Dispatch from Easter Island: Navel Gazing

By Pat Launer

Photo by John Pryor

For my birthday, I wanted to go somewhere unique and exotic. After I heard Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee talk about his life-changing trip to Easter Island, I, too, wanted to experience the remotest inhabited place on the planet, what’s called in the native Rapanui language Te Pito O Te Henua (the navel of the world).

After the 12-hour flight to Santiago (the island is a territory of Chile) and another five hours over the Pacific, my husband and I disembarked to a pleasant surprise. When Norwegian anthropologist/adventurer Thor Heyerdahl (of Kon-Tiki fame) arrived at Easter Island in the mid-1950s, there wasn’t a tree in sight, although there’d reportedly been millions before. The natives had exhausted all their resources erecting and moving the famous statues. But now it’s green again; in winter (our summer), the rains come frequently and torrentially. Off-season travel is terrific, giving you the place to yourself, though the roads to some of the sites are easily rutted and flooded.

In any season, the statues, called moai, are the big draw. The vacant-eyed mega-men are haunting and unforgettable. I’d expected to see a few of the 14-foot, 14-ton statues, but there are nearly 900 on the tiny, 10-by-15-mile island. Only about 50 have been re-erected, standing staunchly, each with a different facial expression, each guarding the secrets of the island, which is awash in history and mystery. Probably constructed between 800 and 1700 A.D., the statues were thought to be imbued with mana (magical/spiritual power), which is why rival clans toppled them.

They are mind-boggling to behold. And when you go to Rano Raraku, the volcanic quarry where they were sculpted, you see them in every stage of creation. You’ll marvel at how these massive stone giants (not just heads; they have torsos and long-fingered hands that meet in the middle of their protruding bellies) could have been moved miles to their resting places.

There is just one town, Hanga Roa, and we were thrilled with the Hotel Taura’a, a delightful bed-and-breakfast run by Edith Pakarati (whose father was one of Heyerdahl’s informants) and her husband, Bill, an Aussie who came as part of the crew for the Kevin Costner produced film Rapa Nui. They provided wonderful food, hospitality, information and tours.

The 4,000 Easter Islanders are warm and welcoming. To support their major industry—tourism—many craft small statues of stone and wood. But it’s those giant moai that beckon me back. —Pat Launer

If You Go
Only LAN flies to Easter Island (lan.com). Some cruise ships stop here (Princess, Seven Seas, Silversea). The Hotel Taura’a (tauraahotel.cl) was voted a 2008 Travelers’ Choice at tripadvisor.com.