Advertisement
Published: February 10th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Surfer Crossing
Kate knew she´d like Easter Island as soon as she saw this. Because it took so long for us to add photos to our past two entries (please check them out), I was going to treat you to an entry with nothing BUT photos. However, the photo gods continue to hate us, and I cannot post Tahiti photos at this time, so I´ve given up on the photos-only idea altogether.
Tahiti in a nutshell: Air Tahiti is a dream, and if you ever go to French Polynesia, try to score a flight with them. We arrived at the airport, and the greeting was what I associate Hawaiian greetings in movies: pretty smiling chicks handed you flowers and a band of little old men played traditional music.
As we were figuring out how to get from the airport to our hostel, two young, lost-looking Swedes asked Kate where she was staying and how she was getting there. We took Robin (The Swedish Tiger) and John (The Swedish Stallion) under our wing and wound up traveling with them for nine days because of matching itineraries. They´re a mere twenty-one years of age, so they needed our assistance. They would argue that we are old and needed two young men to carry our walkers,
Approaching Our First Moais
Kate appropriately called this the pilgrimage shot. but they aren´t wise enough to know how things work yet.
We stayed on the Isle of Moorea. Kate and I were psyched to score a double room for the price of dorm beds (because dorm beds were sold out). We walked to ¨town´ (a few shops) to buy groceries for the week, and then started the beaching. As Kate said, Tahiti is just like Gauguin painted it. Huge rolling hills. Avocado trees and papaya trees around every corner. Sand on the beach so soft in spots, it feels like talcum powder. Absolutely clear water. Tiny, beautiful fish everywhere you look in the water, and coral reefs scattered throughout. You can walk up to a reef and glance at it from above to see more exotic fish (the expensive ones from pet stores), or you can rent or borrow snorkel gear, go out farther, and see a few sting rays or a shark. I didn´t do the going-out-far-enough-to-see-a-shark bit. I felt a bit awkward in the water at first though because it seemed like every step i took must be crushing a future reef or something, but by day three I´d figured out how to enjoy it. It´s a
shallow swim. There are no waves, and the water is warm. We went to the beach every day. Some days hordes of gnats would appear from nowhere, so Kate came up with the solution of taking her book with her into the ocean where the gnats wouldn´t bother to go. Genius. Besides the beach, we played a lot of cards with the Swedes. One night we were joined by Natalie the German (a.k.a. Miss Never Forgets a Single Rule in Kings), Tino the Sketchy Alcoholic Groundskeeper, ?? the Grumpy Alcoholic Campsite Manager Lady, and Marco the Italian Hovercraft Operator Who Told Me the Only Way I´d Get a Free Ride Was If I Wore a G-String. That night was interesting. The later, crazier night (if you consider antics like running around a pole ten times and then doing a cartwheel ¨crazy¨) was a smaller event with the Swedes and Natalie (a.k.a. the Normal Crew).
I thought Tahiti would be more packed with fancy resorts, and perhaps the main Isle of Tahiti or its other Isles are, but Moorea, thought definitely way expensive, felt remote and clean.
We arrived in Easter Island very short on sleep. Our final night
Rano Raruki
They´re everywhere you go. in Moorea was the ¨crazy¨ one, and because of time changes our four hours of sleep on the plane had to count as our next night´s rest, so our first day on Rapa Nui (the local name for the island) was sluggish. We wandered around Hanga Roa, the main town where 70% of the population of the island (under 4000) lives. We were lucky enough to have visited during Festival Tapati, an annual event with cultural performances and competitions like horse racing, woodcarving, and traditional costume design. We watched an ocean swim, which looked impossible and cold, before going on our moai visit. The moais are the gigantic dude heads (with mini torsos) that have made Easter Island famous. There are nearly 600 of them, they were all (okay, 95%) carved from the same volcanic rock, and no one knows how the people who made them managed to spread them out so widely. Some have reddish hats, some have eyes painted on them (I thought the ones with eyes were creepy), some have been restored to impressive states, some have fallen over on the side of the road and are deteriorating. But they´re everywhere.
On day two we rented
a car and drove to Rano Raraku, the volcano from which the moais were formed. There are still 394 moais in various stages of completion scattered around this ¨nursery¨ of sorts. We hiked up and around the volcano, trying to comprehend how the moais were made based on the ones in what seemed to be their beginning states. Kate thinks the Polynesians were addicted to making moais, which are religious statues, but I think there are a lot of crucifixes in the world, so why not a bunch of heavy moais? Sure, they´re a bit harder to transport, but some of them have REALLY cute red hats. It was obvious that the craftsmen building the moais had to flee quickly because an incomplete product probably wouldn´t have been acceptable at that point, and neither would that great amount of moais left in one place. Lots of mystery surrounding the whole thing.
After Rano Raraku, we drove to Anakena beach, where we watched a man scale the tallest palm tree ever for coconuts and where John and Kate took a dip while Robin and I rested. The beach was beautiful, and, of course, had a bevy of moais immediately behind
Group Shot at RR
John, Moria, Robin, Kate it. I had to sit in the tent and sweat for four hours instead of continuing with the rest of the kids because I became sick, but the rest of the kids went climbing in caves and saw even more moais. Sigh. I was, however, feeling well enough to attend the big cultural show and beauty pageant that evening. The cultural show (a reenactment of ancient times for the Polynesians) was interesting, and the bands who performed were talented, but Miss Rapa Nui was the best part by far. It was the finals, so two girls were vying for the title. There was a Q&A portion (one question for each girl), a hula portion, and many, many costume changes. I think one costume was supposed to demonstrate the girls´ability to make stuff out of banana leaf, another from shells, and another from flowers. There was an extra outfit or two in there for kicks. Rosa and Helena had guts to get up there because every skirt was taken off 10 seconds after the girl appeared, so the skirt could be displayed to the crowd and judges, Rosa or Helena, holding it above her head and walking the length of the
stage several times in her traditional G-string. Needless to say, the boys loved the show. We hope Helena wins because her costumes and hula were way better, and, on the superficial side, she was prettier. We´ll have to google the results though because the winner won´t be announced until next week.
Now we´re on the mainland. Santiago was nice. A modern, South American city. Similar to Buenos Aires but not as expensive or large. Wide streets. Thus far, South American hostels are swanky. Kate and I have split apart for 8 days or so: Steph has joined me from New York, so we can explore Chile, and Jonathan has arrived from the Grand Canyon to accompany Kate to Argentina and other lovely places. We´ll both report to you on our findings. Valparaiso is cute- a lot of winding back alleys on huge hills. Steph and I have gotten lost a million times, but each time you get lost you wind up somewhere adorable. I am working on my Spanish and hope to have improved by the end of the trip. Thus far, I know enough to get by.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.118s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0545s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Donika
non-member comment
life changing experience
I had a dream last night that when you came back from your trip you were a lesbian. Just sharing. Stay safe.