Head Over Handlebars About Easter Island

There are times when I can go weeks without thinking of anything interesting to write in a post and then there are days like today when I sit with 3 potential posts in mind. I'll eventually write them all, but this one comes first. And even though I write about Easter Island, there will be pics from the Galapagos, Machu Picchu, Uyunia Salt Flats and Easter Island.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. As luck would have it, on that Wednesday before Thanksgiving, a family friend of the owners of the hostel where I was staying, had come into town from Tahiti. To celebrate, they had this huge feast where they wrapped chicken, pork, and fish in banana leaves and then placed them in the Earth on top of hot embers. Blazing hot stones were then placed on top of the food, and the whole thing was covered in dirt and left to cook for around 3 hours. Lots of other side dishes were prepared and the owners invited those of us staying at the hostel to join them in a feast. It was an amazing meal and gave me an island Thanksgiving. Pretty special. The meal I actually had on Thanksgiving was pasta with canned tuna fish and avocado. Not quite as glamorous as the night before, but it didn't matter.

So, my last 4 days was spent in one of the most remote places on Earth, Easter Island. It is the land of the famous Moai statues. You know, those huge stone heads that actually do sit atop full bodies. As far as islands go, it was pretty, but there are definitely prettier islands to visit. And even though Easter Island is so remote, it was loaded with tour groups speaking a variety of different languages. It definitely isn't a place that is on the typical backpacker trail, but is certainly on the travel radar of many middle to older aged people wearing socks with sandals.

One of the things that bothers me when I travel is when I feel like I am seeing and doing the same thing as everyone else. You might be thinking, "This guy is on Easter Island and doesn't feel like he is doing something unique?" Yup. When you share sightseeing space with tour groups, especially on an island with 3 main roads, it starts to feel like everyone is seeing the same things and taking pictures of the same stuff. I take comfort in knowing that I am still probably seeing things a bit differently than most, as my photographic eye is better than your average tourist, but it was still tough to break away from the masses and feel as though I was seeing something that no one else was seeing.

Renting a bike for 3 days was how I chose to transport myself around the island. Not a flat island and not always paved roads where you would like them to be paved. I am not much of a bike rider, and before my trip this year, it had probably been about 10 years since I had last ridden a bike. So riding my bike over rocks, uneven dirt roads, and past curious horses and cows, was a bit uncomfortable for me. However, it did allow me to experience some things which most other tourists didn't: Saddle sore, copious amounts of sweat and extreme exhaustion. Not quite the unique I was looking for, but I guess beggars can't be choosers.

As far as the Moai statues go, they were quite impressive. I have consistently been amazed on this trip how people of these ancient civilizations transported such large stones from place to place to make temples, pyramids, and statues. Without the benefit of modern machinery, it was an amazing feat for them to do what they did. The Moai statues were all carved out of rock at one particular quarry and then the finished statues were dragged to all parts of the island to their final standing place. Not short distances, mind you. There were plenty of statues which fell during transport to their final destination and others which fell when trying to be erected on their platforms in the village. Can you imagine spending months and years on a statue only to have it break? All of the Moai, but for 7, face inland. Facing inland was the position of the Moai so that they could protect each village. The 7 that don't, face the sea and pay homage to those who discovered the island.

So, am I head over handlebars because I rode my bike successfully around the island without falling? Nope. I'm head over handlebars because after I was done taking pictures of the Moai, with the night sky as a backdrop, my friend Dano and I actually fell head over handlebars in a moped accident. Out of all the places I've been, especially with the craziness that is Southeast Asian traffic, the remote Easter Island is the place where I get into an accident. Some jerk on a motorcycle crossed in front of us to get into a nightclub parking lot and stopped in the road before fully getting to the parking lot. So his entire back end was protruding into the street. Dano hit the brakes hard, but our momentum still carried us into his back wheel and we both fell over the handlebars of the moped. That guy then sped off, which started a disappointing chain reaction of events related to the human condition. Good news, relatively minor injuries for the two of us, all things considered. My camera got a bit dinged, but is still entirely functional. The biggest loss of the night was Dano's cell phone, which was stolen by a local pretending to 'help.' He of course, denied taking it. But after rushing into the bar following his 'helpful' deed, he returned to the parking lot and made a spectacle of emptying his pockets trying to prove his point. But there were only 3 people who could have had it: Dano, me, and the local. Take a guess which 2 didn't have it. He even made a mistake at one point in saying, "I didn't take your Iphone," without us ever saying the phone in question was actually an Iphone. I'm no police detective, but I've watched my fair share of Matlock and Murder, She Wrote to know that a slip of the tongue like that is pretty damning evidence of guilt. The locals were of course incredulous that we would ever accuse them of stealing. I think they even called us racist at some point. Who knew that 'process of elimination and deductive reasoning' were acts of racism? We called the police, but they were also of no use, especially given our rudimentary Spanish speaking. Hard to believe that not one of the other locals at the club was the least bit helpful. In fact, they were all kind of laughing at the fact we were in an accident, and not once did they ever ask if we were ok. Left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth about the type of human beings which live on Easter Island. I think the Moai statues would have been more helpful than these people.

All in all though, after the pictures I had taken that night of the Moai under the stars, my Easter Island experience was always going to be memorable. Standing face to face with 15 Moai, ocean in the background, ambient moonlight, stars above, and with only Dano and Pedro as company, I had gotten the unique experience I was looking for. Sometimes, all it takes is 1 picture to turn a trip from 'just another stop on a long journey' into something 'truly unforgettable.' Cheers.

Tongariki

Now for the picture gallery:

Easter Island

Galapagos Islands

really really old lava formations

local fish market observers

famous finches

marine iguanas

famous turtles

blue footed boobies

Cusco

Sacred Valley

sexy dude at the highest point on the Inca Trail

Not the top of the world, but it felt like it

Machu Picchu

My hiking buddy, Anina

The Inca Trail Gang. We all made it.

Top 2 sunset from my whole trip

Lake Titicaca

Train Graveyard on Uyuni Salt Flats

This is just a small sampling of the Uyuni Salt Flats pictures. There were more lagoons of various colors and a trip into the Atacama Desert. I'll leave some pics for a future post. I'm in Buenos Aires for the next couple of days and then off to Ushuaia, the starting point for my cruise to Antarctica. Continent 7 on this 7 continent trip is about 1 week away. Someone is getting excited.