Easter Island and Peru day 2

   

                Sundays on Easter Island, there are no toothbrushes for sale.  No toothpaste.  No deodorant.  No socks, no sunscreen, no shampoo.  Roger is beginning to smell.  Or perhaps it is my teeth that are producing the odor.  We are told to check at the airport on Tuesday for the status of our bags in Lima, and it’s only Sunday night.

                But we did have a great day exploring the southwest end of the island, after failing to talk the girl at the car rental desk down to a reasonable compensation for three days’ use of her prized vehicle.  The moai (what they call these ancient statues) are scattered about, and all of them which were still in one piece have been stood back up, facing the interior of the island from their perches along the coast.  They stand alone or in small groups, silent sentinels watching for who knows what.  They vary in size from 6 feet or so to 30 feet or more, usually standing on a sort of stone platform with other stones surrounding the platforms.  You are warned not to touch any of it, as each site is said to have great religious significance to the natives.

Temporary living quarters for the Rapa Nui

                But you have to wonder how many natives there are.  Passing through the streets, one is struck by the fact that there is nowhere any group of people with any distinguishing characteristics.  The “locals” have for many years been marrying outsiders.  Everyone we meet who does not claim to be Rapa Nui says they have married a Rapa Nui and moved to the island.  If you put together photos of 50 people from the island at random and asked an expert, he wouldn’t have a clue as to where these people lived.  By the way, Rapa Nui is a term that has been adopted only in modern times to identify the island and the people who live here.  They claim to come, partly at least, from the island of Rapa in Polynesia, and so the term, which means “new Rapa”.

 Charlie and moai near town

                Our first full day was spent familiarizing ourselves with the island.  Although it is only 11 miles or so long, the roads are mostly terrible and speeds range from 2 mph to about 20 mph in town, and up to 25 or so on the good highways.  We examined the moais in the immediate area of the town, taking photos and speculating on how in the world these giant statues could have been moved so far from the quarry and then had “top hats” of a different stone placed upon their heads while standing.  Standing in front of one of them, you have to be impressed by their ingenuity, and no one has ever offered any kind of complete explanation of how it might have been done.  The feat has never been duplicated without heavy equipment.  Even last year’s National Geographic  report on how the statues might have been moved neglected to say their crew had stood up the imitation statue with a crane before doing the moving process.

 Crater of Rano Kau volcano

             Some Spanish countrymen claim the discovery of Easter Island by Europeans is attributable to the Spanish.  U. S. Navy Captain William J. Thompson, in an 1891 publication, reports that Spanish writers were claiming the island was sighted by Mendana in 1566, but evidence is sketchy at best.  A Captain Davis is sometimes credited  with the discovery in 1687, but his navigator described the island as a small, low flat island, with no protective rocks and no mention of the now-famous statues.  This, we can report, is pretty far off the mark.  The first reliable claim arises from the discovery by Dutch Admiral Roggeveen, who arrived there on April 7, 1722, an Easter Sunday.  Since the Spanish didn't know the name of the island in 1566 or 1687 (bet you didn't think of that key fact), it is apparent that Roggeveen is the guy who deserves credit for the discovery.  Also, he described the island and its location accurately, and his fleet actually anchored there and visited.  He also reported the strange statues standing on the island.  And his log carefully points out that it would have been impossible to mistake the high grassy island for a low, flat one of sand.  He reported that the island had no trees, but had thick fertile soil which supported sugar cane, potatoes, and bananas, and claimed the island for the Dutch.

               The next pass by Europeans was by Spaniards, who sighted the island in 1770, and gave it the name of St. Carlos.  Captain Cook called it Easter Island in March, 1774, and sent men ashore , but his log describes the place as parched and desolate.  You have to wonder how a place rich and fertile in 1722 could become desolate and parched 52 years later.

                  And you might wonder why no big deal seems to have been made of the strange statues placed all around the island.  The Dutch made mention of them in the ship's log, but seemed more interested in the theft of hats by the natives, and finding no great natural resources, sailed on.  At the time of the 1722 landing, by the way, the statues were all standing; and now many of them are standing upright again, but this has not always been the case.  More on this tomorrow.


Charlie and Roger
Copyright 2012