My Vacation From Vacation, cont.

Trying to pick up where I left off is difficult, but I´m going to try...

As we walked the long dirt road in the direction of the beach that first day, a stray dog fell into step with us. This is a pretty common occurrence around here. There are strays EVERYWHERE, always buttering you up, hoping you´re going to take pity on them and make them yours (or at least give them a little treat). Well, this dog - Faith, as we later named her (terrible) - stayed with us the entire day! We must have walked 8 km, and that dog just stuck by our side, down to the beach, through fields, past horses and cows. When we sat to take a rest, she sat, too.

When we returned home, she waited faithfully at the doorstep of our hostel, then followed us to a restaurant for dinner. She actually came into the restaurant several times and sat herself down under our table. No, Faith! I yelled (a bit too loudly for a restaurant). Scram! It was sad. Liam wanted to take her in, but that obviously wasn´t a choice. We had tried to keep some emotional distance from her, but she was in love. Que triste historia. The waitress finally shooed her out, and we haven´t seen her since. Nor have we had such a loyal stray friend.

(I, by the way, am developing a very interesting theory about the correlation between male humans and male dogs. I´ll save that for a one on one conversation, though.)

The next day we rented bikes and rode 18 km out to Anakena Beach. The island only has two very small white sand beaches - the rest of it is black rocks and cliffs - so it´s a shame that they´re so far away. You can basically taxi it (which feels awfully lazy on a beautiful island) or you can get yourself there via bike, moped, or rented car. The ride there wasn´t so bad, difficulty wise, and the scenery was incredible. Once you get out of Hanga Roa, which is the "town" part of the island, you can really feel like you are alone on the island. No people within sight, and the only thing reminding you that you´re on a somewhat civilized island is the road you´re riding on.

Farms, volcanic mountains, horses and cows and chickens everywhere. It´s wild. Truly. And the views of the ocean are chilling - no other land mass in sight. Just water.

We finally made it to the beach, and I felt like I had just walked from one kind of paradise into another. We were hot, sweaty, and tired, and we parked the bikes and took in the beach. Turquoise, aqua, blue - the water was a perfect mix of colors against the white sand. Just behind the beach sat an ahu (platform) with about 8 moai sitting atop it (the statues the island is famous for - more on that in a bit). And, as we parked ourselves on a towel and got settled, I counted, and there were only 23 people on the beach (and yes, I could count everyone from my seat - that´s how small the beach was). Where else can you so easily get exercise, beauty, peace, and culture, all in the same place? Amazing.

The ride back was hard. The first 25 minutes were straight up, and the last thing you want to do after being lazy for 6 hours is exercise. But we made it.

The next day we went back to the beach, but opted for the taxi route, which was actually cheaper than renting three bikes and, obviously, much less strenuous.

Wednesday, we decided we needed to soak up some culture, so we went on a full day tour of the island. Our guide was a local woman, who was a "certified guide" of the island, meaning that she´s passed a certain number of hours of training. As I found out later, she´s studied under one of the top archaeologists here, and she really knew her stuff.

The famous Moai statues are remnants of the very first culture of the island, which started around 300 AD. That´s a long time ago. The first inhabitants of the island migrated over from Polynesia, and the self-proclaimed king divided the island into twelve tribes, each with their own village. He took for himself the section of the island including Anakena Beach. Smart guy. That´s what I would´ve picked, too.

Anyway, all of these folks were part of the "cult of the Moai" which basically just means that they subscribed to worship of their ancestors. The wealthiest members of each community had a huge statue built in honor of themselves, to be erected only once they had passed away. These huge statues, usually around 8 m tall, looked out over the village, protecting the people, and keeping them in line! So, the statues served a few functions - they were funerary markers, status symbols (whoever has the biggest and best statue must be the most important...), intermediaries between the villagers and their god (the people spoke to the Moai, who communicated their prayers to god for them), and protectors. Apparently the higher class folks also used these statues to keep the lower classes under control - they´d tell them that the Moai were always watching them, hoping to scare them into submission. I think it worked because whoever built these stautes (undoubtedly the lowest of the low), must have worked awfully hard.

We visited several Moai sites, and then made our way to Rano Raraku, which is the "nursery," the quarry where all of the statues were built. The statues were carved straight out of the rock of this huge mountain, and you could see a few that were in progress - faces emerging from the mountain - when things fell apart. The guide explained how they finally released these huge things from the rock when they were finished, but I didn´t quite get it, so I can´t explain it to you. But it´s unthinkable that they were able to do this. I don´t get it.

Each Moai stayed at the quarry until his human representative died, when he (and they were all men, of course) could then begin his journey to his platform. Therefore, there are also many finished Moai standing around the quarry, waiting for transport.

They say that the Moai literally walked back to their villages to take their place as guardians of their community. I´ll believe that about as soon as I´ll believe a fable of another religion, but, considering how the workers transported their Moai, it´s almost true. There are still many working theories about Moai transport, but the most widely believed is that they stood, completely erect, on a pile of rocks, and then were moved, corner to corner. Think of how you would move a refrigerator, if you were trying to do it by yourself. You´d scoot it up a bit on one side, then a bit on the other side. So, in this way, the Moai WAS walking, bit by bit, through the countryside.

The distance between the quarry and the Moai platforms is incredible in some cases. I can´t even fathom how they got them anywhere, much less several kilometers.

I wish they´d hurry up and figure out time travel so I could watch all of this taking place.

But, this amazing culture was doomed. To begin with, their competitive nature (who can build the biggest statue) depleted their resources. And then of course, came all of those interferers. The Dutch, the French, the English, the Peruvians, the Catholic missionaries, the list goes on. Each had their part in the downfall of the Rapanui, from introducing diseases to taking slaves. And of course there was also a civil war between tribes. The original Rapanui community consisted of about 15,000 people, but in the end, was reduced to only 110 people! How incredible! So anyone that lives here now (population about 5,000, and slowly growing) that calls themselves Rapanui, is a descendent of only 110 people. Que loco.

It´s really lucky that there´s anything left of this original culture, considering how many people came in and messed around with things.

Okay, sorry to go on and on about all that, but I just think it´s fascinating stuff.

We went on a hike yesterday, up to a huge, rain-filled lake, Rana Kau, that sits at the bottom of a huge crater at the top of an extinct volcano here. It was pretty incredible. You could see all sides of the island from up there.

So far, this time on Easter Island has been everything I hoped it would be. It´s an amazing place. And while most things around the town are soley there for the tourist community, the tourist community isn´t huge or overwhelming. Only one flight arrives on Easter Island every day, so they are controlling how many people can come here at once, which I think is good. It´s a fragile place, and one that´s clinging to its history and tradition. I hope they do everything they can to hold onto the remnants of their original culture.

It´s Friday now, the week is coming to a close! Heading back to Santiago on Monday morning. It´s pouring down rain today, which seemed like a good excuse to while away some time at the ole internet cafe. Not sure what will be done with the rest of the day, but I´m going to go find out! Much love to you all.