Summary of Easter Island

Today we left Easter Island and are on our way to Pitcairn Island, the small island approximately 1200 miles west of here that was introduced to most people around the world by the "Mutiny on the Bounty" movies.  It is a beautiful day on the Pacific with wonderful blue seas so we decided to summarize our two days on Easter Island.  

While Easter Island belongs to Chile, it does have its own Flag (which looks like the shape of the island).

Rapa Nui is the name of the island (also known as Easter Island).

Rapa Nui is the language (closely linked to Tahitian and New Zealand Maori).

Rapanui is the name of the people of Polynesian descent that settled on the island.

As we spend our relaxing day cruising toward the Pitcairn Islands, we tried to capture a few thoughts about Easter Island.  This was on the top of our Bucket List of places to visit.  We feel so incredibly lucky that the winds and swells were tame enough for us to get off the ship and tender ashore both days.

The island is 60 square miles.  At its widest point, it is 15 miles across. At its narrowest, it is 8 miles across.  One of the first things you notice is the ever present wind and the dust. The reddish brown dust settles in your shoes, your clothes and your exposed skin.  (It is very difficult to get white socks clean!). Another thing you notice right away are the horses, cows and dogs roaming the island.  They are all owned but since they cannot go anywhere, they are left to roam. Cars frequently need to stop and wait until the cow or horse gets out of the way on the narrow, bumpy roads.  And, because we knew the history of the deforestation, we noticed the lack of trees except for the Tahitian coconut trees at Anakena Beach.

Easter Island residents enjoy a tax free status.  The Chileans are taxed and pay for Easter Islanders.  The Rapanui have a love/hate relationship with Chile.  They simply could not exist without them yet there are some vocal activists who want to become independent. One of the things that helps protect the island is a law that prohibits anyone from buying land on Easter Island unless they are Rapanui.  Now, there is another law that has been passed and will become effective in about 6 months that will limit mainlanders from immigrating to the island.

Easter Island is one of the most remote islands in the world.  From a distance standpoint – the most isolated.  Yet, this island thrives.  It has the unique characteristic of having access on and off the island because of the airport.  The people have connectivity to the rest of the world through satellite communications.  Lastly, they have a balanced population.  Most remote islands have children and elderly people. The youth leave to become educated and do not return until they retire.  However, on Easter Island, the youth are leaving (usually at the age of 12 or 13) to become educated on the mainland but they return.  In fact, this is the first generation where most of the youth return after getting higher degrees.

In 1993, Kevin Costner came to the island and made a movie called Rapa Nui that tried to capture part of its history.  The movie wasn't very good, did not do well at the box office and took liberties with actual, agreed-upon history.  However, the locals still delineate what life was like before and after the movie.  To the residents it was a game changer.  The money added to the economy was large by their standards and it showed that Easter Island was unique and worth learning about and visiting.  It was and still is a wonderful boost to their economy.

To sum up the sense of wonder we have for this island we use two words - what and how.  What inspired these people to create Moai, what actually happened to make them totally walk away from that way of life and abruptly stop carving and erecting them?  How could an isolated people grow and prosper for so long and how on earth did they actually place all of these statues all over this island?  There are no written histories - just stories passed down, generation to generation.  So truthfully, we will never really know.

We love to travel. With Easter Island, we have added to our list another place that we have a connection and empathy as we read the latest world news and stories.  Yet, there are only a few places that bring such a sense of wonder.  Easter Island is one of those places.  There are no words.