PERU SPIRITUELLE REISEN PERU Machu Picchu, Osterinsel, Titicacasee, Uyuni, Moorea

ONENESS RETREATS & TRAVEL
Spiritual Travel for the Heart

Reise 2.
Tahiti - Moorea - Easter Island

Reise 5.
Valle de Elqui - Easter Island

EASTER ISLAND & MOOREA + Extension MAUI

(this trip will always start at the end of Feb./beginning of March)

Full bodypaint celebration in the streets of Hangaroa

COSTS: please email

Arrival in Hangaroa on Easter Island. The local population calls it Rapa Nui. The island lies 2,400 miles from the mainland of Chile and is one of the most isolated human habitation in the world. Some call it paradise! Rapa Nui from the air

When you arrive the annual Tapati Festival will have already begun and as the whole village participates in this festival that recreates the traditional culture, chants, dances and sports, you will become a member of the Rapa Nui community.

During your stay you will be part of the event with hundreds of others. Every day the Rapa Nui families compete in

some field of their traditional culture, like banana trunk sliding; making their skirts with flowers, shells and plant material; full body painting; stone carving; hula dances till deep into the night; ocean and lake canoe competition; sharing umu, the traditional meals, cooked in the earth and lots of chanting, story telling and hula dancing.

On your first day, you will arrive in your hotel two famous statues

and have some time to relax, to unpack your luggage and get *grounded* in Hanga Roa, the only village on the island. In the evening we will gather and meet our first Moai (giant statue) at a special sunset spot, which is a very special place for ceremony and meditation. Our guide will introduce us to the cultural history and the sacred environment and invite us to be part of it.

During our sacred journey we will explore the island and the ancient culture, be part every one is painted and in wonderful clothes

every one is painted and in wonderful clothes

of the community and share with all. The island is special, one of a kind, very inviting and green with clear tropical skies and beautiful sunsets, with many volcanic craters and thousands of horses everywhere, completely free to go where ever they want to. There are wild, unspoiled open spaces in every direction and you really feel in paradise. The energy is very high and some can feel it. The island is twenty-two miles long, has 5,000 residents and only few tourists arrive each week, staying mostly for two or three days. During the Festival more tourists visit.

We will have time to (stone platforms) mountain where they carved the stone statues

mountain where they carved the stone statues

visit the sanctuaries, the ahu´s where we will see the Moais, the mysterious ancient stone statues with the elongated heads and meet the beings in the statues. They are very sacred and there are over 600 of them on the island, some as tall as 68 feet, weighing as much as 200 tons. During our stay we will have our own private transport to all sites and activities.

Our guide will explain Thor Heyerdahl’s theory about the statues, the significance of the orientation of the sites and other aspects crater see

of the ancient Rapa Nui religion. Many legends are told and he will explain us about it. We will hike /walk to Orongo, a huge crater on the western tip of the island with high cliffs dropping into the sea. On the rim of this mountain crater we find a ceremonial village of the ancient tangata manu (birdman) cult. Fertility rites were performed here in the old culture. There are still petroglyphes of the birdman and many carvings on the rocks.

We will visit Rano Raraku. On this mountain most mountain where they carved the stone statues

of the big statues we carved out of the rocks and about 400 giant statues are still lying on the ground, still attached to the rocks or standing halfway in the earth in varying stages of completion. It is an overwhelming sight and many of us had long time dreams to see them for real!

There will be time to be by your self, to meditate and look at every detail of the carving process. On our way we will be at one of the most impressive sites, called Ahu Tongoriki - a huge platform near the ocean with fifteen Moais (giant statues). They had been toppled by a tidal wave in the sixties, but archeologist put them up again. It is a beautiful spot for sunrise.

On our tours we will visit the only white sand beach on the island - Anakena Beach – an ancient abode of the main chiefs of Rapa Nui. This place has many archaeological sites too, including two large altars and important groups of petroglyphes. We swim in the crystal clear waters and have time for ceremony at the Moais.

When we have the Tapati Festival season, the Festival offers events nearly every day, hula dance in the evening

we will spend a lot of time attending the different events. You will have free time, early morning meditations, time for gatherings and for those who want to shop, there are many little shops and a marketplace to find beautiful souvenirs, pareos and artwork to take home with you.

During our stay we will be provided with good saddle horses and guides who will lead us on a trip exploring the rest of the island, much of which is inaccessible by car. We will spend time with the horses, sleep out country horses are everywhere!

and enjoy beautiful and sacred spots and will go to the highest point of a volcano mountain, from where you can see the entire island.

It is important to know that our schedule of activities and events on Rapa Nui may vary, as we will have to go with the flow, the changing activities and the weather.

Since 2005 I have been living for long yearly periods on the island, so this trip will give you a far more intensive and intimate impression of the island and its local people as any other trip can provide. Being now part of the Rapa Nui family has opened me many doors and I would like to invite you to be part of this experience. An experience you will never forget and bring back with you to your country and life with the children and young ones

Carolina and Christine full body painted in the celebration in Hangaroa

I hope to celebrate the "Ancient Culture" with you. Rapa Nui is celebrating its culture sharing it freely with their children in daily life.

EXTENSION TO MAUI:

To reach Maui we will travel to Tahiti, spend one day on the island hawaiian wonderful white beaches!

and fly on to Hawaii (five hours flight from Tahiti to Oahu, then a 40 minutes flight to Maui). From december till April many thousands of whales come to Hawaii to give birth to their new ones. They play and nurse them several months before they swim back to alaska, to the feeding grounds.

This time in Hawaii is very special for the whales, they mate and look after theirs babies. looking for whales

The babies learn to swim fast and they grow very fast too and become strong in a short period. They need this strengh to arrive savely in Alaska with their moms.

We will explore the mystical, wonderful island of Maui with its sacred Hawaiian sites, its valleys and we will swim several times with the whales.

It will be a dream coming true!