February 18 and 19, 2007
I’m beginning to think that Summer is not the best time to visit Rapa Nui.
Everyone knows there are no trees. Well, actually, there are but it’s all small, recent plantings. There are no forests. Outside the town, there are no structures either. Shadow cast by the moai land on their ahu, which is a tourist no-go zone. In short, there is no shade. Just direct near tropical sunlight for as many hours as one cares to spend crawling around eerie stone carvings. I think I have managed to sun burn the top of my scalp. Family has given me shit for years about my receding hair but I didn’t think it had gotten *that* thin. Then again, I don’t think I have sun burned my lips before either and I seem to have accomplished that here as well.
I think I did most of the damage on yesterday’s long range bicycle tour of the island’s Southwest coastline. I started off around 11:00am (9:00am by the Sun). I would have started earlier but there were complications and “early” is a foreign concept to Polynesian culture.
First stop was Ahu Vahu. The first section I saw was very very subtle. No complete statues or structures. Individual stones don’t look like much. Even the arrangement lacks a clear, simple pattern. But there is a pattern even if only the subconscious can see it. It is large. It is complex and it leaves no doubt that this was a deeply spiritual place. Ruin, but interesting ruin.
Next door seems much the same. A few stray topknots. Some slabs near the shore. But look closer. Those are 8 large moai toppled over. One can almost feel the violence, the desecration. Priests struggling against angry mobs in a desperate attempt to prevent the destruction of their most precious place. And failing.
Other sites are similarly subtle but not quite so moving. A huge, broken moai. Smaller moai, face down. Topknots strewn about. And then, at the far end, is the volcanic cone or Rano Raraku. And it is not subtle.
400 Moai of every artistic style strewn at random about the hill side. Some of the most famous images of Easter Island. Many more, you just have to be here to appreciate. For a mind conditioned by the subtly of Ahu Vahu and smaller sites, it is simply shocking. And beautiful and overwhelming. If you ever make it to Rapa Nui, do not see Rano Raraku first. It will spoil you. Do, however, take the minor, and possibly not meant for tourists, side trail. It takes you to the crater, a beautiful site I think few visitors see.
Nearly as shocking is the neighboring site of Ahu Tongariki. 15 huge Moai look down on dazzled visitors today and overwhelmed worshipers in days past. I admit, it’s not easy to be amazed after seeing Rano Raraku but Ahu Tongariki is very very impressive.
After that, I headed for home. It was hard going at times but I made the round trip in a little more than eight hours. This proved that I can get anywhere on the island under my own steam. And I like that idea, even if it isn’t for everybody.
Today was a “leisurely” hike to the top of Rano Kau. A larger, more impressive crater awaits at the top, along with the ceremonial village of Orongo. I’m not sure what the purpose of this village was, being so far from likely food sources but it is some interesting, basic architecture for a land devoid of wood.
Tomorrow is another long bike ride. But this time, I have breakfast and bike in my room with me. I’m going to leave at dawn and hopefully beat the tropical heat.