Easter Island - Chile

Even in the murk of a sullen, gray afternoon, the massive stone sentinels of Ahu Tongariki seem imperious, an uncompromising guard against the gluttonous sea crashing at its flank.

The shimmer of late afternoon darts through the cloudy drape in a last heady dash before the earth edges darkward. A herd of tawny horses, branded but untamed, gallops into the valley for a late-day graze. For this golden instant, the glory days of the earth's most remote island return.

How bizarre and otherworldly this rocky outcrop must have seemed to Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who arrived here on Easter day 1722. Many of the massive stone statues -- called moai -- might have been strewn on their backs and bellies across the rugged surface. Treeless and barren, the plot he dubbed Easter Island was -- by some accounts -- a ruin, more than halfway to dead.

Today, dozens of 12-ton moai have been resurrected with the help

of modern technology. But the romance remains, drawing explorers, scientists and tourists to ponder the mysteries of the gargantuan statues and the sophisticated civilization that built them -- and all but disappeared.

Even if you've read the books and seen the films, visiting Easter Island is stepping into a new dimension.

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