talking heads

i have wanted to go to easter island even before i knew where it was. and so when we started planning this south america trip way back when, i told myself, despite the cost, despite the distance, i would get there. and it's a good thing i kept telling myself that, because when the time came to book the tickets, i learned that the already-expensive economy tickets were sold out, so i would have to fly business class or not fly at all. i still desperately wanted to go, but at that price? luckily the parents were very convincing and after signing a very painful credit card receipt, i got my tickets. i was going.

wednesday morning i parted ways from amy and ari, who were off to investigate the wine vineyards (and puppies) south of the capital. after spending the day wandering the streets of santiago, i headed to the airport and i was finally on my way. the flight over was marvelous. i mean, business class, how could it not be? i am sure i got more than a few disdainful looks with my backpacker clothes and rugged luggage, but oh well. i soon settled into my cushy leather seat, had my wine and cheese, and put my feet up as i watched mile after mile of ocean pass below me.

about four and a half hours i arrived on one of the most isolated islands on the planet. a wonder of modern navigation systems that a plane can fly over thousands of kilometers of ocean to land on a island that is no more that 20k in width. a spot in the middle of nowhere. arriving i had no real plans, but luckily i found a nice hostel while at the airport and met sandra, a friendly + talkative german backpacker who would be my roommate for the next few days.

my luck with nonplanning continued, and i ended up meeting another backpacker (a californian, kevin) who just arrived on the same flight as me, and the next day sandra, kevin and i rented a car to explore the island. what i didn't know at the time was that the three main people i spent most of my time with are nearly as obsessive with their photo-taking as i am. at last i wasn't the one holding everyone up as i snapped photo after photo. comments like "make sure the horizon is level" or "i'm going to take a bunch of shots so you can just choose the ones you like" were like music to my ears.

so day one. we set off to see the main sights of the island... rano kau, orongo village, rano raraku, ahu tongariki, anakena beach, tahai. got all that? rano kau is an old volcano at the edge of the island, just outside of town ("town" being the only town on the island, hanga roa, where nearly all of the island's 2000 inhabitants live). the views from rano kau were amazing... the turquoise waters stretch out in all directions, and you can begin to get a sense of how very far you are from, well, everything. in the middle of the the volcano is the picturesque caldera lake with the ocean in the background. on the side of the mountain, overlooking the water is the old ceremonial village of orongo which was highly significant in ways i cannot currently recall.

amazing coastal views are all well and good, but by this point we were all thinking, "we are on easter island and we still haven't seen any giant stone heads." so to remedy this dire misdemeanor we immediately set off in search of the moai. after our first sighting of a lone moai, we found the motherload at rano raraku. rano raraku (say that ten times fast) is another old volcano where the moai were, erm, born. from the hillside rocks, hundreds of moai were carved and mysteriously somehow moved to different locations all over the island. scores still remain on this site, scattered on the slopes (both inside and outside the volcano), all in different stages of carving. this was probably my favorite site on the island. after lots of wandering and lots of photo taking we were off to ahu tongariki, another photogenic site of fifteen moai lined up in front of the sea. more wandering, more pictures. we finally felt we got out fill of stone heads for the day and decided it was time for the beach. bright blue waters, white sands, palm trees and even a few moai thrown in for good measure. we relaxed and swam and then realized it was time to rush back for the sunset. we picked up another german girl from kevin's hostel, tine, and the four of us headed to taihai to watch the sun set behind a few moai (yes, in case you haven't realized by now, the island is littered with them). the sun finally set at nine and we wandered back, truly ready for dinner.

the next day i thought i would take it easy after thursday's busy schedule. or so i thought. i headed out with my book and journal, and after some wandering, some reading, and about thirty minutes of staring at the ocean, i ran into tine and kevin and we decided to go for a walk. an 18k walk. a beautiful but very tiring 18k walk. we started out along the coast, picnicked and took photos, and eventually headed inland for some more moai. thought we might be able to hitch a ride with a car, but none came, then talked about kidnapping a horse but thought better of it. after nearly wearing a hole in my already thinning flip-flops, we arrived back in down, dirty and tired but happy. after a shower, some dinner, and a bit or relaxation, we were off into town where by chance some annual cultural festival was going on. singing, dancing, and some other random stuff i didn't understand. oo, i even went on stage in a random "let's get a few gringos to try and speak rapa nui and see who sucks the least" sort of contest thingamabob. i think i was the second least, uh, suckiest. go me.

day the third. after the driving and the walking, the only logical next step would be to rent some bikes. so that's what tine and i did. after some subtle negotiations, we were off like the wind. well, maybe not so much. our rusty bikes would only move so fast, so eventually we abridged our lofty plans of touring the island and once more made a bee line for the beach. we eventually made our way back (with a lil help from a pickup truck) and treated ourselves to overpriced greasy food.

okay, overly detailed synopsis almost done. i decided the best way to spend my last full day on easter island was to rent a car and return to my favorite spots. well, i forgot my license on the mainland and can't drive a manual, so luckily for me, tine felt the same and agreed to chauffeur me around. we returned to rano raraku. where we discovered not only is the outside pretty neat, but the inside is great as well. there are paths to hike up the old volcano and into the crater, where there are yet more moai waiting to be photographed. the wandering and heat eventually wore us out, and the only logical thing to do would be, yes, go to the beach. so being logical people, that's what we did. for our last sunset, we decided to pick up kevin and go to the cliff at the end of the island. the park ranger let us go through for free (and even opened our wine with a knife, a pen, and a bit of banging). the whole ocean stretched before us and the sunset was spectacular.

i thought the sunset was a pretty nice end to my stay on easter island, but no. the airlines had their own plans. the next day, when i was checking in to my flight to santiago, i was told that business class was oversold, and if i would be so kind as to fly economy, they would give me $200 voucher and a free round trip business class plane ticket. now i thought about this for a moment or two, and being the sacrificing person i am, i accepted. apparently fate is telling me its not quite time to finish traveling yet, because sometime in the next year i will have to use the ticket to return to this lovely continent.

south america anyone??