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Friday, March 29 2024 @ 05:11 AM CDT

The secrets of Easter Island

History Anomalies

The 900 Moai stones erected on a treeless island give the place its identity - and claim to be one of the new Seven Wonders of the World

Jane Chambers
Try to avoid becoming a walking cliché and don’t get involved with the islanders”.

Those were the wise words of Chilean anthropologist, Patricia Varas who has been visiting the island on and off for the last 30 years. Although I heeded her words, I now understand why the women looked at me a bit shiftily. According to Patricia wedding rings and children are no barrier to their men running off with the tourists. And infidelities are a fact of life.

Age doesn’t seem to matter either, Patricia told me it is pretty normal to see OAP’s losing their heads and sauntering off into the sunset with a local, 30 years younger than them.

It must be something to do with the culture. Although this tiny South Pacific island is owned by Chile, the people have a lot more in common with their Polynesian neighbours.

Most of the men are over six foot tall and due to a life style of fishing, surfing, farming and building work, they have the kind of physic an avid gym goer would be envious of. And many of the women could happily enter a Miss Universe competition. And then there is the dancing - men and women think nothing of shaking their booty and giving come hither looks in their traditional dances, in a way which is completely impossible for the average Briton to emulate.

But there’s another attraction which easily competes with the locals and has put them in the running to be one of the New 7 Wonders of the World and that’s the Moai. These huge statues are carved out of volcanic rock and can be up to 10 metres high. There are some 900 of them strewn across the grass lands of Rapa Nui, as the locals call the island.

The guides at Casas Rapa Nui, the Explora hotel, where I stayed don’t believe in packing you into a mini bus and ticking off the sites. They like to take things slower, so that you really appreciate what you are going to see.

And that is how I found myself hiking through country side, which considering how far I had travelled looked suspiciously like Scotland.

Easter Island is largely treeless due to the exploits of its ancestors. Although historians have various different theories, there is evidence to show that the island once had a lush forest of palm trees, but in the 17th century it is thought that the native Easter Islanders completely deforested their island. They used the wood to build their houses and canoes and according to some, to transport the statues.

We were on route to Rano Raraku the quarry where it all started. Here you can find different statues in various stages of completion. With their broad flat noses and long ears the statues were built in the image of the island’s ancestors. Our knowledgeable local guide Francesca explained that, as their sculpting techniques developed, so did their prowess and the later statues have more defined features. Some of them weigh up to 11 tonnes - and to this day experts are perplexed as to how they got to their final resting place, the Ahu, as the plate forms they were lined up on are called.

Rano Raraku is an ideal place to get a sense of the island. The quarry is also a volcanic crater which provided the material for the statues. Our guide cajoled us to the top of it, where we were awarded with a spectacular view of wild horses butting statues and the glittering South Pacific Sea on either side of the tiny 64 square mile island.

You will doubtless have seen endless photos of the Moai standing majestically on their plate forms staring silently out across the island. But, every tourist I spoke to agreed that it doesn’t compare to seeing them in person.

I had no idea that there were so many statues dotted around the island. Some have been destroyed by years of erosion and a tsunami which hit the island in 1960, while others have been, loving restored, often with help from the Japanese.

The local mayor Pedro Edmunds is interesting about what the Moai mean to the island and why they should be voted for as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. He told me that,

“This island has a story to tell the world, because it suffered a collapse, where we ended up killing each other and eating each other, because we didn't have food to eat. The Moai today remind us to be careful, because Easter Island suffered what is going on today around the world. We need to look after our surrounding and to leave something for the future generation”

Pedro is referring to the tribal wars which happened on the island, which most historians think happened at around the start of the 1700s. The population crashed as resources were used up and not regenerated and cannibalism was rife. People started to live in caves to protect themselves from their enemies. By the end of the 18th century rival clans started to destroy each other’s statues, breaking their heads off and by 1864 the last statue had been thrown down and desecrated.

One way of sorting out tribal differences was the annual competition at the volcano Rano Kau. High on the rim of the crater was the ceremonial village of Orongo. It was built to worship the god of fertility, Makemake and became the site of the gruelling competition.

Leadarship of the island was decided by the first man to scale down the vertical slopes of the volcano, swim across shark infested waters to one of the three small islets a few kilometres out to sea, and return with an unbroken egg of one of the nesting sooty terns. The winner became the leader of Easter Island for the year, and got the prettiest girl on the island, who was hidden away in a cave months before the competition to make sure she was as white as possible. The competition went on until the late 19th century, until Catholic missionaries forced them to stop.

Although Easter Island is one of the most isolated places on earth, it still manages to attract over 50,000 visitors a year. The local economy depends on tourism. But some islanders are worried that the infrastructure of the island won’t be able to cope with tourist numbers shooting up, if they become one of the New 7 Wonders of the year. The mayor told me that they are trying to concentrate on attracting the high end market where they have fewer tourists spending more, rather than too many clogging up the island.

And that is something which is a growing trend with the hotels. Only locals are allowed to own land so the Explora has gone into partnership with Mike Rapu to build a new hotel which will be ready in early 2008. Mike is something of a local hero, he is famous chef who has cooked for Axel of Guns and Roses and thinks nothing of organising a romantic dinner for two with cut glass and china on the rim of a volcano. He is also a champion diver.

The new hotel has stunning views of the sea and is out in the country side around 15 minutes from the town. The architects are very concerned about making it blend in with the landscape and from the road it looks like one of the many stone walls which ribbon the island.

Other hotel owners like Petero Riroroco, admit that the arrival of a first class hotel like the Explora where comfort and good food provide the back drop to exploring the island have given other hotels something to aim for. He too, would like to attract tourists who instead of spending the normal 150 pounds a day spend more like 400.

Islanders are passionate about their home and many of them told me that they were helping me for the good of the island. Guides want tourists to go home with a real feel for the island’s history and culture. Locals want to put you in the picture about their issues. It is the first time I have seen such a strong sense of community, but they are worried that too many Chileans moving there from the main land will contaminate their culture. And like wise, while they welcome tourists they want them to respect their statues and their way of life.

http://travel.timesonline.co.uk


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