PHOTO OF THE WEEK: Good Moai-ng Easter Island

Traveler Jean Courtney captures the grandeur of Easter Island’s stoic guardians.

Just back from her National Geographic Around the World by Private Jet trip, Jean Courtney recalls Easter Island as one of her many favorite spots. The 24-day adventure circumnavigated the globe with stops in 11 countries and visits to places like Machu Picchu, the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef, and here on Easter Island. These monolithic sculptures, carved between 1200 and 1500 AD, represent deified ancestors and on average stand about 13 feet and weigh 14 tons.

Observes Jean, “I love these Moai heads, but what most people do not know is that most of them actually have bodies underground. It is almost indescribable to walk among the Moai. Words like magical, mystical and surreal are a start, but don’t quite capture the feeling fully.  Brilliant blue skies, green grass, ocean breezes, and a giant graveyard of willy nilly huge stone heads. You just have to see it to believe it.”

Photo by Jean Courtney.