Ahhh, Easter Island, a place I have wanted to visit since I was 9 years old and saw a picture of the giant heads in my geography book. I was not disappointed.
Besides seeing all these giant statues by the sea, we visited a ceremonial village, Orono, and peered into an extinct volcano. The caldera was filled with water and small islands of rush. This is where I received the most powerful feeling of ancient power - not from the statues. Each year in this village, people would climb down the cliff, swim one mile to a small island, fetch an egg from a Sooty Tern nest, put it in a rush basket around their necks, and then swim back and scale the cliff to the top. The winner's sponsor then got to be "Birdman" for a year. This meant he lived in a tiny stone hut, and could not cut his hair or nails for one year! Who would want to win that honor?
It is said that Easter Island is the remotest spot on earth. It is far far away from any other piece of land, and sits by itself in the ocean. However, there are daily flights from the Chilean mainland and satellite tv and internet - not so remote anymore.
We saw the schoolchildren walking home from school, all wearing red shirts. Two were on bicycles, and one on a skateboard.
arg... my comment did not go through, so this will be shorter:
ReplyDeleteI love reading your beautiful descriptions. How neat that you finally got to visit a place you have dreamed about since childhood. Now, when I am here in CO missing you, I will imagine the both of you standing next to the EAster Island heads, in one of the most remote places in the world!
The thought of being Birdman for a year on Easter Island seems particularly appealing while contemplating local traffic, regimentation and TV's spin on politics.
ReplyDeleteYou two are our birdpeople.
MD