The thing about island culture, is that it can be very “Don’t worry, be happy”, but, for instance, when you are supposed to be picked up for a tour at 9 o’clock and aren’t picked up till 10:30 it seems like a waste of an hour and a half. When the tour van finally arrived, in the car were our friends from the plane! On our tour! We had such a fun day with them.
We did the whole west side of the island today. During period of time before 1600 (when the Maoi statues were being built), the Rapa Nui people had a very advanced culture. I thought the big heads were mostly decorative art or a spiritual expression, but they also are astronomical, like Stonehenge. The placement also served as information about migratory birds, wind direction, and good fishing. It’s clear they had knowledge of trigonometry. Additionally, they had advanced farming methods, which involved growing plants in caves, so they were protected from the salty winds.
The architecture of their homes was also quite advanced, using techniques that even modern architects use now to save energy. Because the island was so small they had to have an advanced knowledge of genealogy to prevent interbreeding. We scrambled over rocks and down holes into deep caves, and we’re amazed at all the ways they had adapted to the land.
There is only one flight per day to Rapa Nui, and you can only get there from Santiago, Chile. During the pandemic there were NO flights. This island, which had become so dependent on tourism was in grave danger. Then something magical happened. The community of 3,000 people pulled together. “I have a boat and can fish.” “I have a chicken house and plenty of eggs.” “I know a lot about row crops.” “My bakery has plenty of flour for now.” Everyone we talked to says this time turned the island into a kind, tight-knit self sufficient society.
One of the purposes of the statues was that they were ancestor spirits, who were supposed to be watching over them. In the 1600s when people from off the island were exploiting them and taking them as slaves, and there was a lack of resource on the island, they were angry with their spirit gods and knocked them all down.
Marsh Travels 