Rapa Nui in Pictures, Easter Island, Isla de Pascua, Chile, photos by Jeff Verhagen

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I visited Easter Island between July 9th and July 23, 2007 and returned with over 1700 pictures. Here are some of my favourites in approximate chronological order. I tried to take pictures of scenery, plants and people to give a good idea of what Easter Island is like. Click on the pictures for a larger image. Hold the mouse over for more info. This works best with IE. Feel free to contact me at jeff_verhagen@gto.net if you have comments or questions about a particular picture, or suggestions for the site.

I first heard about Easter Island while growing up in the 70s. I was a gullible young kid reading comics such as UFOs, Flying Saucers and such. In high school, I vividly remember reading a book describing Easter Island in detail. In the book, I was rather taken and mystified by the descriptions of enigmatic statues buried in the ground. Huge statues that could not be explained. I wanted to see for myself.
Later, when I was in my 20s, I was sitting at home reading a National Geographic with a cover story on Easter Island. Instead of filling this article with pictures of statues and archeological sites (the usual stuff), it focused on the people of Easter Island and their city. Previous to that day, I had never seen a native of Easter Island. Something about the pictures of Rapanui people in their city made me want to go.
About a year ago, I was recuperating from health problems. I was playing around with Google Earth, and when I typed in Easter Island, I found myself looking at this tiny island from above. There were many things I saw which perplexed and attracted me, the crater Rano Kau, in particular. Even the names of the places, like Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui, resonated with me. I swore that if I ever become well enough to travel, that I would go there. And so I did.

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