Isla de Pascua (Easter Island)

This past week, I was fortunate enough to travel with my fellow American University classmates to Easter Island, known locally as “Isla de Pascua” or the world’s bellybutton (I’m not joking) for a school-sponsored educational vacation. We learned an unbelievable amount about the local culture, archaeological studies on the island, and most importantly, a lot of history about a civilization that is totally isolated and somewhat mysterious. Here are a few of the highlights:

Easter Island is 2,334 miles away from Santiago, the equivalent of about a 5-6 hour plane ride. The island is isolated, with around 6,000 people living there full time and another 6,000 on average that visit each year for tourism. The island was formed by three separate volcano eruptions that took place millions of years ago, and is still home to dozens of volcanic structures and coasts covered in volcanic rock. There is an ongoing debate about where the first inhabitants originated from, but the most widely accepted theory points to Polynesia. The native islanders are called “Rapa Nui”, the name that they give to the island and also to their language.

Overlooking "Hanga Roa", the only town on the island

Perhaps what the island is most well-known for are its ancient statues called "moai". Used to represent important figures in Rapi Nui society, both male and female moai were created to commend tribal leaders, political figures, religious and spiritual guides, etc. They come in many shapes and sizes, and are scattered throughout the island.

This platform features 15 moai, the largest of its kind on the island

The majority of these moai are underground

During the island's war with Peru in the 19th century, many artifacts were destroyed including the majority of the moai. They were knocked face down as a symbol of disgrace and a loss of honor of the Rapa Nui, most often by the Rapa Nui themselves. This is also when the eyes were taken out of the statues, as they were the most valuable objects and could be sold for exorbitant prices. Only one moai on the island still has eyes, though they were put in later when the statues were being restored.  

Face down moai

Moai with eyes

All of the moai face inward toward the island as a symbol of protection over the Rapa Nui people, however there is one group of 7 moai, known as the 7 explorers, who face outward toward the ocean to symbolize the 7 Rapa Nui people who served as the island's first explorers.

Carving the moai took patience and time, as they were hand designed using a strong obsidian-like stone and took up to several months or even years to complete. The Rapa Nui carved the moai directly out of stone in various volcanic formations, and then transported them to different locations throughout the island. Theories as to how the moai were moved around the island are widely debated, however ideas range from rolling them on wooden trunks to legitimately pushing them in their upright position around the island to help from alien invaders (it’s not that far from Roswell, NM, right?).

Moai were carved out of rocks like these

One of my favorite moments from our trip was our last evening - we sat out by the beach and watched the sun set behind several moai and were later treated to an evening of smog-free stargazing on the beach, a luxury we don’t normally have in Santiago or D.C.

During our expeditions on the island, we were able to visit a couple of natural, inactive volcanic craters that have filled with water. The first was small and serene, and was located right behind where the Rapa Nui carved their moai. The second was located on the coast and was honestly breathtaking, I’d never seen anything like it.

First crater - moai carving site

Second crater - southwest part of the island 

And finally, it wouldn’t be a trip to an island if there wasn’t some time on a beautiful sandy beach, right? There is actually only one little spot on the island where the beach is sand, not rock, and we took full advantage of this by spending an afternoon resting on the sand and enjoying the waves, grateful for the sun and some down time (the vacation life is hard, I know).

Beach at Anakena

Hopefully these pictures give you a glimpse of this last week’s adventure and some of the incredible history and culture that I was able to experience. Though the island is a part of Chile, our time there felt worlds away from our life in Santiago. I have many more stories and experiences from our travels around the island, but I should at least maintain some level of mystery about the Rapa Nui and their culture. If you’re still curious, ask me next time you see me and I'll certainly have a few more stories to share. 

Darcy and me with the 7 Explorers