September 19, 2018

September 19, 2018

Outside our hotel in Santiago, Chile is a reproduction of a Moai from Rapa Nui, or more familiarly Easter Island, reminding us that it belongs to Chile. That seems a cool place to visit so we check out of our hotel and transfer to the airport for a flight to Easter Island. Incredibly it is a 2200-mile 5.5 hour flight due west into the Pacific, making it the most isolated inhabited spot in the world.

Having been to Hawaii and Tahiti, I have been fascinated by the Polynesians who settled these islands. What drove these Stone Age people to leave their homes, set off in an oversize canoe into the unknown ocean, surviving for weeks and weeks, until they stumble upon an island that would support them. What incredible mariners they must have been. How many of them died before finding a spot to land, and how many died if it happened their new home couldn’t support human habitation? This Polynesian Diaspora makes Columbus’ Voyage of 1492 look like a walk in the park.

Once we got off the plane something came over us. I don't know if it was the warm weather, the ocean, or the palm trees, but we immediately felt relaxed like we were on a vacation from our vacation. Our landlord met us outside the terminal, greeted us with a fresh flower lei, and then gave us the dime tour of Hanga Roa, the one and only town on the island. Most of the rest of the island is part of Rapa Nui National Park.

Easter Island is small, only fourteen miles long, discovered in 1722 on Easter Sunday. Then only visited briefly for another 150 years. The triangular island was formed from three volcanoes. Our room sits at the base of the one named Rano Kau. After getting settled, we drove to the top of the crater rim. The caldera is steep and wide with a mossy lake at the bottom.

At the end of the road on the far rim of the crater is the Orongo ceremonial center. Just off shore are three tiny islands that seagulls used to nest on. At one point, the Rapa Nui determined the Island Chief from a Bird Man competition. When the birds returned to nest, contestants would climb down the volcanic cliff, swim out onto the island and steal an egg. Whoever brought back the first intact egg would become Bird Man and ruler for the year.

The stone houses the contestants lived in have been reconstructed. They look like the passage tombs we saw in Scotland.

Back down in Hanga Roa, we had dinner at a restaurant on the water. We ate a delicious fish stir-fry with curry sauce.

Nearby is Ahu Tahai, a platform with five Moai. As we were getting out of the car, Aimee got a thrill with two Rapa Nui men running by, clad only in tattoos and a tiny thong loincloth. It is too late to investigate the site but just in time to get a nice sunset pic.

We have to be careful staying out too late. Like Arizona, it gets dark quickly and we barely figured out how to return to our cabana before it became pitch dark. Amusingly we followed the shore road behind a guy galloping home on a horse. The biggest danger driving on Rapa Nui is the wild horses running free over the island.