Easter Island

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(Matt)- Time Warp -

Due to the restrictions of our round-the-world plane ticket we had to fly from Auckland (NZ) over Easter Island to Santiago (Chile) and then back to Easter Island. Just a jump to the right and a step to the left (if you know the song don´t get pedantic!).

Know as 'Rapa Nui´ to the locals and ´Isla de Pascua´ in Spanish, our long route to Easter Island crossed numerous time zones and the International Date Line. I was slightly dissappointed that more wasn´t made of crossing the date line, maybe a big party where we could all have got drunk and had a go at flying the plane, instead we lost 24 hours with barely a whimper!

We left Auckland at 5.30pm and arrived in Santiago five hours earlier than when we left. We then flew to Easter Island arriving at 8.30pm, three hours on the clock after we left Auckland but actually over 22 hours of travelling. It all reminds me of a quote from one of Woody Allen´s films -

¨I’m so distraught, over this, I can’t tell you. I’ll kill myself. I’ll go back to Paris and jump off the Eiffel Tower. I’ll be dead. If I get the Concorde, I could be dead hours earlier.

Or, wait a minute...

with the time change... I could be alive hours in New York, but dead hours in Paris. I could get things done, and also be dead.¨

Spaced Out
One of the first things we noticed about Easter Island was the massive modern looking runway (over 2km long). I thought this place was supposed to be remote! Apparently, the runway cost millions and was part of a NASA project which would provide a spacecraft landing site, I also read that they destroyed an ancient monument while building it but we won´t talk about that, doh!

Easter Island´s connection with space doesn´t end there. Many people believe that the huge stone carved statues (called Moai, I was disappointed the islanders didn´t produce a champagne called Moai but I digress!) were placed on the island by aliens. We weren´t really buying this, as Richard Dawkins once famously said - ´It´s important to keep and open mind but not so open that one´s brain falls out´.

Move Yer Big Head
We loved the Moai statues. Which was a good job because they are everywhere (887 currently registered) and scattered over the rather small 64sq miles of the island. It´s amazing to think that between 800-1600AD Britain saw Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Normans, the medieval period, Tudors and Stewarts while the people of Easter Island built massive statues carved out of the rockface (they probably did other stuff too!). Then around 1600 to 1800 something just as amazing as the statues happened.

I am the Egg Man, coo coo ca choo
While Britain was having an Industrial Revolution, on Easter Island the Chieftans of each village would nominate someone to compete in a dangerous swim to a small island to collect the first Sooty Tern (it´s a type of bird) egg of the season and bring it back unbroken. My understanding is that the winner would be crowned Tangata manu, have all their hair (including eyelashes) shaved off and then made to live a solitary existence for a year until the next competition was held. Despite being a bit of a miserable prize for winning they were also considered the head honcho of the island for a year, so it wasn´t all bad!

There are many carved pictures of Tangata man on the island and it has become known as the Birdman cult.

History Today
Enough with the history... Sorry, I don´t know what got into me!

Easter Island is incredibly remote but still has a town with restauraunts and shops. We had a great five days exploring the place (by foot, jeep and quad bike) as Gordon Ramsay would say, ´Easter Island, done´. We are now ready to start the South American part of our trip with the first stop in Ecuador, hooya.

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Photos

Tongariki Moai
In the backgroud obviously!

Man down, man down!
The Usual Suspects in the background

Rano Raraku
This is the site where they carved out the statues. These ones are full size but are buried in lava from a nearby volcano.

Orongo Village
This was an important site for the birdman cult. You can see the carving in the foreground and the destination in the background.

Birdman
Moto Nui is the small island in the background that the competitors had to swim to. Doesn´t look that far!

Comments

[Sophie]

Wowzers!
OMG it looks so fab!!! I'm particularly lovin' the first pic- statues, sea and a horse, what more could a person ask for!?!?! Looking forward (but also quite jealous) to read the next blogs for your South American adventure. Buena suerte y felices viajes! xx

[Raziel]

well, i'd like to inform you the origin of the Moai statue and how could it placed there. the history began when polinesian people discovered the Easter Island.when they arrived, the island was full of plants, animals, just like heaven. As the polynesians lived peacefully, they began to show how sophisticated their civilization was. so, they carved many stones and cutted many trees around the island. the conclusion is that the Moai origin was from the polynesians people who wanted to show how great they were.

[robert]

how much
do you know the most economy way to get to easter island from Santiago? what do you recommend while visiting Chile.? If you only have two weeks to see as much as possible.