Why is it that whenever you stay at an airport hotel it is almost always more of a rush getting the airport in the morning? Somehow you always think you have more time than you actually do because you are next door. Not that we were in any danger of being late. Anyone who knows Adrie knows she always likes to be at the airport at least three hours ahead of the time necessary. So after our overnight stay at a Santiago airport hotel we rushed to the airport at 7am… for a 9.45am flight. At least there was Starbucks at the airport (our first “decent” coffee in over two weeks!).
Easter Island is the most remote inhabited place on earth – about 2,000km away from any other piece of land or people. And so it became affectionately known as “the navel of the world”. This isolation has helped create the mythology of the people centuries ago with the most obvious physical manifestation of this being the giant stone-carved moai figures (heads and bodies) that stare so quizzically into the distance. The island is littered with archaeological sites from different centuries.
Over the centuries two main mythologies existed on the island. From about 800-1600AD the people here flourished with abundant resources and plentiful fishing. They also spent much of their time carving magnificent stone heads and bodies (called moai) of different sizes and placed them on stone built altars (called ahu). It is speculated that the moai represented their ancestors looking over and protecting them. However, as deforestation and a depletion of the resources took place, the tribes divided into warring factions. Many moai were toppled as people lost faith in their gods and out of revenge. From 1600-1800AD another cult arose in place of the moai – the cult of the birdman.
After the deforestation and with no means to build any rafts or boats, the people became obsessed with the birds as a means of escape. Tribal leaders, or their representatives, were challenged to honour their creator by swimming across shark-infested waters to a little islet, climbing the sheer rock face and bringing back the first egg of the migrant sooty terns that came to breed there. Competition was fierce with challengers stabbing and sabotaging others. The winner was crowned the birdman and spent a year in isolation while his family was honoured in the village and enjoyed many social and political privileges. Many petroglyphs depict the head of a bird and body of a man and he was worshipped all over the island.
I have known of these stories and seen many pictures of moai and so Easter Island has been a fascination for as long as I can remember. I have always wanted to visit but it is just so damn difficult to get to being in the middle of the Pacific. But now we were on our way. I was genuinely excited!
