Easter Island/Rapa Nui

February 21, 2014

Had to come here 'cause it's on the way back home. Ignoring the fact that actually to get home we have to fly back to Santiago de Chile and then to Auckland. Anyway, good excuse to come, it seemed like it would be on the way home.

Fabulous spot. Tiny island in the middle of the Pacific. Had another “Duh!!!!” moment – it's far more Polynesian than I expected. Sorry. I thought the original Polynesian population and culture had been wiped out in the 19^th century and it was now a basically Chilean society. But then we were greated at the airport by our bean an ti with a lai!

And pretty much everyone looks Polynesian though they speak Spanish. The Rapa Nui indigenous population was reduced to 111 in the late 19th century - but considering this they've made excellent inroads into maintaining a link with their culture and attempting to retain some of the language, music and dance.

It's a great little island. Only 6000 population, only 12 x 25(ish)km in size and with a perfect blend (much like Southeast Queensland) of Polynesian laidbackedness, balmy climate and beachbumedness combined with a government far off in mainland Chile making sure the roads are good and there are ATMs, astroturf pitches etc. and that things actually function.

A tiny dot of land in the middle of the Pacific.

By day two we have already driven all around the island on our little moped and are feeling incredibly relaxed – just short of unconsciousness but still able to hold a glass of (nice Chilean!!!! Having braved Cuban!!!!!!!!!!) wine. The island is basically a triangle with a volcano crater at each apex and a truckload of big stone heads at each old village.

Old volcano crater.

The heads are fantastic. Today we saw the headmaking workshop – a big rocky hill where there are loads of statues in various stages of being made.

Statue being carved out of the rock.

And a weird thing – they carved the faces on the stone in-situ and then ….....somehow broke it away from the hill????? It's a question for Google at another time (the pace of the internet here matches the pace of the rest of island life, alas).

Me with a head.

Head workshop.

Karl and heads. Note the top-knot on the second from the right.

Karl with top-knot stone - that's how big the statues are!

Statues - they (almost) always have their backs to the sea.

Were lucky enough to be here, by complete accident, during the island's biggest annual festival - "Tapati" so we had nightly concerts on a huge (for a tiny island) stage, music, dance, boat races and lots of naked bums.

Dude ready for the local version of surf lifesaving ironman competition.

These are the reed equivalent of the boards you lie on and paddle.

The sit-on and paddle with a paddle leg of the event. Clearly surf lifesaving terminology is not my strong point.

The lie-on and hand paddle leg. Warning - don't zoom too closely on this one, there are some scantily clad bums.

Locals on their way to the big, closing day parade.

Much like St. Patrick's Day parades, the tractors are called into service to pull the floats. There is a tractor in there somewhere.

Dance performance.

Otherwise, a lovely place to spend your last few days of freedom. Had some sunsets. Even went out to dinner on Valentine's day for the first time ever (mainly because we had to eat)! Lovely Valentine's day dive - romantic 'cause we didn't have one of those frustratingly silent underwater fights over the navigation. Beautiful. I highly recommend it.

It's all hustle and bustle at Hanga Roa harbour.