Easter Island solo trip

 

There is a slogan among the tourists, "How can you call yourself a traveler if you haven't been to Easter Island?" Easter Island is famous for its mysterious stone statues and extreme beauty. The culture of Easter Island is similar to French Polynesia. Easter Island has been a palace for archaeology, ancient civilizations, and geography lovers. I have a remarkable solo trip to Easter Island, not because of the beautiful scenery and mysteries, but also the local culture and favor.   

Brief introduction and my experience

There are oceans of introduction on Easter Island, so I do not want to repeat too much here. I just talk about some tips I got from my trip. 

Only two airports have a flight to Easter Island. One in Santiago, the flight distance was more than 3,000 kilometers; the other in Tahiti is even farther away. The regular fare to Easter Island is costly. A friend of mine once paid for the round trips as high as 8,000 RMB. So the Guide said that if you saw the price of the ticket was 4,000 RMB, you should take it. I snapped up the round-trip tickets from Santiago to Eastern Island for only more than 2,000 RMB online! It was time to Easter Island! 

The time I visited Easter Island was in August. It was the monsoon season, that periods of bad weather with heavy rains might occur. Take this into consideration when arranging the plan. The signal on the island is somewhat low, so remember to take maps with you all the way. 

I chose to have an independent travel because I love freedom. It needs to buy a pass to travel around the island.  I chose a cheaper homestay, which was remote but still OK. The folk customs on the island are simple that house doors could be ajar at night. Remember to take the driver's license and notarization when you rent a car -- that was a big lesson for me. I will tell the story later. 

My departure airport was Santiago airport, where you will walk a so-called special channel for traveling to Easter Island. The entrance is on the second floor.  The voyage is about eight hours. When I arrived, my hostess waited outside the little airport to pick me up. 

Stunning scenery 

The scenery on the island is stunning! The unusually beautiful and characteristic full of tropical island style! 

After settling down, I went out for a walk with my camera. Although it was blue sky and white clouds, I could see the remained rain trace on the ground. A dog laughed in the middle of the blooming mountain flowers. The flower walls had many colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple colors. The island was the ocean of flowers, with volcanic stone walls and wooden fenced farms. It was a warm winter with blossoms.

There were few trees on the island. It's said that because the islanders used to cut trees aimlessly. The indigenous people enclosure the pastures. Occasionally, I saw the horses walked across the road, and the light slid across the bow.  

I was screamed when I saw the sea. This was the world of emerald! Lying quietly, there was deep blue and deep. Whenever it dances, it is emerald green! Facing the turbulent waves of the Pacific Ocean, the dark volcanic rocks. 

"The tumbling rocks thrust into the air;

The roaring surges dash upon the shore, Rolling into a thousand drifts of snow."

The red cliffs, the black volcanic rocks. The emerald ocean was waving various boats. Here you could see all the flowing blues and greens, which was secluded, or crystal, or ethereal, or quiet, or fresh. The entire vast starry sky seemed to be embedded in this large blue hole. I even saw a double rainbow was across the sky after unexpected heavy rain. This was a lucky astronomical phenomenon. It was a pity that the camera could not shoot such a scene. You could only enjoy this boundless blue feast by standing on the umbilical cord of this world. 

I bought two-color ice cream at a cold drink shop on the road, ate, and chatted with a neighbor from America. He told me he had been here for two weeks. Every day after eating, he just faced the sea in a daze, then ate and in a daze again. It was dreamlike. In my diary, I wrote, "This is about the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen."

MOAI in the sunset glow 

The attraction TAHAI was the best place to watch the MOAI in the evening glow. Although it was getting late and after rain, there was still a little ray of evening sunlight. In TAHAI, I saw one row of broken MOAI along each side, facing away from the sea. In each row, there were two somewhat larger and unbroken MOAI looking lonely. The unique point was the white lines on the eyes in one MOAI. This was the only pair of bright eyes on the island, with a slight indifference in the subtle glow.

MOAI almost always faces away from the sea. Always remember this. People usually think that they are facing the sea, which is wrong. It's said that the islanders who made the MOAI believed that they would be sheltered and blessed under the gaze of MOAI. There is only a MOAI scenic spot on the mountainside where the MOAI array faces the sea on the island. 

Two modern kayaks were returning in the red glow of sunset, in the ancient vicissitudes of MOAI. A cross-generational combination was so harmonious in my photo,  which is a masterpiece. :) 

The second day when I passed by TAHAI again, it was rainy. This time I had a car. I rolled down the window and recorded the indifferent MOAI under the storm. In a clear and sunny atmosphere or such a stormy, it had different flavors.

The flood overflew the mountain pass and took me to the edge of the red cliff. The cliff scenery was so spectacular: The wind carried the vast waves against the black reefs. The world was full of falling rain. As if the prehistorical world had begun, and as Noah's Ark in the sea. Facing the 180-degree widescreen theater, I rolled up the car window and turned off the world's speaker. I watched the monstrous wind and waves playing, listened to my music in a peaceful world.

"Before me, where have all the Sages of yore gone?         

Behind me, where are their successors (-- Tell me, m'friend)?

O Heaven and Earth, how boundless and without end! "

With drink and cookies, I enjoyed this detached loneliness. 

The World of the MOAI 

Tongariki is the largest moai group on Easter Island. Fifteen Moai statues are back to the sea, facing the Rano Raraku volcanic quarry where they were born. This MOAI group is the landmark of Easter Island, depicting the history of the island. On the east side is the short wall. Near the gap, the first thing I saw was a MOAI guarding independently. This stone statue was called "Traveling Moai" because it flew to Japan once, exhibited in Osaka. After returning, the MOAI was placed here upright as a gatekeeper.

The reason for its going abroad was a warm story. There were once more than 30 Moai here, but they were fragmented by war and a tsunami in 1950. Around 1990, the Japanese helped them repair to be what they were now. For the first and only time, to thank the Japanese, agreed to let a Moai go abroad for an exhibition. 

Viewed from "traveling Moai," the scenery was a bit shocking. There was the borderless Pacific Ocean on the right side, and a row of MOAI statues was on the coast. The 15 MOAI statues were in different sizes and different looks. You could see the tall and thin shapes in these MOAI Statues. The highest MOAI was around 10 meters, and the shortest one was at least 5 or 6 meters, and the average weight was 40 tons. So, how to carry them from the quarry in the Stone Age was also a historical mystery.

The base of the stone statue’s axis is precisely perpendicular to the sun's trajectory on the Summer Solstice. Thus, the MOAI Statues were back to the eastern sunrise and facing the western afterglow on that day. No matter what season, here was the best place to watch the sunrise. In the morning, the sun rises from the distant Pacific Ocean, and the rays of light penetrate through the stone statues’ gap, emitting golden lines. According to the seasons, the early sun would glow on the side of different MOAI.

MOAI Statues have long heads, deep eye sockets, high noses, protruding chins, and long ears. They have no feet, their arms hang down on their sides, and their hands are on their belly. These stone statues were carved from volcanic stones. Some stone statues are a few meters tall with hats and shaped like columns. Some stone statues were also engraved with symbols, a bit like tattoo designs.

It's said that MOAIs which had long ears were from the east on Easter Island. After them, MOAI Statues with short ears came from the west. This legend reminds us that the earliest settlers came from Latin America before the Inca. It was now known that people there always stretched their ears. Later came the Polynesians. They overthrew those long ear man who had been deceived by religion and had stolen their hearts. They were called the Rapa Nui people.

In the late 19th, French missionaries set foot on Easter Island and destroyed the island's culture. They ordered the burning of all wooden boards engraved with the local script Lange Range. There were 25 Lange Range boards survived hidden by the Rapa Nui. The pictographs on the wooden board were from left to right on the first line, reversed on the next line, and so on.  The meaning of these pictographs is still a mystery.  

Papa Vaka,  Sky pond, and birdman

The Vaka stone carving group was the largest stone carving monument on Easter Island. Due to its exposure to the outside all year, many stone carvings were no longer explicit. There were three main groups of stone carvings in the group: Papa mango, Papa vaka, and Papa Mangai. Papa means stone carving. Mango stands for whale, vaka stands for the ship, and mangai stands for marine life. Today, the most explicit and largest stone caving is papa vaka. It is about 12 meters long and carved marine life such as squid, crabs, etc.

It was a pity that the Birdman Village by the lake was closed due to heavy rain. The Birdman Village was the worship of the birdman after the statue worship. You can see this image in a Disney movie, "Moana." If you have watched the movie, you would have a deeper understanding of South Island, including Easter Island’s culture. 

Driving down from the mountain, I had to explore the ancient bird-man cliff paintings from the seaside. I went down the cliff escalator, looked up in the cave carefully. I could see the red sea bird-like graffiti barely. These petroglyphs were not well protected that they were left in the open air and under the condition of being corrupted severely. I felt that soon it could only rely on imagination.

Adventure 

On the first day on Easter Island, I visited some car rental companies when I returned to town from TAHAI, but I did not bring all documents. The casual South Americans did not make an exception for me that I had to make an appointment tomorrow. It was raining suddenly. I chose an empty and inexpensive restaurant for dinner, asked for the Wi-Fi password to connect to google intermittently. After locating my homestay from the app “Booking" and finished my dinner, I went ahead to my homestay in the dark.  I held up the umbrella, slipping and sliding in the heavy rain. 

 It was after 9:00 PM when the signal was finally cut off. I scudded following the connected navigation. At the deadly night, the sound of walking and the heartbeat were taken to my ears. Faintly felt that I was getting more and more out of the way. The homestay I booked was somewhat remote, but I did not think it was so lonely. However, since this was my first day at this homestay and it was at night, I had no choice but trusted google. I continued staggering in the mud at night. 

The arrow on the map in the app finally overlapped to the end. Arrived? I looked around; there was so lonely that only a house in the dark. Wrong, it must be wrong! The rain with the wind was getting heavier and heavier, and the world without streetlights was utterly dark. In the pouring rain, I could do nothing but was like a boat going to be capsized at any time in the ocean.

I tried to save myself in the heavy rain, thinking about everything I could think of the BOOKING’s position. Should I move forward? Backward? Stay Aid? I was too exhausted to return. The disconnected navigation might be even more wrong. I only had the landlord's email, and I could not tell her where I was even if I connected with her. The one and only one hope was the desolate house on the side of the road. It must wake up to HELP. 

Wading across the stream, I went to the front of the house and knocked on the door. Once... Twice. . . Three beeps. . ., Again. Twice. . . Three beeps. . . The door opened halfway squeakily; a girl poked her head out and asked me with Spanish. I drew hard on my phone, but Google's Spanish translation was always disconnected. I was so worried and anxious, but what I could do was to point at Google repeatedly nagging. 

The girl went back for a while, then her sister came out and invited me into the house. I was so hesitant that I was dripping wet, but their insistence made me move to the hall. The girls' parents were at the table, full of kindness. They sat around and discussed for a while, and then the mom went to the back room. When she came back, she took a glass of water to me—so far, I have memories of the water's warmth, but South Americans should drink cold water. It should be the deeply moved me at that moment that warmed the coldness in the cup.

They looked at my phone and nodded frequently. They were busy for a while, then the sister gesticulated and told me that they were trying to call a car to take me home. It was somewhat difficult at midnight that they asked me to be patient. 

Wet and soothed, I smiled and communicated with them by gesticulating. When I showed my status, the father shook hands with me enthusiastically. As I mentioned in my country, I promised that I would come again tomorrow and gave the girls some distinctive Chinese gifts. 

The sound of the car finally arrived at the door. I said goodbye gratefully to this warm family. The younger sister pursued me and handed me an album of Easter Island. I took it to my backpack, thankfully. 

The wiper swung wildly, and the music sounded faint. The driver who picked me up was also talkative and happy. The language difficulties did not hinder the frequent laughter. When I arrived at the place where I lived, I took out all the pesos I had. The driver picked up 3,000 pesos. I forced 20,000 pesos on him. "Give me?" Eventually, he accepted it with a smile. 

I rushed into my residence in the storm. To my surprise, a house of people was waiting for me in the lobby. The landlord and tourists all worried about me. When I came in, there was no hug, no applause, but a happy smile on everyone's face. 

On the second day, I finally rent a car. At around 5:00 pm, I arrived at the islander’s house, who helped me last night. The father was busy outside the house. He saw me and gave me a warm greeting. The sisters were in the house. They accepted the Peking Opera images and silk scarves amusedly. It was my gratitude. We exchanged E-MAIL to each other that we could communicate anywhere. I left the house with my hands waving, thanking the sisters, and thanking the simple islanders. Was it sinister between people? Did I need to be wary of this? 

Alone facing a place where there is a language barrier, use your body language to smile, use your mind to communicate. Put yourself to face all kinds of people. Resurrection, rebirth, everything entrusted, no need to worry. This is the meaning of a solo trip.