RAPA NUI

All I hear is the birds and the crickets, I smell the herbs and the fresh vegetation, there is no other sound. I see the airport control tower, the runway is right beside me, but it is completely quiet. There is not a plane in sight. Only one plain arrives daily, sometimes from Santiago, other times from Tahiti, which is the closest to Easter Island.
Finally, a chance to enjoy nature, meditate and walk. I sing. “Gracias por la vida, que me ha dado tanto” (Thank you for life, that has given me so much). The humidity must be 99% and the temperature around 20C.
It finally starts to sink in, I am realizing a long time dream; a visit to Easter Island. More than 3,700 kilometers from Chile, it is the most remote island from any continent. A large rock in the ocean which consists of vulcanic rock; 11 by 24 kilometers, with less than 4,000 inhabitants. There are 15,000 archeological sites, 1,000 Maoi statues and thousands of petroglyphs.
The only village is Hanga Roa. This is were most inhabitants live. The original inhabitants, the Rapa Nui no longer exist. The population consists of mixed breed and Chileans from the main land and Polynesian. Most of the residents are government employees, who run the island in one form or another, at the dismay of the natives. Mario and Xenia live in a large compound in government housing, the houses are simple and most are made of wood inside and out.

As I return to the house after a good 45 minutes, I am totally soaked and ready for a shower.

It starts to rain. We have to change our plans for the day. We drive through town to see some of the various buildings, the church and the colourful cemetary. We have lunch at a tiny local restaurants, where we find a table outside. Mario has ordered ceviche. Not my favorite, but I am willing to try anything. I enjoy the fresh tomatoes and cucumber, all brought in from the mainland.

The rain gets more intense. The streets are flooded. Is it always like this here on the island?

“Let’s go to the beach” Mario suggests. Why would I want to go to the beach when we have a down poor like I’ve never seen before? As we leave the village I see the sky clearing up. It’s only a 20 minute drive to the north side of the island.

 

We drive through the woods and witness the damage the  strong winds have done here a few months ago. The scenery changes into a prairie setting, with lots of beautiful flowers.

There are several small ranches and herd of horses. As we reach Amakena, there are many people on the beach and in the ocean. It feels warm and less humid. How can this be? There is not even any evidence of previous rainfall.

Here we see the first group of Moai. Large hand carved statues, representing the priests of the island in the earlier days. What a sight. No one knows exactly the history of these statues. There are many versions. One can only imagine.
I love the country side and enjoy every minute of it.

It’s time to return home. In the distance we see the rain coming down over the village. The clouds seem to get stuck on the mountain.

Xenia prepares a wonderful dinner and we spend a little bit of time in the internet cafe. Not enough for me to get all e-mails answered and update the blog.
Let’s hope tomorrow we’ll see a bit of sun, so we can do more outdoor activities.

Day 2 on the island.
Another rainy day is ahead of us. We get up early but it stays quiet in the house. Our hosts do not get up until 10 am. But the day is long and driving from here to there does not take much time.

We explore the east side of the island. Every few kilometers is a archeological site, statue or volcano.
They all have Polynesian names. Hanga Poukura, Vaihu Hanga Te’e, Akahanga.
Tongariki is one of the most impressive, Here 15 Moai are reconstructed and lined up with their backs against the ocean. Here we find our first cache on the island. We leave a travel bug from Germany. One that is suppose to travel all over the world. With the large number of tourists visiting here, I think chances are pretty good that this one ends up in some other country or even continent.

The most impressive site is Rano Raraku. Also a Volcano and the site where all the Moai were built. From the distance you see the large number of statues erected on the mountain slope. Higher up is the actual quarry, where they were being carved out of the rocks and removed to be taken to their destination via an undetermined  means of transport. In some areas you can see where they were just started to carve the shape.
One they were erected the back was carved and as scientists explain the eyes were carved in later.

In various areas we see round stone structures. We learn that these were built to protect the pants from the weather and retain the water.

At Papa Vaka we view the Petroglyphs, where we find an elderly woman, making an imprint of the image, likely for the purpose of selling the artifact.

Day 3
We get up at a reasonable time as usual and take a taxi to town. My computer is down, due tot he high humidity and I check my e-mails at the Cyber Cafe.
We visit some of the many souvenir shops, but are not interested in buying souvenirs. We rather bring back a rock, shell or other small item to remember the island.

Xenia and Mario meet us after noon and we visit the museum, where we learn more about the island and its history. This island was at one time part of the Polynesian Island, which include, Tahiti, New Zealand, Hawaii and a few more.
The various families were divided into clans, each clan had a leader or priest, who had all the power and knowledge. The Maoi were constructed to resemble the priests (in most cases, we have seen the odd image of a woman).

During a civil the statues were thrown over and the enemy ate the priests, with the believe that they would then gain their strength, knowledge and power.
During the past 50 years, the Chilean Government has invested in repairing and relocating many of the statues, which are a huge tourist attraction.
The Rapa Nui people are in protest with the  Government and would like to have their freedom. They do not realize that it is tourism that keeps them alive. There is no poverty on this island, there is a job for every one, whether it is in the restaurant or hotel business, taxi, souvenirs, supplies or tours.
I had expected this island to be poor and dirty and am amazed not to see any garbage along the road or in the empty lots.

We treat Mario and Xenia  to lunch at a  small restaurant overlooking the Pacific ocean. We watch the surfers who come form all over the world.

After lunch we explore the south side of the island and visit the volcano Orongo.
After following the trail up the volcano we are surprised by the sigh of a small village, built with a type of architecture I have never seen in my life. Huts in the side of the mountain, constructed of slate in a semi circle shape, side by side.
The dwelling could only be entered through a very small opening at the front, through which they had to crawl.

We’re almost blown away by the strong wind and the rain does not help, but the view from above if magnificent.
The crater is filled with water which contains numerous species of plants, Down there is a microclimate; A small tropical forest; A sauna. There are numerous fruit and avocado trees. The inhabitant knew what a paradise they had here. with the abundance of fruit and the fish from the ocean they had all they needed.

We continue north towards the west coast and visit Ahu Akivi. The rain has made the road almost impassable. Ramiro sets up the vehicle for 4 wheel drive, which Mario never used before. This will allow us to get through the mud and the large puddles of water.

It’s light until 9:00 pm so we are not in a hurry to go back home.
At night we sit around the table, eat, drink and talk. Ramiro and Xenia have a lot to share and Mario has a lot of knowledge about the history of the island and other topics of interest.


Please note that It was not possible for me to line up the many pictures we took with the text. Let your imagination flow and enjoy the pictures.