Today I attempted to bike on the south coast to the other star attraction in a volcano. Given my cold and the head winds I thought that I was doing okay and decided that I would take my time, bike till 4p and then turn around and head back whereever I happened to be. When I went to take my first Moai pic of the day I discovered that there was no battery in my DSLR but fortunately I had Sherree's handi dandi waterproof camera so all was not lost. As I continued along I noticed the same car passing me a few times and so, started to wave. At about 16km into a 24k ride I stopped at an Ahu for some pics and a rest when a nice man also taking pics said "oh, I keep passing you." Anywhere else in the world I would have found this creepy but not here, even from a fellow traveller. Isla Pascua is safe - Japan safe. Everyone knows everyone else. There is virtually no violent crime and petty crime is very low.
We chatted for a bit - he pegged me as a Canadian right away and I guessed maybe German, but probably Austrian as he didn't have such a strong accent. Edgar was an Austrian who went to a Michigan college on a sports scholarship and is still teaching high school in Virgina at 73. He offered me a ride and I was so hot and sweaty that I accepted. He was a really interesting guy and we ended up spending the rest of the day together as we were heading to the same sites. I gave him some sun block and bought him an ice cream. He reminded a lot of Ross as he was so charming and gregarious and chatted up everyone.
I had a bit more time at Ranu Raku since I didn't have to pedal back. Rano Raku is the volcano that served as the main quarry for most of the moai and where roughly 390 moai have been abandoned in various stages of development. Broken Moai were merely left where they fell - their manu, or spirit was gone. Must have been a big upset to break one after a year of carving!
The Moai were carved out of rock that was hardened volcanic ash. It was softer and lighter than basalt. They were carved in situ on the side of the volcano face up and then carefully chipped out from below. They were slid forward and stood up in a hole so that the carving on the back could be completed. How they were moved to the Ahus is speculation. Some say laying down, some say standing up, on wooden rollers, on wooden sledges. How ever it was done, it took an astounding amount of energy and time no doubt to get from point A to point B which could have been up to 30 km over some pretty steep and stoney terrain. Over time the soil has slid down and stettled in the depressions that remained around the Moai after they were abandoned. The heads comprise about 1/3 of the total heigh the so there is a huge amount still underground.
The demand for the Moai was so great at one point that they started carving them on the inside of the crater - just to add a bit more challenge to transporting them. Edgar and his knees weren't up to the climb so I went off on my own here and once again, had the whole crater to myself. It was filled with "wild" horses. Actually the horses are merely unattended. They are owned and branded but I'm not really sure why they have so many. It is estimated that horses outnumber 5500 +/- residents here. They don't eat them (very many of them,) and they certainly don't ride them all. In any case they are all free to graze and walk all over the archaeolgical sites which is a lot of wear and tear on both the vegetation and stonework.
This crater is less dramatic from a landscape point of view but more dramatic from a Moai point of view. There are 70 or so left inside the crater overlooking the crater lake ringed with totoro reeds. I spent a while wandering about shooing horses out of my way at the lower slopes.
The white sploches of lichen are causing problems with the soft stone as the acids are disolving it. The locals refer to it as "white death." Keeping the moai burried is actually good protection against it.
When I made my way back down to the exit Edgar had amassed a small audience including a descendant of a exiled Chilean president from the mid 1800's and was catching up on local history and gossip. He suggested I go and have a look at the Park ranger's sketches. The ranger was a young Rapa Nui/Chilean woman who worked the gate as a summer job. She is studying landscape architecture in Santiago and has a brother who is also a landscape architect and sister who is an architect. I told her that the architect who designed the new Bahia temple, she knew it well, was from Toronto and a client of ours. It was a small architectural world moment. She had a sketch book full of some very nice wildlife and Moai sketches as well as a great series of Rapa Nui figures and petroglyph symbols fused with Christian iconography and pop symbols. Very impressive overall - she sells some things out of one of the artisans shops so I'm hoping I can find some more of her work.
Next was Ahu Tongariki with and astounding 15 Moai on a single Ahu situated right on the beach. In 1960 when Valdivia, Chile had that huge earthquake it triggered a tsunami in the South Pacific that crashed into Easter Island and knocked over every one of the 15 Moai. The Japanese government and a private Japanese construction company undertook and paid for the restoration. I can see where the Japanese would relate to the the ancestor worship aspect of the Rapanui with a similar focus in Shintoism.
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