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:: Face To Face With The Moai
May 28, 2000
Face To Face With The Moai
Easter Island, Chile
We arrived ahead of schedule at Rapa Nui, the locally preferred Polynesian name for Easter Island. Concluding our Pacific Ocean crossing and landing at a remote and mysterious island generated much shipboard buzz. The big question: On or off the boat for our two-night stay? I was iffy. But the pressure was on.
"You can see the sun rise."
"I'm not a morning person."
"You'll have more time to explore the island."
"I've got two full days."
"The weather might get bad and you won't get off the ship."
"I'll take my chances."
The next morning I slept until seven and without incident, rode a Zodiac to Hanga Roa where I picked up my full day tour.
Despite the dearth of trees - an ecological anomaly part of the island's history - Rapa Nui's 64 square miles of grasslands and low shrubs still charm. And so does the mystique of the moai.
Weighing up to 50 tons, and standing 10 to 12 feet, these monoliths have historically puzzled visitors and scientists. But thanks to cutting edge archaeology, we have some answers.
Moai were symbols of deified ancestors. And when islanders gave them their eyes, they believed the moai came to life and were able to communicate with the spirit world.
I visited the first of several moai at the ceremonial grounds of Tahai, excavated from 1968-1970. The most imposing of the three Ahu or platforms is Ahu Ko Te Riku, which has a moai 16 feet tall, with DayGlo white eyes and a red pukao or hat.
From Tahai we drove to Rano Raraku crater, source of the hard volcanic tuff for 90 percent of the island's moai and the quarry where more than half of the statues remain in various stages of carving.
Apart from the densely statue-populated landscape, Rano Raraku offers a panoramic view of Ahu Tongariki. These 15 moai were hurled inland by a tsunami after the Chilean earthquake of 1960. And via an internationally funded project, Claudio Cristino, an archaeologist and professor at the Easter Island Institute at the University of Chile, directed the restoration. A 25-year resident of the island, he is considered one of the world's foremost Rapa Nui experts and we were lucky to snag him as a guest shipboard lecturer.
Afterward, a 20-minute drive brought us to lunch at the silky-sanded, crystalline water Anakena Beach where I spent all of my second day. We ended our tour at the Rano Kau crater and birdman village of Orongo.
The birdman rituals emerged from the statue cult that transformed from ancestral worship to increased production of larger statues, as tribes vied for power in an overpopulated society with dwindling resources.
Various bird species were considered to be messengers of god. Bird migration patterns on the offshore islands of Motu Kao Kao, Motu Iti and Motu Nui were monitored from Orongo and marked the arrival of the tuna and other fish that the Rapa Nui depended upon for food.
The islanders organized a competition where nominated participants scaled down the outer wall of Rano Kau and swam three-quarters of a mile to the long island of Motu Nui. The first one to find an egg of the nesting sooty tern signaled his success to onlookers at Orongo and shouted the name of his patron chief who became the birdman. When the swimmer arrived on the mainland, he gave the egg to his chief who now held power for one year.
The testy ocean swells did not keep me from Rapa Nui, but they generated a birdman competition of a different sort.
Four passengers got dumped in the brink on their way back to the ship. All returned to the Zodiacs safe but wet. And one made a discovery - the snack he had tucked away in his fanny pack and had forgotten also made it back on board in one piece: a hard boiled egg.
To raucous dining room applause, he presented the prize to one of his dining companions who instantly declared himself the birdman.
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