I spent 6 days on Easter Island, leaving Santiago on June 29. Rapa Nui is almost 2,500 miles from the coast of South America and 2,000 miles to Tahiti. It was a long flight, but well worth it! The Polynesians who first settled the island came between 400-600AD, floating out of southeast asia on rafts and miraculously bumping into land along the way. The huge maoi statues aren't so much of a mystery either; they can be found on other polynesian islands and typically each represent a chief or spiritual leader. The figures are made out of volcanic rock found near both of the island's volcanoes, and to transport them to the shoreline, the settlers used cut logs to roll them down the hill. They are all made of a single slab of rock at least 6 feet tall and can get up to 30 feet - there is even one still carved into the cliff where they were mined that measures 65 feet, 12 tons and was left there when they realized it was too heavy to move.
There isn't much else on the island, one town on the south end where you can find all the hotels and restaurants, and only one sand beach on the north end for tomando sol. On my first tour of the island I saw the Seven Explorers at Ahu Akivi, a representation of the 7 mythical explorers who found Rapa Nui when their chief sent them out looking for a new home. The legend goes that their archipelago home of Iva was sinking and the entire community to move, and quick. Rapa Nui is the fertile land they found, and for saving their people these moai were built in their honor. These are some of the only moai that face the sea, most face the center of the island as a constant vigil over its inhabitants.
The moai statues are everywhere. You can walk five minutes from the center of town and find them, all restored in varying degrees. At the end of the moai worshipping culture, wars between tribes had begun to break out and to remove a tribes power their moai were knocked off their ceremonial platforms. Besides those fallen moai there are many that never completed their journey to the coast. Some lay face down just yards from their intended homes, but there are dozens that never even left their volcanic quarry Rano Raraku. This spot is the postcard shot we all have seen: large rectangular heads sprouting from the ground. It really does look like they have grown out of the earth. The less romantic truth is that when they could no longer be moved they were just left where they were and their pressing weight combined with overgrowth left them sunken and half covered.
I spent plenty of time hiking around - climbing extinct volcanoes, walking across deserted coastal plains, getting dirty in underground sea caves and crawling across volcanic rocks. The island was much less tropical and balmy than I pictured. In fact, little grows here, produce-wise, and it seems like the Rapa Nui people have pretty hard lives. The culture is absolutely polynesian and Chile's claim is a random political decision. My last night on the island I went to the cultural center to see traditional dancing and was completely blown away. It was beautiful and loud and upbeat, something you can't miss if you are there. There was also the obligatory audience participation...luckily I don't have photos of how embarrassing I was.
As I walked through the santiago airport to baggage claim i realized this trip is effectively over. And for the first time I felt sad. I guess previously I have skipped the sad part to the "exciting new life" part. I now see how amazing this trip has been, even if it seems so commonplace to me now. oh here I am in the middle of the amazon, here i am at the top of an incan fortress...what's new? But just 365 days before I was boating down an amazonian river I was sitting in an office in Newton, MA. And only four months before I was at the top of Waynu Picchu, I never even thought about the Inca culture. So it's safe to say my perspective has been changed completely.
In my last ten days I did mostly unremarkable things. I had a dental appointment, I made a last crazed shopping trip, I ate birthday sushi, indian food and cake, celebrating with my family. I read books, I walked around in the cold, I drank Starbucks. I wished my trip were longer but was glad to see it end. I thought about who I am and was and want to be. This is the real luxury of travel: you get to decide not just your fate, but your character. And that you really shouldn't wait for traveling to make those choices, that you don't have to go a million miles away to find yourself, you just have to decide to do it.
1: Ahu Vai Uri ceremonial moai
2: Ahu Akivi and the 7 Explorers moai
3: moai "growing" out of the ground at the Raro Ranaku rock quarry
4: (extremely attractive) rapa nui traditional dancers
5: stepmother maria teresa, me, father mario at my birthday party