Easter Island
After a week of exploring the southern skies from an observatory in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile, I met Kathy as scheduled in Santiago - her flight having been uneventful. The next morning, we winged across the Pacific Ocean for 5.5 hours toward the “most isolated inhabited place in the world” - Easter Island! It is also known as the Land of the Rapa Nui and the ‘mystery island‘ - because so much of its past remains to be known and understood. As we approached Easter Island, we could see that tiny spec grow larger.
Eventually, we could even determine the location of the only town, Hanga Roa. This is a very appealing small municipality with a couple of ‘main’ streets dotted with stores of every type, hotels and a church at the end of one of them. People are friendly, the environs are relatively clean, and the colours abound.
We walked along several of Hanga Roa’s arteries, peering into several establishments and just enjoyed ‘being there’. Kathy’s ice cream was especially enjoyed after a rather strenuous walk on a relatively warm afternoon.
Our hotel, Hare Noi, is beautifully situated on the side of a hill and is laid out attractively with wooden walkways connecting the various buildings. Our room was on a corner overlooking the entire complex. We had a wonderful time here and would recommend the Hare Noi to anyone who wants “to get away from it all”.
Travelling around on the island is pleasant, but every now and then, one encounters animals who think the road is their territory. Horses here are ‘wild’ - meaning that they are left to fend for themselves since people see no economic advantage to owning them. The scenery is spectacular with undulating topography and verdant fields.
Our first ‘mystery’ sightseeing took us to the “quarry”. This is where the moai were carved out of the hillside. There are around 1,000 moai spread throughout the island - some are huge (almost 90 tons being the biggest), others are more moderate in size, most represent males (but there are a few female moai). Many are still lying where they were left several centuries ago.
The moai represented power and knowledge. Therefore, the various segments of Rapa Nui society (which consisted of 12 tribes, each with its own location) attempted to publicize their power and authority by placing moai on their respective properties. The Rapa Nuis eventually decimated the island of trees and, along with the quantity of people (almost 20,000 at its apex), starvation was the eventual result. Civil wars ensued, resulting in all the moai being toppled over, face down.
The quarry was most informative since we could see finished moai which had not been transported to their designated location while others are clearly in an earlier stage of construction (some still being attached to the rockface of the mountain).
Then, it was off to Ahu Tongariki. This is the largest ahu (stone platform) on Easter Island. Its moai were toppled during civil wars, and in the twentieth century, the ahu was swept inland by a tsunami. It has since been restored and has fifteen moai including an 86 tonne moai that was the heaviest ever erected on the island. Ahu Tongariki is one kilometer from the quarry. All the moai here face sunset during Summer Solstice. Only one has a pukou (headpiece) - because the restorers (Japanese government) had too much difficulty lifting those heavy pieces and balancing them on the moai. The setting is most impressive.
Akahanga is one of the larger monuments on Rapa Nui's east coast. Once carrying perhaps as many as 12 or more moai, this ahu remains destroyed from almost two centuries ago. As is common, most of the moai were toppled forward, probably with the use of ropes, to land face down although a few ended up in back of the ahu. At least one or two of the fallen statues slid down the rearward cliff and now lie on the seabed out of sight.
Several dislodged pukao remain scattered in the plaza. Some call it "The King's Platform" or "The Ruler's Platform". Some specialists have plans to restore the site, others oppose it and believe that Akahanga is better left untouched in its original state.
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Easter Island is a volcanic island and it has three now-extinct volcanoes. These have huge craters which have become reservoirs. The first we visited had several little islands of grass floating within it. The views are really spectacular - of the crater itself, its sloping walls and the adjoining countryside.
The sooty terns (manutaras) travel all the way from Polynesia to nest on a small island 2 km off the coast of Easter Island. Several hundred years ago, the Rapa Nui developed a competition (birdman competition) to determine the “chief warrior” or clan head whereby the competitors had to climb down a steep cliff, swim to the island, look for one of the eggs left by the birds and bring the egg whole and unbroken back to shore. The first one to do so was the “head of the clan” for the next year. We viewed the island from shore and, later in the week, from a boat just off its shore. Magnificent!
Vinapu was the location visited by Thor Heyerdahl in his quest to determine how the South Pacific islands were populated, which convinced him that, indeed, the Polynesians (including the Easter Islanders) had migrated from South America. The huge stones making up the ahu are perfectly meshed with each other, so much so that one would have difficulty putting a straw into any of the cracks between the stones. I was reminded of Sacsayhuaman which we visited near Cuzco several years ago. The only female moai still “in the field” is located here - as well as some pukao and burial vessels (the Rapa Nui would leave a body to be eaten by the birds and dried by the Sun then put all the bones (except the skull which they threw into the sea) into these vessels.
I next visited a second crater, Rano Raraku, which is located near the quarry. Again, as I crossed the ridge atop the crater I was struck by the beauty of the place. On the far side were a number of moai that had never been transported. I sat down and contemplated about my surroundings and found the experience to be almost spiritual.
Orongo is a stone village and ceremonial centre at the southwestern tip of Easter Island. The first half of the ceremonial village's 53 stone masonry houses were investigated and restored in 1974 by American archaeologist William Mulloy (who is buried in the cemetery just outside Hanga Roa). In 1976 Mulloy, assisted by Chilean archaeologists Claudio Cristino and Patricia Vargas, completed the restoration of the whole complex. Orongo enjoys a dramatic location on the crater lip of Rano Kau at the point where a 250-metre sea cliff converges with the inner wall of its crater. Orongo now has World Heritage status. Within Orongo is one of only two sandy beaches on Easter Island.
The Rapa Nui have their own “olympic games” - which consists mostly of young men racing down a hillside atop sleds. The one going the farthest wins. Some sleds have one competitor while others have 2 or even 4 - similar to our bobsledding. The competitors (and some of the onlookers) were (un)dressed and made up as their ancestors would have been. The attire was skimpy to say the least but everyone seemed very comfortable with this - it was obviously very much in keeping with their tradition.
The cemetery has a celebratory feel - many colourful displays, ornaments associated with the deceased, overlooking a beautiful spot near Hanga Roa.
We meandered here, there and everywhere. I don’t think there is an area of the island we have not visited. Of course, it's a small island, but it has so much to offer.
All in all, we had a wonderful time. Everyone who can find the time should come here. We were here for 4 days, but some stayed a week. If you do go, don’t shortchange Easter Island - it is worth the effort and time.
