A few things about Easter Island: There are only 5000 people on the island, just half of which are native to it. In fact, Easter Island is one of the largest inhabited “isolated” islands in the world. Another thing… it is hot! Well, compared to Santiago it was much warmer than anything I had encountered so far in Chile. When you think about Easter Island, it might seem quite strange that it is a part of Chile when it is, quite far from it! Turns out that the native inhabitants of the island, known as the Rapa Nui people, are actually relatives of the ancestors of New Zealand’s Maori and Hawaii’s locals… if you look on a map and draw a triangle with your fingers between the three islands, you’ll come up with the area of similar decent. No wonder! Easter Island is totally Polynesian!
The best part about the drive was picking up my driver’s niece, who seemed to take an immediate liking to me. She lined up our arms and compared how our skin color was almost identical, she played with the keychains I had hanging off my backpack, and she thoroughly enjoyed played with my hair-- pulling my curls out completely straight before letting them go, watching them bounce back into place. Once the little girl was dropped off I was next, and found out that rather than having a dorm bed like I had booked, since there was next to no-one else in the hostel, I was given a nice room all to myself! I didn’t want to waste a single moment on the island, so I dropped my stuff off, started snapping away photos, and then headed out for a walk around town. I passed some really colorful houses and simple side streets as I walked closer towards the beach and the mountains in the distance.
I didn’t want to go too far, so when I saw Tumu KiKiri Café around the corner, I popped in to get something to eat. Another home run, there was the most delicious chicken sandwich here… Momma Chef in the kitchen threw some kind of orange colored sauce on the chicken while it cooked that just made the entire thing a fantastic mouthwatering explosion. I was able to charge my phone at the same time… convenient, because I had a half day tour leaving later that afternoon. I walked a little further down past the LAN office and banks to find some large carvings which were noteworthy pieces of Rapa Nui art.
When I was met by the guide at 3:00 PM back at the hostel I gladly surrendered myself to the van that would take me around exploring for the next 3 hours. A few minutes later I met Cynthia, an Aussie girl traveling through South America partly for work. I didn’t know that we would end up spending practically our entire visits to Easter Island hanging out together! I would give you all some background on the sites and the people, but that isn’t how I experienced Easter Island. I was just thrown in, head first! So here we go…
The first site we hit was Vinapu. Hoping to see one or two of our first moai, instead we were left with the remnants of moai, having been purposefully toppled in the 18th or 19th century. This area had an ahu, or one of the ceremonial platforms the moai used to stand on before they were pushed down after their followers lost faith in them. One of the walls of the ahu, as we walked behind it, clearly displayed stonework similar to that of the Incas. Our guide gestured to the wall describing this fact, showing us the smoothly shaped and lined up work. There was no mortar in between, nothing, she told us. We took pictures in front of the moai head left on the ground before she led us over to what looked like a large red stick. “This is one of the only 10 female moai on the islands.” Really? I looked closer… our guide pointed out the breasts and vulva but I couldn’t see anything. I’d believe it when I saw one in the museum later, but not then.
As we walked back to the car (and tried to avoid the wild horses all around us) we passed a couple of “top-knots” or hairpieces of the moai lying on the ground. These hairpieces were not made for all the moai, they were in fact made after the moai were made and they were only for the important – larger – moai. We were en route now to see the quarry where the material for these top-knots were made, called Puna Pau. We were told that this crater was rich in red scoria which was a perfectly malleable material for making the top-knots, especially because the red earth resembled the dyed red hair old men would have in the culture. The real mystery, though, is how the top-knots got placed on top of the heads of the moai. Multiple theories are around, including one I was given in the literature: “…One was originally suggested by the famous Captain James Cooko, according to whom ramps would have been used to gradually lift [the top-knots] to the top of statues…[another theory suggested by] William Mulloy [proposed] that moai were erected with [top-knots] already fixed to them, using ropes and trunks.” On the other side of the site was the town Hanga Roa where we were staying, just 5000 people, just over the hill.
Next was Ahu Akivi or my favorite of all the moai sites. A site built in 3 stages, the currently re-constructed site is in the 2nd stage built in the 15th century. This site is absolutely breathtaking, with the moai looking out towards the sea (in fact, they look “…straight to the sunset during equinoxes”) rather than inward at the town they ruled over. When a person of great importance died, a moai was commissioned to represent them, and then when completed, was placed over that person’s home, with the moai facing in towards the town. Literally, the person was “looking over” the town. However, these 7 moai were different. According to oral tradition, “… these 7 moai represent the young explorers sent to explore the island before the arrival of the colonizers led by Hotu Matu’a.” Look at the insanely amazing pictures I took while there:
Our final site was a cave called Ana Te Pahu. Our guide explained that when resources on the island began to dwindle, the people started to lose faith in their ancestor figures. As a result, war broke out throughout the island among the 8 different tribal groups, resulting in the toppling of the moai. Obviously, where there is war, people needed a safe place to hide. While this cave had plenty of space open to the world, but originally was almost totally covered over with stones. This would leave just narrow passageways for people to craw through and enter. We stumbled around the cave trying not to break ourselves but eager to see all the different resources the people had at their disposal: banana trees, taro, tobacco, sugarcane, and more… this kitchen was well stocked. Our guide even pointed out a former tree stump trapped inside the volcanic stone of the cave. Can you see it?
After the cave, Cynthia and I went out for dinner. We wandered around for a little while before we found a place that seemed reasonable and served her up a pizza while I got a large chicken and cheese filled empanada! I was all chickened-out for the day after that! We had a really awesome talk over dinner and found that we could relate quite a bit to each other! Unfortunately the waiter could only take pictures of us that look like they have been blessed by the spirits of the Rapa Nui ancestors…
The next morning was a 9:00 am wake-up call to visit the Orongo ancient dwellings. We had to file in (there were a lot more of us this time) and sign our names on a piece of paper before getting a little white slip and being told DO NOT LOSE THIS. Oh, really? I took that little slip of paper and shoved it into my pocket. Remember this moment, this will become crucial later. Our guide led us outside and started pointing out the house structures to us: “…[there was only] a single room, of elliptic plant, with thick double-walls made of stone slabs and filled with earth. [The] roof consists of a group of progressively overlapped slabs until large central stones close the room from above. Earth and grass cover protects houses from rain and consolidates the whole structure.” Each house had its own little terrace area, and had multiple paintings or carvings commemorating various rituals. Near one of these houses were some rock carvings representing some of the rituals as well.
One of these rituals was that of the bird-man cult. The Rapa Nui people believed in a religion where their chief god “Makemake” was also the head of the birdman cult. Now while it is unclear if this religion co-existed with the Moai-worship based religion or came after it, it helped to shape one of the festivals that is held in February every year today. Which is a race! Various chiefs of different tribes would each appoint a hopu to fetch them a special egg. This egg was that of the sooty tern, a seabird whose nests were located on the island of Motu Nui, which you can see in my pictures. Not a very close swim, huh? Obviously many of the hopu would die in this race between the shark-infested waters, the high cliffs, and the long stretches of swimming. After they reached Motu Nui, they stayed on the island for days, potentially weeks, searching and hoping for an egg.
Once someone found an egg, they had to bring that egg back to Orongo and present it to their tribal leader. The “winner” (the leader, not the guy who did all the work) was made the “Tangata-Manu.” The Tangata-Manu would then, “… take the egg in his hand and lead a procession down the slope of Rano Kau and on either to Anakena if he was from the western clans or Rano Raraku if he was from the eastern clans. Once in residence there he was tapu (taboo) for the next five months of his year-long status, and allowed his nails to grow and wore a headdress of human hair. The new Tangata-Manu was given a new name, entitled to gifts of food and other tributes (including his clan having sole rights to collect that season's harvest of wild bird eggs and fledglings from Motu Nui), and went into seclusion for a year in a special ceremonial house.”
After taking a bunch of pictures of the volcanic crater the village was positioned by (and really, really wishing I would be back in February when the re-enact the competition) we got back in the car to drive to another one of the unique sites for today: the Moai with eyes! While most people know the Moai as having big empty, kinda creepy looking eye sockets… some of them actually originally had eyes! Now it is not certain if the eyes were temporarily placed in the Moai for ceremonies or if they were perminant fixtures, but one thing is for sure: Moai did literally LOOK down on the village they guarded! The eyes of the Moai are made of white coral and red scoria (the same material as the top-knots) – and I honestly think Moai having eyes is significantly creepier than them having empty eye sockets. On the other side of the Moai with eyes was a row of Moai without… but still looking awesome. You can really see in the photos how the Moai represented distinct members of importance in Rapa Nui society. Like the Terra Cotta Warriers, while they seem quite similar at first, when you keep looking the difference in the details begins to emerge. A shorter face here, a longer nose there, etc. etc. Each a little different!
Our guide dropped Cynthia and I off at the museum nearby, which had a textbook amount of information. Literally, we were given a large stack of print-outs on our way in – English translations of all the signs posted on the walls. 19,000 pages later, I understood the following: the Rapa Nui people used double canoes; their island was the result of 70 secondary volcanic centers and 3 main ones; their existence was in 3 stages – a Population Phase where the Polynesians arrived to the island (400 to 800 AD,) a Ahu Moai Phase which is when the Moai were in full swing (800 AD to 1680,) and a Huri Moai Phase when the Moai were toppled and the birdman cult took over (1680 to 1864.) I also learned that when the Europeans came across Easter Island they found three different groups of people: "...Dark skinned, Red skinned, and very Pale skinned with red hair." It was here in the museum that I encountered another example of a female Moai (now, THIS, I’ll believe!) and the most complete authentic eyes from a Moai (those on the Moai with eyes are just replicas.)
When we were tired of leafing through our little booklets, Cynthia and I started to ask about how to make our way back to the town. Luckily, Rachel, an American visiting from Santiago, happened to hear our call for help and offered to walk with us – she was heading back to town as well. We passed by the Moai with eyes yet again before stumbling upon a graveyard and, after moving away from that, passing by the decorative yet quiet church of the Rapa Nui people. The outside of the church was covered in ancient symbols, which really speaks volumes about the beliefs still in existence on the island. Cynthia, Rachel, and I stopped for a bite to eat and since we were all staaaaarving we ordered the same chicken, avocado, cheese sandwiches and waited eagerly for their arrival. As we chatted we realized we would all be heading back to Santiago on the same plane. Perhaps a meet up there?
Cynthia and I decided after lunch that we wanted to hit the shops and see what they had on offer. Rachel was off for her dive to see an underwater Moai so she didn’t join us. At some point during the day we ended up passing the sign for a dance show recommended to me called “Kari Kari.” After enquiring about the time, (it didn’t start until 9:00 pm that night so we had a lot of time to kill) we walked around buying little gifts for friends and having our eyes peeled for any small Moai statues that might be of interest to us. I bought a couple of things over the next few days that I’ll snap some photos of and show off here: (except, of course, some of the gifts!) For dinner we decided that some chicken and cheese empanadas sounded perfect. Although, we did have to keep them away from the dogs! Like Bali, the dogs rule the streets at night here on Easter Island! (And the cats just lay around!)
Our show for the evening was the dance performance “Kari Kari.” Dancers jumped onstage in their traditional costumes, reminding me of Hula dancers, and started to wow the audience. One thing was blatantly obvious at the show: judging from many of the dancers onstage, there was no shortage of fit Rapa Nui men on the island!
In the morning I woke up quite wide-eyed and eager: finally to see the biggest and best of the Moai! A full day tour with lunch included was on the agenda for Sunday, starting with a visit to Ahu Akahanga, another ceremonial platform structure. However, first I was informed we MUST have the little white paper we were given the day before. What? I somehow missed the memo that we needed that paper for the rest of our trip, not just for the whole of the previous day. I quickly glanced and shuffled through my purse before spending plenty of time digging through my room, my clothes, my trashcan… until I returned to the bus without it only to find it in my purse! Just when I was about to give up! It was good I found it, because I think you have to pay something like $60.00 otherwise.
Anyways, according to the posted signage, Ahu Akahanga was a ceremonial platform consisting of “…several stages of different ahu that were built up upon one another during different stages of construction. This [style] reveals the mixture of clans and families that occurred in old society.” The first thing our guide turned us towards was a little oven. The Rapa Nui people cooked in a pit such as the one I took a photo of below. This hole has stones heated with fire and layers of food (sweet potatoes, taro, fish, etc.) are placed in like an oven with leaves separating them. There were multiple cave dwellings in this area as well. Unfortunately, the Moai here have been toppled off their ahu and left down. Really hope that restoration work comes in soon! Although, I did hear through the grapevine that it is likely being held up by a grumpy elder who, in a struggle for power, has simply decided (without a specific reason) to say ‘No’ to UNESCO’s offers and funding to repair many more than the 50 standing Moai currently. What a boom of travel that would bring to the island!
Next was one of the coolest sites on the island: what I dubbed, the Moai graveyard. Because they are all just scattered around half dead/half alive looking! But I should really be calling it the Moai birthplace, not graveyard. This area was the original quarry where the Moai were carved and shaped, before they “walked” down the hillside (my favorite theory) to their final resting place. One of the theories about how the Moai were moved was that they “walked upright.” According to the Wiki: “…Charles Love experimented with a 10-ton replica. His first experiment found rocking the statue to walk it was too unstable over more than a few hundred yards. He then found that placing the statue upright on two sled runners atop log rollers, 25 men were able to move the statue 150 feet (46 m) in two minutes.” This also would explain the rapid deforestation of Easter Island, along with the extinction of palm tree species, which most likely eventually led to the chaos and war between tribes over resources. Moai-worshippers believing their ancestors had stopped watching over them, and down came the Moai, ahu and all.
Oh! Take a look at the only Moai with legs, also known as the “kneeling Moai”:
Cynthia and our guide:
Many of the Moai in this quarry were in the process of being completed. There were a few gigantic Moai (I couldn’t even fit the whole thing in the picture!) in the stage of construction as well. One of the Moai here (which is now totally buried) has carvings on it exactly like those on the Moai I purchased. If you look carefully at his back, you can see the sun, a rainbow, rain, and a little moon. The Moai somewhere here in the quarry bares the same markings! (I declare, find him!... Don't look in the picture, he is buried, remember? I meant for the researchers to!)
Carvings in Moai:
The biggest of them all is next: Ahu Tongariki! Here there are 15 standing Moai on the largest ahu in the park. There was nothing to do here but take some incredible photos (and a disturbing caution sign):
We had two stops left before our tour for the day would conclude. The first was at a “magnetic” stone which, when we placed either handheld compasses or iPhone compasses next to it would “lose” the way north. The second was Anakena beach where you could sit in the sand and watch Moai and the surf at the same time. Awesome! After the long day, I was ready to pass out. I said goodbye to Cynthia on the bus and skipped dinner, falling straight asleep when I returned to my hostel room. I did see her, and Rachel, again the next morning as we all did have the same flight out. I later heard that the power went out the following day, making the timing of my trip all the more perfect. Thank you, Easter Island!
Francesca
