I don’t even know where to start. Every time I blog, I first go through all my
notes and pictures and make an outline to help me draft my entry. Of all of the blogs I’ve written on this
trip, this outline is by far the longest.
Funny enough, the place I’m writing about is the tiniest of the places
on my gap year. So, I’m just going to
get into it. There’s a lot to cover.
Easter Island – famous for its large statues called “moai”
sitting on their platforms called “ahu” – is known as Isle de Pascua in Spanish
and Rapa Nui in the local Polynesian language.
Rapa Nui is not, however, the original name for the island. Its original name in the local language is actually
a longer name that means “naval of the world”.
Rapa Nui is part of Chile, but it is anything but
Chilean. Not that Chilean is a bad
thing, but Rapa Nui is just not Latin American in the least bit. It’s Polynesian – just like Tahiti, New
Zealand, and Hawaii. Rapa Nui sits at
the southeastern corner of the Polynesian Triangle that spreads across the
Pacific Ocean and is considered a part of Oceania rather than South
America. While its closest major
landmass is indeed South America, it’s actually a six-hour flight from the
nearest airport: Santiago. This makes the airport on Rapa Nui the
world’s most remote. The fact that Rapa
Nui is part of Chile seems like an accident of history. The island was first settled by a Polynesian
king from a nearby island well over a thousand years ago. I use the term “nearby” extremely loosely as
the Polynesians were excellent seafarers and would have travelled at least two
and a half thousand kilometres in wooden boats just to get here. There’s even evidence that the Polynesians
interacted with the Inca of Peru.
Whether the Inca travelled to Rapa Nui or the Rapa Nui people travelled
to the Inca empire is unknown.
The Dutch were the first Europeans to discover the island in
1722. It was Easter Sunday when they
first set eyes on the landmass, so they named it Easter Island and that name
has stuck. The Dutch arrived to find the
island in a bit of disarray. Historians
and anthropologists believe that the tiny island became overpopulated –
possibly with as many as 15,000 or maybe even 25,000 inhabitants (there are
currently only about 7,000 people there including seasonal workers). This overpopulation led to competition for food,
land, and other resources, which then led to intertribal war between the Rapa
Nui people. The Dutch explorers
estimated that the population of the island was only 2,000 – 3,000 when they
arrived. As part of the war, the massive
moai statues that surrounded the island were toppled down one by one during the
conflict. A passing French ship recorded
the last standing moai – the largest – in 1838.
The island’s population was further decimated by a series of raids by Peruvians
where they captured natives to be deported as slaves.
The English visited Easter Island, as did the Spanish, naming
it San Cristobal Island. Much of the island
was privately owned by this time. The
island was annexed by Chile in 1888 and later leased to a British wool company
which basically acted as the island’s government for many decades. Chile came back into the picture in
1953. The Rapa Nui people gained Chilean
citizenship some time later and finally gained some level of autonomy as
recently as 2010. While economic
dependence on Chile has quelled any push for independence, there are plenty of
disputes between Rapa Nui and Chile, most notably those concerning land rights,
tourism controls, and an influx of Chilean migrants.
Today, tourism is booming despite the cost and
distance. As mentioned before, all of
the moai were toppled during the war, but many have now been raised and
restored to their (almost) former glory.
The island has only one town – Hanga Roa – but I was easily able to venture
outside the town and around the island in various different ways. I did an organized tour one day, rented a
bicycle another day, and rented a van with a group of people from my
accommodation.
A few highlights of my time on Rapa Nui:
Camping hostel:
I stayed at a camping hostel. It is a unique concept and executed very
nicely. I had my own little tent and
there is very clean bathroom block and fully-equipped kitchen on the
premises. I also hung out mostly with
some of the people that were on my flight (we all had shared transport from the
airport). There were six Chileans and
one Peruvian and only one of them spoke a little English (but not too
much). It was good Spanish practice. Hola Jean Carlos, Alexis, Elcira, Javier, y Lisette
(y tus padres!) Espero que ustedes estan
leyendo este articulo con la ayuda de Google Translate!
Hanga Roa:
The little town has only a handful of attractions. There are various maoi that have been
restored within walking distance. As the
town is on the west side of the island, the coastal area where the moai are is
a perfect place for watching sunset, which I did on three of my nights. The pink and red colours were stunning. The museum in town is exceptional and was a
great starting point for my tour of the island.
It has a rare female moai on display, as well as excellent signage and
displays on Polynesian culture (including something like a hangi dinner and
many other similarities with New Zealand), geography, and wildlife (with
several similar birds to the Galapagos).
The airport is right near town.
You may not know this but I’m an airplane and airport geek. The runway was built long enough to be an
emergency landing spot for the space shuttle and it was so eerie to see this
long ass runway totally empty – not a plane in sight – after the daily flight
came and went. Also in town is a church
and some fairly lacklustre souvenir markets.
Rano Raraku:
This archeological site was one of the first major sites I
visited. It’s actually a volcano and was
the quarry where the giant moai were carved.
As the carving ceased during the war, the volcano exhibits many moai in
different stages of construction – many still attached to the rock and not yet
carved out of their initial spots. This
is the only place on the island where some moai were technically left standing
– though they weren’t finished yet so it doesn’t quite count. One of the moai that was a work in progress
would have been the largest on the island had it been finished, coming in at
20.5 metres tall and likely weighing between 190 and 200 tonnes. It is still attached to the volcano on its
backside and was never lifted. The
inside of the crater features more moai being carved, which means they had to
get these giant statues first out of the crater and then down to the
coast. How they did it back in the day is
a guess, though many scientists have theories.
The site is also home to a seated moai. The seated moai is super rare as there are
only three. Nobody knows if these are
primitive moai or if these were more advanced at the end of the moai era just
prior to the war.
Tongariki:
Quite possibly the most famous site on the island, Tongariki
features fifteen restored, standing moai on one long ahu. The tallest of the lot is 9 metres high and
weighs 76 tonnes. One of the moai even
wears its topknot (possibly representing a hairstyle or hat). The topknots are separate pieces that go on
top of the heads and are carved out of a different volcanic rock. The Japanese archeologists that restored the
site did not want to put the topknots back on the moai as they had been badly eroded. The local workers decided to take it upon
themselves to use their big machinery after hours to reattach one of the
topknots as they wanted to see what it would look like. The archeologists discovered it the next
morning and let it stay.
Aside from my organized tour here, I also went back super
early the next morning with the hostel crew to watch sunrise over the giant
statues. It was here that I saw one of
the most remarkable sights on the island:
a guy smoking weed while laying down and pitching a tent in his little
shorts if you know what I mean. Later,
he began doing yoga, took off his shirt, and blasted music. Terrible tourist. But he was pretty hot.
Anakena:
This archeological site is actually on a gorgeous beach. I went with my tour to learn about the
history of the site. The row of restored
moai on the main ahu on the beach are the best preserved of any on the island
because they were buried underneath the sand and thus protected from the
elements. They all still have their
topknots and well-defined facial features.
Another moai further down the beach stands alone. At 3 metres tall and 45 tonnes, the solo moai
is shorter and wider than most of the others – leading experts to believe it is
more primitive. This moai is special
because it was the first to be lifted back to a standing position in 1956. Dubbed the “Norwegian experiment” (because it
was led by a Norwegian team), it took 18 Rapa Nui men a total of 16 days to
lift the statue without machinery. It
was an experiment – not a true restoration.
The first true restoration on the island was in 1960.
I also went back to Anakena beach the next day with my new
friends to take a swim in the gorgeous Pacific waters and have lunch on the
beach.
Te Pito Kura:
Another archeological site, Te Pito Kura hosts the tallest
statue moved from the quarry – a 9.5 metre moai (12 metres if you include the
topknot) weighing in at 88 tonnes. It
sits a distance of 7 km from the quarry.
How did these people move it? This
statue – being the tallest – was the one that was the last to be toppled during
the war. The site also includes the
“magnetic rock”. This large, smooth rock
has a magnetic element and will mess with your compass. Locals believe it has what they call “mana” –
like a good life force – and that touching the rock can help you gain fertility
or cure ailments. Unfortunately, the
rock has been walled off because some tourists are fuckwits. I’m looking at you, aroused stoned topless
yoga guy. The local legend is that the
first king brought the rock with him from his previous island, but scientists
believe the rock is likely from Rapa Nui based on its composition.
Orongo:
The most unique site on the island consist, Orongo consists
of a big ass volcano crater and ruins of the only religious ceremonial village
on the island. The village – built on
the super steep volcanic rim – was built for the followers of the bird-man cult
which dominated the island through the warfare time. Part of the village ruins have been
restored. A small museum talks about the
bird-man cult and the annual bird-man competition, were the Rapa Nui men would
swim out to nearby islands and wait for migratory birds to lay their eggs. The man who got the first egg won. The islands are visible just offshore, though
getting too close to the edge is scary given the 300 metre drop off from the
rim of the volcano to the ocean below.
Other archeological sites:
I visited a few other sites on my organized tour and my day
with the bicycle. Akahanga is a site
with a lot of toppled moai. Vaihu also
has toppled moai with scattered topknots and a circular ceremonial centre. Vinapu features a wall built in the style of
the Incas and provides some of the strongest evidence of encounters between
these two ancient civilizations.
Pure sex:
Wait – did I just say “pure sex”? I don’t know where that came from. I meant to say “traditional dance show.” Sorry.
On my first night, I went with my little group to the Kari Kari
“Cultural Ballet”. The show is sort of
like the one I saw in the Maori village in New Zealand, and I imagine it’s not
too far removed from a luau (I’ll get to Hawaii one day). The only difference: the Rapa Nui men are hot. HOT.
FUCKING HOT. Like, OMG HOT. How have these men been kept a secret? Now, I don’t recall the Maori in New Zealand
being all that impressive, but that may be because a lot of them have rugby
player builds and I’m just not into that.
But these men – these men were thin but toned. They were sweating while they did their
traditional dance. Also, I saw
balls. BALLS! Do you know why I saw balls? Because these men were barely wearing
anything at all. No shirts. No shorts.
Just little coverings on their man parts. While some had underwear on underneath, at
least one was freeballing under his little covering. With all that dancing and all that flopping,
the berries were bound to pop out to say hi.
I also saw buns. Like, the back
was a thong. OMG.
One lucky bitch got pulled up from the audience and these
gorgeous men all danced around her in a circle.
I hate her. At the end, there were
opportunities to take photos with the dancers.
Many of the men lined up to take pics with the lady dancers (yes, there
were lady dancers in skimpy underwear and coconut bras but fuck if I was paying
any attention to them…) and all the women were lining up to get pics with the
male dancers. I debated it, but it’s not
as liberal as other places and I didn’t want to be that creepy gay guy. In hindsight, fuck all that. I should have done it.
All those men.
Polynesia has shot up my rankings.
Food:
Like everything else on the island, food is super
expensive. Unfortunately, that means I
didn’t spring for one of the traditional Polynesian dinners which seem to be
exclusively at the swankier places.
There are a handful of reasonably priced little restaurants on the
island, and I did end up eating at the same few places more than once during my
four days there. The only real
traditional food I ate was a poe – a banana brownie that has no chocolate. It was good, but I was disappointed. The guy said brownie so I was expecting at
least some chocolate. The poe can also
be made with pumpkin or other fruit or vegetables… but not chocolate. I also had a beer from the Mahina brewery
which is local to Rapa Nui.
Transport:
I just want to say that my flights to and from Rapa Nui on
LAN’s (Chile’s main airline) Boeing 787 Dreamliner were wonderful. I had a window on the way in and got amazing
views of the island on approach. I also had
the last row, which I chose because it was the only window seat available. The last row was actually a 2-3-2
configuration rather than a 3-3-3. I had
a ton of extra legroom, a foot rest, more of a recline angle, room on the side
of my seat where I could set my bag, and two tray tables (one on the chair in
front of me and one in my armrest). I
could keep my laptop out during meal service.
The staff were super friendly in both English and Spanish and the food
was pretty good too. After that
experience, I opted to choose the back row for the return leg too when I
checked in.
I had originally thought that I wouldn’t need much time on
Easter Island because it’s small and it’s basically just moai after moai of
archeological sites, but there’s a lot I didn’t get to do: a bunch of hiking, one whole side of the
island, different beaches, and more.
Maybe I’ll go back one day or maybe I’ll opt to explore different
Polynesian islands first. Who knows.
After Easter Island, I headed back to Santiago for a few
more days with Claudio before jetting off to my last new country of the gap year: Peru.
But first, let me take a selfie.
To see more photos of my time in Easter Island, follow this
link:
