Remember... We had left you in the company of tired travellers and carefully packed bicycles in Santiago airport...
After a restless night, we are in the early morning queue to register our luggage, and behind us are two huge monstrosities of cardboard, tape and twine, in which our bikes have disappeared. We hold our breath before the horrified eyes (as always) when the hostess sees our packages: is what is she going to do?

The cardboard monsters apparently did not pose a real problem. The trouble is the total weight of our luggage. The verdict comes "too heavy!". Well, obviously, because of their stupid packing rules, we must have added at least five kilos of cardboard! grr...

But we have no choice... We grit our teeth and pay 35€ extra for the baggage but without protest. And we are on our way to Easter Island!
Hand in hand, we watch Chile disappear through the window: we have left the American continent! And for long hours, we fly above the Pacific, before arriving finally in sight of the island, this small rock only 20 km long, lost in the middle of the Pacific ocean... We are on Easter Island!
We disembark in an airport that is even smaller than that of Nouakchott (normal, the island is served by a single company). In the unique hall, the employees of various hotels greet their customers with necklaces of flowers: the atmosphere is embalmed with sweet fragrance of these exotic flowers. We skip the flowers, and retrieve our tanks, er, our bikes, in good condition: whew! We spend the next two hours unpacking and reassembling them under the hot tropical sun that we are delighted to find. Autumn is finished!

As always, our bikes have attracted curiosity, here a flock of kids skating or biking on the tarmac in front of the airport. So it is accompanied by a mini parade of welcome that we give our first pedal pushes on the island.

Starting with the first strokes of the pedals, we are overwhelmed by the languor of this quiet place... It is quite right that these islands have an "atmosphere"! Everything is clean, flowered and calm. The air temperature is perfect, different to that to which we were accustomed, and our muscles relax under the warm breeze. Ooh, these holidays in the tropics are going to be good!
We have been told, time and again, that camping is strictly prohibited on the island (a recent law, unfortunately induced by the lack of respect to nature and statues shown by some campers...). Too bad, we had dreamt of bivouacking under the statues... but we understand the need to protect sites. So we look for a campsite. Signs seem to be a concept totally unknown on this island; it is so small that everybody knows what is where! So we decide to ask a local. We stop in front of a family that is happily watching us from their garden; as often, the sight of our curious gear causes a smile, even the hilarity of sightseers. Well, if we can contribute to the local happiness, so much the better! Here, they are quite mirthful and terribly curious about our bikes.
They ask lots of questions and seem to find our journey fabulous. And then Juan, the father, asks, "but do you really want to go camping? If you want, you can put your tent in my garden here, or even better, in my other house under construction at the top of the street!". Ah well? We have only just landed, and we have already encountered the kindness of the people.

Of course, we accept his offer and Juan and his wife, Anita, take us to their second house: a garden just for us, with a view over the sea! "You can use the shower and the toilet when you want, and if you look carefully from the bottom of the garden, you can see one of the statues of the island!". A dream! Juan explains that his friend Lucho temporarily occupies the house under construction, and he leaves us a duplicate key, with confidence.

We remain a little stunned by so much hospitality, but we are delighted: we did not expect so much!
But the long hours of aircraft, the jet lag, and the lack of sleep are too much for us: as soon as the tent is mounted, we fall into our sleeping bags and drop into a deep sleep.

Easter Island will wait one more day!

For the first time for a long time, is the sun that chases us out of the tent! But we have other things to do than to sleep: we are on Easter Island, or rather, the island of Rapa Nui, its original name, the same as that of its population.

The road network on the island is very simple: 50km of road, of which three-quarters is asphalt, making a loop between the only city on the island, Hanga Roa, on the southwest, and the north and northeast of the island. Plus some very bad tracks (gullies mud!) leaving Hanga Roa to the southwest, or to the west coast.
In keeping with our desires of pedalling, of course, we spend the next few days exploring the local trails, returning each time "to home" as night falls.

First visit: the Rano Kau volcano, at the extreme southwest of the island (we quickly understand that "rano" is "volcano" in Rapa Nui language). After a short but steep climb of 300m, we are on the rim of a breathtaking crater: huge and perfectly citcular, it is filled with dark blue water in which the sky is reflected,

forming a mosaic of small ponds separated by dense formations of reeds ("totera", the same as Lake Titicaca). The ensemble of green, blue, white and blue-black is striking.

On the other side of the crater, a vertiginous cliff falls into the ocean, where large turquoise rollers crash, leaving a brilliant creamy froth. The ensemble, under the big blue sky, reminds us of "Crozet" (see our meeting!) bringing back beautiful memories...

And on the road back to the city, we fall nose to nose with... our first Moaï! Moaï, what is that? They are the famous statues of course! This one turns its back on a small bay. It is placed on an altar of stone (the "ahu"), and seems to keep watch over the sailboats in a small port. Of course it is beautiful, with its severe pouting expression, its huge ears, and hands with long fingers that seem to hold a small round bottle.
In the evening we discover others, on a site not far from our house. They seem to be there just to provide us an ideal setting for sunsets...

Five Moaïs aligned on the same altar also admire the sun, or rather the tourists, since they turn their backs on the horizon! A sixth, a small distance away, has been equipped with accessories: a red cylindrical "hat" (a "pukao"), and... eyes of white coral and amethyst, which makes it look like a cartoon character: were the Moaïs like him?

After the Rano Kau, we turn to more serious ocupations: the great loop to the north of the island! It takes us first along the east coast, which alone is already a spectacle: for dozens of kilometers,
turquoise water crushes its rolls against black cliffs, in large jets of foam. It is both dramatic and heavenly, and under the sun the show is worthy of the most beautiful postcards. We create our own, stopping every 500m to take photos... But where are the statues in all this? Ah, here is one, the smallest of the island, not more than 3m high. But it has a nice face! As we play games with photographic perspectives, another couple approach: Laurent and Myriam are French, and about our age, but in place of bicycles, they have a cherub in their arms: Timothy, six months, has spent half his life travelling! We sympathise quickly, discussing the conditions of travel with a baby: they reassure us. It is difficult, but quite possible! They have already visited a large part of South America in a mini-van, no big problem. We cross paths several times in the day, so that in the end, they invite us to come this evening have a drink at their hostel: cool!

We continue our route, delighted to have our bikes with us: we had hesitated to leave them in Santiago. This island, with its deserted and beautiful highways, is the realm of bikes!

Perplexed we pass two sites where statues are indicated on our map, but see nothing, where are they? At the third, we look closer and finally understand: the Moaïs are there, but... lying down! The tribal wars, tsunamis, earthquakes of the last three centuries have caused them to lose their balance. What we thought were a pile of big rocks are in fact toppled Moaïs, often with a broken neck, face against the earth on their collapsed altars. Once we have understood this, it is easy to identify them, even from afar: carved in another location on the island, the Moaïs do not have exactly the same colour as the rocks on which they are raised, and they appear tinted slightly green against the black of the rest. Often they were topped by a cylindrical dark red "pukao", which rolled away when they fell: when we find a big red block, we know that its owner is not far away!

These fallen statues are both grandiose and sad, obvious symbols of the decline of the civilization that produced them. Still, they would have seemed better if they were upright! We then understand that only the "restored archaeological sites", indicated on the map, contain erect statues: in fact, there are not so many on the island!

In early afternoon, we come to one of them, the most spectacular, on the Tongariki site. Fifteen standing Moaïs are waiting to greet us. When we discover this line of huge stone warriors, we are fascinated. They have a mysterious magnetism that makes us suddenly silent and humble, like at the entrance to a beautiful cathedral. They are all different, in size, shape, features, and observe the visitor with an eternal gaze.

Captivated by their presence, we spend several hours watching, admiring, and taking pictures. Finally, the declining sun prompts us to leave the site: we still have a long ride back home!

The rest of the loop takes us through the centre of the island: ouch, uphill! But at the summit, a beautiful panorama awaits us: all the north of the island, bathed in the sumptuous colours of a late afternoon...
We return without having visited half of the sites: we keep some for the following days! And so we repeat this loop many times. Successive discoveries: the Rano Raraku volcano, just above the Tongariki site. We spend a whole day there, because this volcano is also... the quarry where all the Moaïs were cut, which explains their uniform tint. And it is also, for us, the island's most enchanting site. We expected to find some statues still attached to the cliff.

But in fact, it seems that the manufacture of Moaïs was abruptly halted in the peak of production: they are everywhere! In the cliff, but also dozens scattered on the flanks of the volcano, almost all upright: completed statues, waiting to be transported on their altars... and which are still waiting... Time has partly buried them in the earth of the hill, leaving only the head apparent, serious and enigmatic, often slightly inclined, as if questioning the passage of time.

We walk slowly between these huge warriors, and we let the atmosphere of this strange unparalleled sanctuary permeate us. Even the Machu Picchu did not give us such an impression of eternity, but also a presence, an eternal watch. The most recently carved statues are even bigger than the others. A giant of about twenty metres is still resting on the mountainside, waiting forever to be released from its cradle. Of another, we see only the huge nose protruding out of the ground.
Inside the volcano, the crater is occupied by a lake, like that of the Rano Kau. On the edges of the crater other Moaïs keep guard: but how they did they expect to carry them out of the volcano?
To lighten the mysterious atmosphere of the place, we take some funny pictures with these sulking giants. In short, we admire, we have fun, we could spend entire days... But as always, the sun, ending its course, reminds us that we must leave...
Especially as we quickly discover that the sky over the island offers us, with regularity, sun during the day... and a tropical storm in the evening!

So we are often completely soaked when we arrive home... And we say "home" rightly: our tent is in the garden, but from the first evening we know the occupant of the house, Lucho. And Lucho proves to be the nicest and most considerate person in Chile. He invites us to use his oven, his shower, his washing machine, and even offers us to sleep in the room adjacent to his. We decline this last offer, anxious to leave him some privacy, but we invade his kitchen with gratitude.

The house is only half built, with an earthen floor and building material everywhere: Lucho is building the house, and in exchange he is housed for free.
And we are pleased to be able to cook under shelter... and in good company!

Of course, these discoveries are only the first. However, from time to time they are interrupted by torrential rainfalls that confine us in Lucho’s the house. But, never rest, we use these breaks to visit the school at Rapa Nui: we are going to propose a pairing with one of our home schools.

We discover a school very much alive, but a little disorganised: discipline does not seem to be a major point of lessons! But students and mistress are charming and smiling. The latter wears a flower in her hair, in the fashion of the island, and which suits her well.

The children are alert and very curious. As in Palaiseau, we pedal round the courtyard on our bikes, followed by a string of excited kids. We visit the classrooms, one of which is a "Rapa Nui" immersion class, which aims to teach children the language of their ancestors: the majority of this new generation speaks only Spanish!
The children sing us a Rapa Nui song, and we explain our world tour in our best Spanish: realizing that it has much improved since our hesitant "Buenos dias" in Peru!

The sun is shining again when we leave the school, and we visit another quarry, not of Moaïs, but of their hats, the red "pukao" that some carry. They are carved in a small volcano near the centre of the island, the only one that has this characteristic red rock.

On the site, signboards explain the various theories about the method of fixing the pukao on the heads of Moaïs: either the pukao was attached whilst the Moaï were lying down, and then the ensemble was erected, or the pukao were hoisted to the head of upright Moaï via a slope of stones and rocks... but in fact, we will never know! The island remains plunged in the mystery of civilizations that disappeared long before the arrival of the first Europeans...

With the return of the sun, we are again on our bikes: other Moaïs await us elsewhere on the island... For example, there are 7 upright statues on the Ahu Akivi site: they are the only ones that face the sea, all others on the island are turned towards a particular site, usually a village, of which they ensure the protection. But, we were told, these were erected in memory of the seven ambassador warriors who came to explore the island before the king came and installed himself. Their gaze, turned towards the ocean, then reminds the Rapa Nui of their extra-insular origins.

As for us, our gaze is turned towards the Moaïs: oriented west, they are illuminated by the colour of the golden sun, low on the horizon, and once again offer a striking spectacle.

In north of the island, there is the beautiful beach of Anakena... The two hours of pedalling to get there are worth the effort: it is really heavenly, with its white sand and coconut trees, the only trees on the island, apart from those in the town! It is all the more surprising in that it interrupts a rugged coastline of cliffs and black volcanic rocks. And to complete the picture, five upright Moaïs guard the site, turning their backs to the sea of course. A sixth keeps watch from a distance, isolated on a small mound of sand. They are smaller than other Moaïs and all wear their pukao. The site seems almost too perfect, too "postcard" to be true. And in the bay before the beach, a beautiful red trimaran has found the anchorage of the century.

We meet the owners: Bruce and Helen are as intrigued by our bikes as we are by their marine life. So they invite us to have a drink on their floating home! Amanda, who dreamed since childhood of putting her feet on a boat this size, is in ecstasy.

But that's not all: we discover that Bruce is a writer in his spare time, and he has written, among other things, a novel for teenagers whose main hero travels round France... on a recumbent bike! Struck and pleased by the coincidence, he even offers us an autographed copy, to the greatest joy of Amanda: A book! a real book! Amanda, a relentless reader who has been condemned to read and reread the "Lonely Planet of South America", is in seventh heaven!

But this is not our only encounter on this heavenly beach: on our second visit (we never tire of coconut trees), we discover.... another cyclocampeur! Something rare in this part of the world. When he saw our bikes, he came to meet us. Our colleague is not very young, about 70 years old, but in good shape and contagiously jovial. We explain our journey, and Olivier continues to say he has already seen that smile somewhere... but where? And he, by the way, where has he travelled? "Oh! everywhere! I travelled all my life! ". This triggers Olivier’s memory. "I know you! We met in 1999 in Lyon you are the oddball who has been travelling by bicycle since you were 23 years old, I've even bought one of your calendars!" "Yes, it’s possible, I was selling them at that time to fund my trip." says Heinz, Heinz Stücke.

He is one of Olivier’s heroes, and probably holds the absolute record for the number of miles of pedalling, also one of the persons that inspired our journey. Here! in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! The world is crazy... We cannot hide our admiration and joy of meeting him (again for Olivier). He is a legend... we had even talked of him with Johanna and Michael! And the "legend" smiles at our surprise. He himself is not so surprised: this is not the first time he re-crossed the path of other cyclists! He is spontaneous, talkative and extremely friendly. He offers us a beer out of his bag, and we talk of our trips...

"Hurry up and enjoy the world while its beauties are still present or accessible," he advises. "Since my first trips, I have seen wonders disappear by the stupidity of men. And the wonders remaining today are being put in cages, with fences all around, and -expensive- ticket machines at the entry"... A pessimistic view but so true... but which does not, however, prevent him from continuing his wanderings: "there are still countries, or islands at least, that I have not visited."

His current project is to complete his list in order... to enter the book of records! However, Antarctica will be difficult cycling... but we do not doubt his ability to complete his incredible collection. Although almost 70 years old, Heinz still has the energy of a young man, but much more experience...
Bruce, Helen and Heinz were not the only encounters on those days. It must be said that our bikes have become famous throughout the island, and we often receive friendly waves as we pass through the streets: everybody knows us! And we have attracted the curiosity of another French couple! Guillaume and Juliet are a bit younger than us, and like us, they are touring the world. But they are backpacking! Between travellers, we share many conversations before sunset, and we meet them again several times on their quad (rented for the occasion: for lack of a bike?), as we ply the trails of the island. Finally, it is on Easter Island that we have met the most people in the shortest time!

Time passes quickly when you enjoy yourselves... in three days, we fly away to a new continent: we want to make the maximum of our last moments on the island!

Firstly, our friend Lucho has decided to celebrate our departure a little in advance, and he propose an evening "asado" (a grill, dear to the Argentineans and Chileans) we accept with joy! But what we did not anticipate is that he would come back with a bag filled to the brim: he brought a monstrous amount of meat, the ingredients to make a big salad, and most importantly, four bottles wine (four! just for three of us!), and a "pisco sour", "just so that you can have a taste".

How are we going ingurgitate all this? Fortunately, we like pisco sour, it goes down by itself. But after the third glass, our heads spin! The evening will be very happy, the meat is delicious and finally we almost finish the pisco, plus a bottle and a half! We are debauched, my word!

For our penultimate night on the island, Lucho reveals the location of a cave near the Rano Raraku (the volcano of the Moaïs), where we can spend the night without worry. Youpee, no need to return home early!

The next day, for the first time, we leave, with our bags full, and after a day on the beach we go to visit the Moaïs quarry... at sunset. We had already been delighted, bewitched by the magic atmosphere of the site during our first visit. But now in the silence of falling night, each statue is illuminated by the magnificent golden colours of sunset. We are alone on the site and have the impression of entering a magical world, where Moaïs stand and speak... The gray stone statues become golden, and extend their disproportionately huge shadows on a green, almost blue lawn. The Moaïs are watching...
We leave this magical place on tiptoe: we no longer have our place and leave the statues to their secret nightlife...

Following visit: the 15 colossi of Tongariki, but this time, "by night"! For night has indeed fallen when we reach the impressive row. The black shadows are even more impressive and make us feel very small. And there, on the horizon, emerging slowly from black waves, is the moon. Its pale light illuminates the backs of statues, and their shadows are immense and precise.

There it is, they are watching us... The moonlight on Moaïs is almost a mystical experience!
We spend a long time enjoying the peace of this unique landscape... and it is the big clouds heralding the arrival of rain that eventually decides us to leave in search of our cave. It is very easy to find, and most importantly, immense and comfortable: it has been inhabited since the arrival of the first men on the island! With its sea-view and its soil of earth and straw (witness of recent occupation), it offers a perfect bivouac, well sheltered from wind and rain. We spend a sweet night, rocked by the beating of waves on the rocks, a few meters from us...

The next morning, we rise at dawn to admire sunrise on Moaïs of Tongariki. The weather is slightly overcast and rainy, but the picture is none the less grandiose. Gradually, the Moaïs leave their mystery and become stone statues with their gaze turned to the hills of the island.

And finally, after a day in the shadow of statues, it is time to return and prepare our departure: tomorrow we take a plane to New Zealand!
On the morning of the 22nd, after a touching farewell to Lucho, we recommence our interminable packaging on the tarmac in front of the airport. What we had not anticipated, is the surprise arrival of... Heinz! We must have told him that we were off today, and he came specially to say goodbye. He has brought us some guava that grow everywhere on the island, but we which had never dared to pick without being sure of what it was! He gives us at least a kilo before scribbling his "address" on a piece of paper: "I have a place to stay in Gentilly, when you get back, come and see, maybe I'll be there!" He is adorable. When our tanks are finally packaged, we take some photos together, and then he helps us to carry everything to the check-in. By chance, this time, we have no extra baggage to pay! Mainly because we have well-filled our cabin bags and left all our food with Lucho... Then we salute our hero, and with guavas under our arms, we cross the tarmac to climb into the plane. Heinz is there, on the other side of the fence, and takes a final photo. We take one last breath of the warm and fragrant air of this enchanting island, before we plunge into air conditioning... And there we are, in a few hours we will be in Santiago, and then a very long flight ahead to take us to a new continent: Oceania and New Zealand!
The sadness of leaving the island is offset by the exciting expectation of new horizons, and most importantly, above all, knowing that this very moment, Olivier’s parents are on their way... to come and see us! But that's another story...