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Yesterday we completed a whirlwind visit to Chile and more notably Easter Island. We awoke before dawn last Monday morning and made our way to the 7th deck of the ship to watch the sunrise over the port city of Valparaiso. Unlike some of our previous ports we were afforded the luxury of stepping off the gangway and alighting essentially in the middle of downtown.
Unfortunately Monday was a Chilean holiday and nearly everything in town was closed. After wandering around lost for the better part of the morning we managed to convince the local ATMs to cough up some cash (our first five attempts were foiled because we failed to notice the ‘Foreign Customers Press Here’ button) we took an ascensore (like an elevator but outside) to the top of the hill overlooking the city for a bite to eat at an extremely well regarded local restaurant. Despite lofty recommendations none of us particularly liked the food and so we hopped a train to Vina del Mar in search of greener pastures (read: the mall, which we discovered was the only thing open).
We ran our few necessary errands and then wandered aimlessly, becoming crankier and crankier at being relegated to this infernal place on our first day in a foreign city. Finally we threw in the towel and decided to go see the new Harry Potter movie to kill time – abbreviated but pretty good by the way.
The next morning we had to get up at the ungodly hour of 3:00 am in order to organize our trip to Easter Island (Rapa Nui to locals), catch a bus to Santiago and hop our five hour flight. An anecdotal note of interest: The airline Lan Chile possesses all the powers of a monopoly as it is the only one that services the tiny island located 2200 miles off the Chilean coast. As we discovered, they model their customer service plan after the military dictatorship of General Pinochet with sweeping tactics that include revoking previously confirmed reservations at random and refusing to swap seats between customers interested in allowing their more desperate friends to take their spots. As they dutifully explained ‘their computer doesn’t allow them to do that’. Suffice it to say one day before we were set to depart they informed us they had over booked the flight and twenty of our sixty total passengers had been bumped. Twenty. Through some miracle of foresight the ship’s local tour agent immediately snapped up the remaining seats in Business class so many of us who were fortunate enough to be spared actually managed to travel in style… Still, many potential travelers were very, very disappointed. Anyway, if you visit Chile, you’ve been warned.
After an arduous morning of travel we arrived on the tiny island at just about mid day. We were greeted by our local tour guides who immediately hurried us into buses for transport to the hotels. At something like 178 square kilometers, Rapa Nui is exceedingly small and on the way to the hotel, our driver managed to give us a tour of downtown -exactly one block long- in about a minute and a half.
Some cultural education: The huge sculptures Easter Island is so famous for are called Moai and they normally stand between 15-40 feet tall and weigh anywhere from 60-120 tons. They’re constructed as representations of dead Polynesian tribal chiefs’ souls and are generally erected on a funeral platform called an ahu. These ahus can house anywhere from one to fifteen moai and there are over 800 moai total on the island.
After straightening out a few logistical details with the tour guide we first visited the site of three ahus overlooking the ocean, one with a solitary moai, one with 5 standing and one completely destroyed. The massive statues are truly impressive to behold, particularly with the crashing surf in the back ground. For our first historical nibble it was pretty tasty.
Next we visited one of four currently dormant volcanoes on the island. A stroll to the highest point on the crater revealed a small village of stone houses overlooking jagged ocean cliffs, once the site of an important local competition. Only the strongest tribal warriors were selected to take part. These warriors were forced to descend the cliffs on foot and swim two miles through shark infested waters to a craggy rock jutting from the ocean nearby. Once there they needed to search for and retrieve the egg of a frigate bird and return (through aforementioned sharks) to ascend the island cliffs where they started making sure to transport the egg undamaged. Many died in the attempt. The first warrior to successfully present the egg to the overseers earned accolades for his tribe and his chief was crowned king of the island for a year. For his troubles the warrior was then rewarded with a bride who had been confined to a cave for three months to lighten her skin. (As we all know, fair skin = purity, therefore I am the purest SOB on the face of the planet) and they immediately began producing babies in order to strengthen the gene pool. Fascinating.
That night we went to a local restaurant for dinner and drinks and over desert cocktails were treated to a fantastic display of traditional dancing complete with body paint, fierce expressions, scanty costumes and enthusiastic percussion.
The next morning we again awoke before dawn (3rd day in a row) and were driven to the Tangariki ahu, a massive, fully reconstructed platform with fifteen Moai statues overlooking large ocean cove, where we watched the sun rise. It’s difficult to describe the experience adequately. One moment you’re wandering around, tripping over yourself in the dark and cursing the shrill call of the crowing roosters nearby and the next you are struck dumb as you watch a long row of these massive, primitive statues emerge magically from the darkness, surrounded by haze and mystery and strangeness. As you try not to get distracted by taking 18 billion pictures, you watch the morning sky unfurl in orange, purple and gold. Really unbelievable. One of the most amazing things I have ever seen. One can almost hear the chantings and mutterings of ancient holy men as they watched the sun rise over their people.
Recovering from our wonder over a continental breakfast we then visited several other ahus in various stages of disrepair that were no less impressive. By noon were arrived at the crater of another volcano, this one the site of the rock quarry where the moai were made before they were transported to the various ahus dotting the coast. Another unbelievable site. The quarry is home to more than 400 moai in various stages of construction. Many are complete while some have yet to be hewn out of the mountain side. Over time, Mother Nature has begun to reclaim them and erosion, wind and sediment have left many of them partially buried or sprouting from the earth at impossible angles. We spent nearly two hours exploring and hiking to the peak of the volcano where we were rewarded with a view of the entire island and I mesmerized Anne with superb feats of agility while teetering over nearby precipices.
Next it was off to visit the famed ‘magnetic stones’ which were viewed by Rapa Nui people as sources of power because of their unnatural smoothness and strange energies. (When a compass is placed on their surface it promptly goes haywire. Way cool.) A late lunch by the beach, beautiful but otherwise unremarkable and it was back to town for some exploring and shopping. Anne and I broke away from the group to watch a spectacular sunset at the first location we had visited. Long shadows and vivid colors reflected off the water made only slightly less enjoyable by the grip of people who inconsiderately piggy backed off our idea. Another dinner at a local restaurant and it was to bed after a long and magnificent day. The next morning we flew back to Santiago, hopped a bus to Valparaiso and relaxed. On the last day in port we wandered the hills of Valparaiso through narrow, winding streets and neighborhoods of colorful houses, visited one of Pablo Neruda’s nautically inspired homes, sipped Chilean wine, sampled street vendors’ fare and watched another sunset.
Next stop: Peru!
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