We did a land trip - we stayed at the Explora Casas Rapa Nui mentioned in the article - you can see some of my descriptions & photos of our trip and a link to photos at the kodak web site in the "sea mail" topic under "si mail from Argentina & Chile".

Senga is a guide for Explora so I doubt you can hire him independently, I'm sure they keep him busy. The stay at Explora is all inclusive of excursions etc. The excursions from Explora are hiking and biking, covering various parts of the island. If you are just going to be there a day you will want to get a tour that covers the highlights. His English is pretty good, as was the English of all our excursion guides there. They each spin a different story so you might also want to do some reading before your trip. Senga also dances a principal role in the Kari Kari show at the hotel Hanga Roa and we also saw him working as a baggage handler at the airport the day our flight left. Busy guy!

We were there in early November. I think the weather is pretty much the same all year and is very changeable. We had some sunny weather, some very windy weather, some cloudy overcast weather and one day where it poured rain most of the day - I recount our hiking that day in my "si mail" (the guide on that outing was not Senga.)

The highlights from a sightseeing point of view are the Rano Raraku quarry and Orongo, the ceremonial crater and birdman competition site. The Kari Kari performance was outstanding. We also loved the beach picnic we had our first day - described also in the article. The museum is not really worth a visit in my opinion. The culture, history and remoteness of the island all combine to make a fascinating destination.