It was nearly midnight when my plane landed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). The sky was full of stars but sleep would have to wait. I’d come all this way to see the megalithic religious statues that give this speck of an island an outsized reputation around the world. So, less than an hour after I landed I found myself rambling through a row of palms along the northern coast, lured by the sound of lapping waves to the island’s one true beach at Anakena.

The statues were like seven shadow puppets standing watch over the sands of time. Inching across the beach, I found myself face to (giant) face with the enigmatic moai… (continue reading at The Guardian).