Rapa Nui

I love travelling through the Pacific, I fell in love with it from my first experience in Hawaii, almost two decades ago. What I find fascinating are the common threads of the underlying Polynesian culture, which connect the whole Polynesian triangle, albeit with slight variations, but strikingly interwoven with the patterns of different colonial powers (be they American, English, French, or in this case Chilean).

Rapa Nui (Easter Island) lived up to expectations, it provided a fascinating insight into yet another Pacific history. We were lucky to be staying in a small house rented by a Rapa Nui family, the wife worked as a tour guide, so we got a good insight into the prehistory, torrid colonial history and current situation. The history of the Rapa Nui people, following European contact, is highly unpalatable in places - they had a much tougher time than the Tahitians, being dispossessed of their lands and being forced to live confined in an indigenous reservation at one point in time, some were also sent into slavery. Moai (sacred statues representing ancient chiefs) were forcibly removed from the island, and several are still housed outside Rapa Nui.

At one point there were only, in the region of, 100 Rapa Nui survivors living in Hanga Roa. Nowadays there are around 6,000 inhabitants on the island, around half of these are Rapa Nui. There is only one small town (the site of the old indigenous reservation) in Hanga Roa. The international airport marks a dividing line between the homes of Chilean workers on one side and the "locals" on the other. I was a little shocked, there are certainly parts of Tahiti that have more or less Metropolitan inhabitants, but there is not such marked segregation, and there is definitely a class of wealthy Tahitians. But in Easter Island there are even "Chilean" and "Rapa Nui" schools. Most businesses are run by Chilean families. Recently the National Park (the rest of the island that is not town!) was forcibly reclaimed by the islanders, the Chileans rangers were driven out! Slowly the Rapa Nui are taking back their heritage - the next, rather complicated, business is the re-distribution of the ancestral lands, which had been removed initially to allow intensive sheep-farming, among the numerous marae and archaeological remains!

 

The island is actually remarkably touristy, they now receive around 80,000 visitors annually (each of us pays US$60 park entry fee) compare that to the 200,000 visitors for the whole of French Polynesia; for reference Easter Island is comparable in size with Moorea. Everyday a 747 flies in from Chile (once a week going on to Papeete). One of the funniest experiences I had (though I didn't get the photo) was watching a LanChile 747 coming in over a moai, which stands overlooking the harbor, surrounded by outrigger canoes. A weird mix of modern and ancient.

Even by Tahitian standards the place is expensive, most fresh produce is flown in from Chile! The cuisine is also mostly Chilean, so we ate lots of bread, empanadas, dolce de lèche and carne asado (grilled meat). I did try the ceviche, that was excellent, but pricey. Catering to tourists they also had Chilean sushi, burgers and coffeeshops. The best meal we had by far was some grilled fresh fish that Viriamu helped catch and cook with our hosts.

I had expected to be impressed by the moai, and they are definitely impressive, and omnipresent. Marae basically border the whole coastline, though many of the moai are no longer standing or never actually got as far as being placed on their stone platforms, the sheer numbers and scale alone are awe-inspiring.

Somehow I hadn't expected the rugged scenery - the sheer cliffs and wild waves of the west coast, it was truly breathtaking. From the oceanfront eateries in Hanga Roa you can watch youngsters out surfing the formidable waves.

 The quality of the light was also quite startling. The only other place comparable I know was Venice, in winter.