, and running back to our huts to get the all-important $80 park entry vouchers, which we had to buy upon arrival at the airport. Finally we're off, and our first stop is back at Tahai, where we take a closer look at the immense moai, Ahu Ko Te Riku, standing off by himself, his white-coral and obsidian eyes looking towards the sky.

He's the only moai with fully restored eyes and the red topknot, an example of the careful work done by the American archeologist William Mulloy, who came with Heyerdahl's expedition in 1955 and then dedicated his life to unearthing the hidden mysteries of Rapa Nui, until he died in 1978. Highly respected on the island, his ashes are buried at this site. Close by is another, much older moai, Ahu Tahai, a squarer, stockier body with only suggested features on the time-ravished stone,

along with the ramp built not only for the fishing canoes, but also, probably for the transportation of the moai. We consider the tall turqoise waves crashing on the ragged rocks and marvel at the skill needed by those ancient fishermen.

Then we drive across the island to the Anakena beach, the entry point for the earliest Polynesians to discover the island, and where Heyerdahl set up camp.

A row of restored moai guard the beach, looking inland with their sightless eyes. There are very strict rules of behaviour around these monuments. You may not touch, nor step on, or even get close to the platforms and statues, and this is marked here by stones in the sand, tripping up some distracted tourists, swiftly called to order by our vigilant guide.

The sun is incredibly fierce, even for us Brazilians, and we move down to test the water, taking off our shoes and wading in. There's no time for swimming today, but we promise ourselves to return to bathe in the Pacific and to laze around in the coconut grove on the hill, planted with palms imported from Tahiti.

Then we're off again, headed east along the coast with a stop at Te Pito Kura, where the largest moai ever to have been stood up lies pitched forward, the whole 10m length of him, with his 2m red topknot rolled to a standstill nearby. He has been like this for at least 200 years - like all the other moai, probably pushed down because the people were suffering and stopped believing in their mana - magical power.

We also see a smooth round stone called "The Navel of the World"- the meaning of Rapa Nui, believed to have been  brought by Hoto Matu'a, the island's first king, when he landed from Polynesia, and considered to have a lot of mana.

Our next stop is Ahu Tongariki the largest ceremonial platform on the island with 15 moai standing in a row facing the quarry from which they were carved 

and with their back to the crashing waves. 

These moai had also been tumbled from their platforms, but the 1960 tsunami after a terrible earthquake in Chile pushed them further inland, and a big restoration program was undertaken by Chilean archeologists and funded by the Japanese government. The sheer size of this monument is staggering, and we're pleased that we'll return here on Saturday to see it at sunrise. 

The sky has been darkening steadily and as we approach our next stop, the Rano Raraku, the rain comes pelting down. This is unfortunate, because here is the volcano from the sides of which the moai were carved, which we're supposed to see during a long diagonal walk up the mountain side, with an additional steeper walk to the crater's edge. We settle for having our lunch instead, where we dodge the rain running on ramps to a thatched platform to retrieve our prepared trays of grilled tuna, pasta and veggies, with a roll and an apple - and a beer. We're surrounded by dogs, chickens and an orange cat, all of which beg for food, and it is quite cozy to sit there, a little wet, talking about all we've seen with our guide.

We catch a hot coffee in a makeshift giftshop and cast a longing look up the rainsodden mountain. 

Patricia does her best to explain, as we drive by the tumbled moai. We will return by ourselves another day in the car we've decided to rent. Our drive back along the eastern coast ncludes a visit to a cave 

and a view close up of another tumbled giant with the red hat fallen close to the edge of the cliffs.

We're incredibly tired when we get back to the hotel. We check our apps and see we've walked 10.000 steps. Oswaldo and I decide it's a good moment to have a Rapa Nui Mojito with lemongrass, which we enjoy sitting outside watching the sunset - and more rain clouds.