populuxe

Recently our pals Julie and Mike took a trip way, way, way far away! They ventured to Rapa Nui a.k.a. Easter Island, the remote island of the giant Moai tikis.

Julie knows what a tiki fanatic I am and she was kind enough to answer a few questions for my Retro Info blog.

These Moai sit at one of the two beautiful beaches on Rapa Nui. The solitary Moai is the one restored by Thor Heyerdahl of the infamous Kon Tiki expedition.

more after the jump

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Why did you choose Easter Island (Rapa Nui) as your vacation destination?

Truthfully, it's a place my husband has wanted to go as long as I've known him. But after doing some reading about the island and it's fascinating history, I was just as excited as he was.

Where exactly is it located?

It's in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, about 2300 miles west of Chile. It is the most remote inhabited island in the world, and locals call it Te Pitoote Hanua, which means "Navel of the world."

How did you get there? How long did it take to get there?

We flew Jetblue from JFK to Miami (3 hours) and then on Lan Airlines from Miami to Santiago (overnight 8 and a half hours) and also on Lan from Santiago to Easter Island (another 5 hours!). So about a day and half total travel. Lan is the only airlines that flies into Easter Island and they only fly in once a day, if that. Lan, by the way, is a pretty swank airline... the seats are comfy with adjustable headrests, they have a fine digital entertainment system, the food is decent and they give you free wine.

What excursion service did you use?

On Easter Island we joined the group tour, Condor Adventures, based in Winter Park, FL. The group leader, Buz Donahoo, primarily does adventure tours designed for independent travelers. They hooked us up with a great Rapa Nui native guide, Tomi, who spoke English very well and really knew the history and culture of the island. We divided our time between group excursions to archaeological sites and points of interest and exploring the island on our own.

Please tell us about what you know of the history of Easter Island.

Ah, the history of Easter Island. So many theories, so little time. To completely oversimplify things, I like to say that the history of Easter Island is like a combination of the Dr. Seuss classics The Sneetches and The Lorax. For those without young children, "The Sneetches" is a story about overcoming class struggle and "The Lorax" is about the sad and unnecessary demise of an ecosystem. But, of course, there's a lot more to it than that...

Most people believe the island became inhabited around 800AD with islanders from southern Polynesian islands from the west, despite the popular Thor Heyerdahl theory that the island was inhabited from South America. From the beginning it appears there was a clear class system in place with a priest class, led by King Hotu Matu'a, and a working class. It is believed the construction of the moai began not long after the island was inhabited and that the moai respresented the ancestral worship of a homogenous culture. Moai were carved at the volcanic crater Rano Raraku and then moved to the coasts and placed on stone platforms called Ahu. Europeans first arrived on the island on Easter sunday in 1722 led by Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen, hence the English name, Easter Island. At this time most of the moai remained standing, but as violent clan warfare erupted over diminishing land and resources many of the moai were toppled. The only moai standing today have been re-erected by archaeologists in the last century. Beyond the civil unrest, and the irreparable damage to the island's ecosystem, the inhabitants of Easter Island endured slave raids, imperialism, deadly diseases, and tsunamis, and the people and moai live on to tell about it. For a comprehensive history, my husband Mike suggests Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island by Steven Roger Fischer.

Please tell us about the highlights of your trip.

1- Watching and photographing the Tapati Festival Parade- Locals and tourists get their bodies painted entirely in earth tinted paint, wear loin cloths and little else, and parade down the main streets chanting, singing and dancing. There are floats with statues and costumed locals including the Queen candidates.

Tapati Festival
The Tapati Festival on Rapa Nui is one of the largest cultural festivals in all of Polynesia. Part of the festival involves selecting a Queen Rapa Nui, and the parade is part of the voting process. On the afternoon of the parade, people head to one of the two camps for the family and Queen you want to vote for, you strip naked and dip yourself in colored mud. Once dry, they will paint symbols on your body and then you march in the parade behind the float with your Queen. If you are fully decorated, then the judges give you a 10. If you aren't completely covered in mud and decorated, you might earn a 5, a 2, or a 0, and your vote is weighted accordingly.

Most everyone participates, and it is one of the highlights of the two-week long festival.

2-Watching the sunrise over the Ahu Tongariki, the largest restored Ahu on the island.

Ahu Tongariki is the largest restored Ahu and Moai, and it is one of the most awe-inspiring and mysterious places I've ever been. You can feel the awesome power of these giant Moai dwarfing you, watching your every move, and you begin to understand maybe why they built them in the first place.

3-Ascending the Terevaka volcano on horseback to the highest point on the island, then looking 360 degrees around and seeing nothing but the Pacific Ocean. It was magnificent!
4- Hiking and photographing around Rano Raraku, the "nursery" of the moai. Almost 400 moai remain here in various stages of completion, including the largest one ever carved at almost 69' long.

Ranu Raraku is the quarry where most of the Moai were carved. All of these Moai have complete bodies, but many of them have been buried by centuries of runoff.

What is Easter Island like?

It's strangely moonlike with three extinct volcanos and almost no forestation. The coastline is mostly rocky, but there are two spectacular sand beaches: Anakena and Ovahe. The weather is pleasant most of the year, the warmest months are January and February. I found it to be brutally sunny due to the lack of trees and was forced to wear my ridiculous broad-rimmed hat.

How long did you stay?

8 days. If you're going to travel that far, you're going to want at least a week to fully enjoy it.

Did you stay in a hotel or rough it?

We stayed at the Hotel Manavai, nothing fancy, but very well situated in downtown Hanga Roa. It was just a minute walk down to the beach, the Tapati festivities, and close to the Ahu Tahai and Ahu Kote Riku, two well-restored Ahus.

What is there to do?

For the adventurous, there is plenty to do on Easter Island, beyond just going to the various archaeological sites. You can hike, bike, horseback ride, scuba dive, surf, snorkel, go spelunking...

What are the indigenous people like?

Everyone was extremely warm, friendly, most spoke some English, Spanish and Rapa Nui. Tourism is pretty much their only resource, so they seem happy to have you there.

What did you eat/drink?

I ate a lot of tuna and drank quite a few pisco and pinapples. Seafood of all types was plentiful, but almost everything else they have to import.

How did you feel upon viewing the giant Moai?

It was truly awe-inspiring to be in the presence of the erected moai: to think that humans carved, erected and moved these giants is staggering.

How many did you see?

I can't give you an exact number, but it was A LOT. My husband and I saw all the standing moai on the island and visited most of the sites with toppled moai.

Why are there so few Moai with eyes?

The eyes represented a completed moai situated at its ahu, and there were relatively few of these.

Please tell us about the festival, Bird Man islet, petroglyphs, caves, Ahu and Moai.

Tapati Festival: It's an annual two week festival celebrating Rapa Nui history and culture. The festival is not just put on to attract tourists, though many do come that time of year and the community is very welcoming to them, but for the people of the island to celebrate and honor their heritage. The festival has community feasts, many athletic competitions (including a marathon with men carrying banana heads), traditional singing and dancing shows and competitions, stone carving competitions, horseback racing, a regatta, a parade and much more. There is a heated contest to determine who will be the island's queen for the year, and the competitors from the various festival competitions represent the queen candidates and amass points for her when they win. The candidates extended families or "tribes" are all involved, so it's a huge social event.

Bird Man Islet (Motu Nui): After 1500 AD and the destruction of most of the moai and ahus, the cult of the Birdman developed. The birdman was a symbol of the island's creator god, Makemake. Each year at the first sighting of the sooty tern, representatives from each clan would swim from the Orongo ceremonial village to the "Birdman Islet" Motu Nui, retrieve the egg of the sooty tern and return it intact to his representative who was then given the title Tangata Manu (Birdman) for the year.

Petroglyphs: These rock carvings are found all over the island and usually show animals, often fish, birds and birdmen. My husband and I were hiking one day and almost stepped on some accidentally. You can just walk right up to these things. They're little treasures, completely unmarked and unexploited.

Caves: There are several caves on the island, my favorite is the beautiful Ana te Pahu, which is an inland cave dwelling (really an empty lava tunnel) that has a huge fruit garden in the center. Some of the coastal caves have incredible views of the ocean crashing on the rocks. One is Ana Kakenga, where we had to crawl on our elbows in darkness for several feet before we could see the light from the cave opening on the cliff.

For more info about Easter Island Julie recommends:

One of the better tourist guides is Lonely Planet's, Chile and Easter Island. And the Easter Island Foundation has a great website.

Be sure to check out Julie's Flickr photostream for more amazing photos of her trip.
All photos featured in this article are used with permission by Julie Monello.