March 06 - Introduction to Rapa Nui (Easter Island)
Our guide picked us up after breakfast and we headed off to
explore the island & learn so much we didn’t know about this strange and fascinating island.
Our first lesson was that the name Easter Island was not the name
used by the indigenous people. It was given by the foreigners who discovered
the island on Easter Sunday. The local people use the name Rapa Nui which comes
from the name of the island in Tahiti (Rapa) and Nui means bigger which was the
name given by the Polynesian people who came and settled here in huge canoes.
They called it the Navel of the World.
Easter Island has a population of 8000 and zero unemployment. It is supported by Chile but they have a very definite cultural difference. There is a mayor appointed by the people and a head appointed by Chile.
With zero tax, its a fairly poor island relying on the supply airline LATAM airways which allows all locals an 82Kg baggage allowance a nd mos tof its income if from tourism and currently there are about 100,000 visitors a year. Tnere are still a lot of imports but fishing and farming are the mainstay although every inhabitant has an automatic right to land and so economic model is very different.....
So to pur first site of the day, Tahal where we learned that the heads
represent the ancestors of a clan. The heads all face inwards from the sea as
they channel the positive spirit of the ancestors back to the living
descendants. The Moai are all statues representing ancestors and if they are in
groups they are all descendants of the same clan. The Moai were to signify
stature and respect for elders and were expensive for a clan to do. They wanted
to do this as the Rapa Nui believed their good fortune came from being looked
after by their forebears and these statues were tributes to them.
Each Maoi is mounted on a platform called an Ahu and in front of
this there are stones which cover the
umbilical cords of babies of that clan. Again the link to navels that is key to
the beliefs and to the island being the navel of the world.
1896
This first Moai was a special one as it was the only one remaining
with eyes. All the Moai had eyes, but they were made from coral and so didn't
stand the test of time, so this was the only one on the island with eyes.
1894
From here we drove across the island which was also really
interesting.
It is verdant, green and has the most beautiful flowers, wild
horses, a stunning coastline with high surf breakers and turquoise sea, very
beautiful. It has a high rainfall so is very like a tropical island in
vegetation which wasn't what we had expected at all when we came here. We
expected a barren and austere environment, but it is very different to that.
This probably came from the most common photos of the island from the 1950’s
when it was barren. We would learn why over the next couple of days…
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| Janette cooling her feet in the very warm Pacific water |
We went to the next site called Anakena which was where the first
canoes landed and where the early kings of Rapa Nui lived. These Maoi are royal
Maoi and have different carvings on their backs to represent the way they tied
their loin cloths which signify their status within the society.
These are smaller Maoi and it is believed they were because they
didn't need to impress with size for status as they were royal lineage.
The area here is very beautiful with a palm fringed beach leading
into the warm Pacific sea & is used by the locals as a weekend beach area
with picnics and food stalls selling fresh juices and snacks.
We all felt the need to at least have a paddle !!
On then to Te Pito Kura. This is the site of the last Maoi to be
put in place and also where there is a stone they call the navel of the world.
They believe this stone was brought by the first king and has special Mana
(positive energy) from the ancestors. Geological tests have shown it to be the
only stone on the island to be high in magnetic iron.
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| We called them "The 15" each one about 10-12m tall Note the one second from right - its the hair bun still very much in use with Polynesian peoples today |
From here we went on to Tongariki. At this site there were 15 Moai
on a platform. These were all different generations from the same clan.
This site had been decimated by a huge tsunami in 1960 which had
washed the Moai 150m inland.
The site had been rebuilt but when they were cataloguing the Moai after the tsunami, they discovered remains from 33 Moai and
discovered that they had built new Moai on top on the older ones, using them as
part of the platform. With a stunning sea & cliff backdrop, this was a very
atmospheric site.
Our afternoon visit was to Rano Raraku a quarry...............but
one with a difference.
We had no idea the scale of the Maoi production, so this site just
blew us away.
This was where the Maoi were from and surprisingly each Moai was carved in situ and then moved down the hillside down the road of the Moai to then be sent on its way to the its final site.
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| Production is in situ here is one half way through |
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| Moai production line Production stopped at the outbreak of a war |
This place was just unbelievable. Firstly, the sheer number of
Moai that had been made & mounted round the island, then the massive number
in the quarry under each stage of production, the painstaking task of carving
these huge figures which took on average 40 men 9 months to complete and lastly,
the sheer scale of the work that had been carried out and under way, we had no
idea there were so many of these originally.
Then having completed the Maoi, they then had to move them up to
25km from the quarry to their ahu (platform) and install them.
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| imagine the disappointment if 40 people took 9 months to build it and it broke in transit like these !! |
There was a route out of the quarry which was littered with broken
Moai that had been damaged at this last stage as they were taken down the Maoi
road. Imagine breaking one of these after a 9 month project….
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| Even with block and high factor sun cream we were all struggling with the intense heat and humidity |
By now we were completely melted as we had done all of this
walking in the heat of the day with massive humidity and a very high UV level.
Even with factor 50 sunscreen we all had bits that had burnt so we
went back to the hotel, jumped in the pool to cool off and try & absorb
what we had seen.
We finished off with drinks in a little bar on the ocean with a
good breeze, stunning Pacific view and watched the beautiful sunset over the breakers & surfers.
What a place….astounding history, paradise scenery and fantastic island spirit ...we have been so lucky to be here and it is as removed from our expectation as it could be.
