Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Chile - 3-9 December 2008

Above: @ Ahu Tongariki

Iorana, my dear readers. I was all glee and jubilation on Wednesday, December 3rd, when the Lan Chile flight I was on landed (5 hours after take-off from Santiago, Chile) on one of my highly anticipated destinations yet – the most remote inhabited island of Rapa Nui, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and 3,700 km west of South America. Better known as Easter Island to the masses or Isla de Pascua to the Chileans, the island with a population of 4,500 did not disappoint. As untouched as one could possibly expect in today’s time, it was an astounding and enlivening experience to navigate the dirt roads (both on foot and on a rental mountain bike) in the strong Pacific sun, perpetual blue sky and high winds to see the various moai and ahu scattered all over the island. 

The mana (or energy of the earth) was spoken off with reverence here on this island of volcanic rocks, hills, craters, steep coasts and crystal blue waters. Legend had it that the moai were carved from volcanic rocks (out of quarry hills) and then carefully transported and placed on the ahu (or stone altars) as a way to honor ancestors and request protection and the transfer of mana on the families who commissioned the moai. This would explain why all the moai (with the exception of the unique 7 moai which faced the sea, but also overlooked a village) faced inward with their backs to the ocean.

Still, there was a downside to this ‘almost-paradise’ land which formed a part of the Polynesian triangle (encased by Hawaii and New Zealand on the other ends). I was revolted by the treatment and regard of foreign tourists (especially those of Asian-descent) by a few Rapa Nuians. Not only was genuine hospitality lacking, there brewed (with this ignorant and out-dated group of what I positively regarded to be an anomaly) an implicit arrogance or superiority in their being ‘Rapa Nuian’ – the explanation of which I could only attribute to their being extensively remote from the rest of the modern globalized world. However, as I had learned in my travels, for every bad that happened, a good would (almost) immediately turn it around. So to be fair, I did meet a fair number of kind and sincere Rapa Nuians on the island. All in, my week-long sojourn at Easter Island had been nothing but a relaxing, enriching and fulfilling experience.

Above: Dusk @ Ahu Tahai
 

Above left: Ahu Vai Uri; Above right: Ahu Tahai (foreground) and Ahu Ko Te Riku

Above: Posing next to a fallen moai
 

Above left: @ Ahu Tongariki;
Above right: View of the Rano Raraku Quarry in the background
 

Above left: The fallen red 'hats' of the moai;Above right: Posing near the famous 15 moai at Ahu Tongariki
 

Above right: Half-carved and half-buried moai @ Rano Raraku Quarry (where presumably 600 unfinished moai exist)
 

Above: The palms @ Anakena beach
 

Above right: Ahu Nau Nau @ Anakena
 

Above: The unique Ahu Akivi where 7 moai stand facing the sea but overlooking a village

Above left: It was H-O-T (mucho calor!) there on Easter Island;
Above right: A moai @ Hanga Kioe
 

 
Above: Surrounded by acres and acres of nothing but the Pacific Ocean, the nearest populated landmass was Pitcairn, 1,900 km east from Rapa Nui

Above: The rest of the island (away from Hanga Roa) was still untouched - dirt roads, shrubs, few trees and no water or electricity
 

Above: A local cemetery - facing the setting sun and ocean on the west
 

Above: The famous crater lake at Rano Kau, filled with tortoral reeds
 

Above: Guanavana fruit - sweet, ripe and plucked fresh from the trees (on the hike down from Rano Kau), hence free :)
 

Above: Luke - a real inspiration for his courageous and more-than-a-year-long journey on bicycle from Los Angeles to the targeted city of Ushuaia (in Argentina and the southernmost point on the continent)
 

Above: Believe it or not, there was still free lunch on earth - shown here, meat braised so tender (in Polynesian 'umu'-style), it practically fell off its bones
 

Above: A gorgeous sunset in Rapa Nui