Easter Island

I apologize in advance if I use the word "statutes" instead of "statues" anywhere. It's a typing reflex. Also, we technically return back to DC tomorrow (in other words, our posts are about a week off). It’s just proof we have been having too much fun!

After sleeping our way there, our plane lands at the airport on Easter Island. Three fun facts. First, because Easter Island is in the middle of nowhere and must be available for emergency distress landings, only one flight at a time is permitted to the island. Second, Easter Island (or, Isla de Pascua in Spanish), unsurprisingly, is the name imposed on the island by the Europeans because they discovered the island on Easter Week. The Rapa Nui people, who descended from other Polynesian islands, call the island “Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka,” which means “the little piece of land of Hau Maka” (Note: all history and facts in this post comes from our tour guide, so take it for what it is). Third, the island ranks first place on the United Nations’ “Isolation Index,” making it the most secluded inhabited island in the world.

Anyways, we get out of the plane, which after a layover is heading onward to Santiago. Everyone deplanes and must get in one of two lines: one for passengers entering the island, and the other for those transiting. There is also a booth where you can purchase your Rapa Nui National Park tickets, which are necessary to visit the various park sites. Thinking that we might purchase the tickets now, we go to the booth first. Big mistake. It puts us about an hour behind everyone else in the line. Despite being a tropical airport, there is not a single ceiling fan anywhere.

We make our way through immigration, pick up our baggage, and go outside. We’ve previously booked an AirBnB for the stay and a full day and a half with an English speaking tour guide, with the tour set to start at 2-3pm (our plane landed at 1). We expect to find a tour guide waiting for us, but no dice. We also don’t have internet at this moment (no airport wifi and the Skyroam satellite internet doesn’t work in Chile). Luckily, a woman from the same tour company who is trying to palmcard us to buy a night tour comes up to us, and we explain the situation. She told us that our Airbnb host (who’s also a tour guide) just left, and she radios to have our tour guide come pick us up. It’s worth noting that basically everyone knows everyone here, since the island is only about 10,000 people (4,000 indigenous Rapa Nui descendants and 6,000 others).

Our tour guide George (“Jo-Jo”) arrives and brings us to our Airbnb, then leaves and says he’ll be back to start the tour in about half an hour. Our Airbnb host spoke very American English, and with the name Cecilia Araki Burns, I wonder if she actually is an expat. Our room there is fine; nothing special.

Jo-Jo is a Rapa Nui descendent, which is really kind of cool considering their history. Basically, according to Jo-Jo, the Rapa Nui came to the island in about 300 AD, grew their population to about 10,000, then, due to a civil war in 1100 AD and a smallpox outbreak when the French came in the late 1700s, were down to 110 people. The French basically abandoned them because the island had no resources, and a Chilean bishop successfully implored the Chilean government to help them out. Hence, “modern” Easter Island.

On the way to our first stop, we’re talking with Jo-Jo, and after tell him that we just came from Tahiti, he tells us that his 16-year old daughter went to Tahiti because she was getting over a breakup with her boyfriend. As one does. (We learn later that the breakup was because her grandfather forbid her from dating him because the boy was a 4th generation relative, and that was too close).

We get to the first stop, Rano Raraku, which is the Rapa Nui quarry where many of the Moai statues were constructed. Basically, they carved the statues straight out of the volcanic mountain rock to be used as a sort of death memorial to hold the soul when one died. The statues were brought down the hill upright on top of logs and tied to stay up because of their massive weight (the biggest were roughly 15 meters long). Once the details were finalized, they were used as altars. The eyes weren’t done until the end, so the Moai near the quarry were works-in-progress. I was super excited because our park tickets have to be stamped for each site we visit. A+ for data integrity!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there was also a very active cow galloping around, mooing for something (maybe another cow), and a small Chilean boy mooing back each time.

Next, we travel elsewhere in the park to see the 15 Moai statues that served as a grounds for a summer solstice festival annually. The statutes were more detailed than the ones at the quarry; they also had been reconstructed to show positioning. There was also a Moai statue called “the Ambassador,” because it had traveled to Japan at some point. Finally, there were some petroglyphs showing turtles, which were apparently really sacred. We took some fun jumping pictures here. I would've done better, but I couldn't pull my legs back because the sunburn on the back was excruciating. Still, our shoot turned out all right.

Our third Moai Monuments tour stop was Anakena Beach, a set of 5 Moai at a beach park. These Moai had the "topknots," which were symbols that the honored decedent was royalty.  As Nasheed and I were super sunburned, we obviously weren’t feeling the beach. The beach itself was constructed (with Tahitian palm trees imported to appeal to tourists). Apparently, the Rapa Nui prefer the rocky beaches, which allow for greater fishing. We walked around briefly, took a few pictures, but having come from straight off the plane, Nasheed and I were starting to get a little weary.

Also hungry, so we grabbed a bite to eat at this beach cafe. It was refreshing to be in a Spanish speaking country. Our high school training was coming back, and so we were starting to put sentences together. (Side note: we get unusually excited when we can have a conversation with someone in Spanish). We ordered an empanada stuffed with tuna and shrimp, which was delicious, and two mango sours. 

After our snack, our guide dropped us off for dinner at this cute family restaurant. I use the term restaurant loosely, as it was really just 3 or 4 outdoor tables with tents over them out on a lawn, a bar, and a small cooking tent. It had absolutely gorgeous views off the island, including more Moai statues. We of course ordered more empanadas. Nasheed had some wine, and I, always in love with "jugo naturales," ordered a melon juice. All in Spanish again (cue giddy pride like when a child becomes a confident walker). The restaurant owners were adorable; noticing that I was doing everything possible to avoid getting my bright red skin in the UV-Level-11 sunlight, they moved the tent to keep me in the shade without me asking.

We paid the bill, and the arrangement had been that the owner was supposed to call our tour guide to bring us back to our Airbnb (I know this place sounds like a tourist trap, but it wasn't -- it's just that on an island of at most 10,000 people, everyone knows everyone). The owner called. No answer. We were happy to wait, but the owner insisted on bringing us home himself. We got about 3 minutes away from the "restaurant," and Jo-Jo passed us, stopped, and turned around. On the way home, we passed his wife, who had just finished practicing dance for the annual Tapati Rapa Nui festival, a two week competition that takes place in February. Basically, two families compete, and each has a "Queen representative." We crashed as soon as we got back, since we knew we had an early day the next day.

We woke up for a 6 AM pickup for our next tour with Jo-Jo: the Sunrise Monument experience. We returned to the 15 Moai and, surrounded by a number of other tourists all trying to grab the perfect picture, beheld the glory that was sunrise. It really was quite breathtaking.

Here’s Nasheed pretending to be Moai:

That last one is me taking pictures on the ground.

Next, we were dropped off for breakfast at a small café, which was basically the only place open at 9 AM. We had an egg scramble and avocado--very basic.

Then, Jo-Jo picked us up and brought us to Rano Kau, a volcanic crater. It is one of the most beautiful natural phenomena I've ever seen. The crater itself has become an incredibly deep lake and complicated ecosystem, growing all types of plants and fruits. According to Jo-Jo, it was a "great place to make love" as a teenager. We did a mild 20-minute hike around the crater to the visitor center. It wasn't hard at all, but we did have the UV-11 sun beating down on us.

At the visitor center, Jo-Jo explained the "Birdman" culture. After the Rapa Nui stopped believing in the spiritual powers of the Moai, they came up with this concept of the Birdman. The royalty of the Rapa Nui, from their homes in the Orongo village that overlooked the crater and the adjacent sea, would hold a competition where Rapa Nui men would have to climb down the crater's perilous cliffs, make their way across the water to a nearby island of Moto Nui, then bring back an egg from a certain indigenous bird to the crater. The race was dangerous, and many competitors died in the process. The successful competitor, the Tangata manu, would receive a number of women, food tributes, etc. His clan would become the reigning clan until the next annual competition. When I asked if the competition took place in any form now, Jo-Jo said that Redbull had tried to start one up about 20 years ago, but that it was prohibited because there was no way it could be done safely. 

These are the Royal homes:

Here's the island where the eggs were found: 

As an aside, Jo-Jo told us about his own Rapa Nui wedding experience, which was surprisingly similar to a Bangladeshi wedding. Lots of people, pictures, and food. He also slipped in that his wife was Miss Chile 1997, and that their wedding was part of a reality TV show.

Before the airport, we went to one last 7-Moai display. This one was nice because there were fewer people around, so we had more time to play with pictures. Jo-Jo took us to the airport then. When I gave him his tip, he told me that the U.S dollar bills, which had small tears on the creases, wouldn't be accepted. The only pristine bill I had was a $100 bill, so I gave it to him for him to make change. It was only after the fact that I thought about the possibility he might not come back. But of course, he did, and all was good.

As mentioned earlier, the airport itself lacked basic amenities, like air conditioning or even fans. We checked in, drank Cokes, and got on the plane. In general, Easter Island was really cool. We were legitimately unplugged; we had no internet the entire time, and it felt like a totally different and remote place. Really, it was more like a modern agrarian society than I ever would have expected.