Easter Island impressions and observations: There is a shortage of everything. It reminds of if the old Soviet system. Rumors abound as to what is coming in on the next ship or what has just arrived. When a shipment arrives, there is a mad scramble and things are bought up in days. Sometimes they run out of things such as butane to run their stoves and a Chilean warship makes an emergency run to supply them. Certain things are not available: lotion. Certain things are scarce and expensive: a 100ml is sunscreen was $15. The naive people, the Rapa Nui, are being bred out and not many remain. Increasingly the people are Chilean and there is fear the Rapa Nui will disappear. Chileans come here because wages are high. Most of the island was given to UNESCORTED by the Chile government and this is a further source of contention with the Rapa Nui. They have very little access to their own land. People transport with cars, mopeds, 4-wheelers, bicycles and horses. Abandoned dogs run loose everywhere and are friendly. They will just start walking with you until they attach to someone else. No rabies on the island. There is no indigenous mammal population either. There were many sheep once-upon-a-time, but all gone now. There are wandering horses everywhere, they are owned by no one are are very thin. Americans are well thought of here. Around 1985 the Americans built the Airport and road across the island so that the Space Shuttle could land and be brought home. You can drive across the island in about 30 min. This is the wettest, windiest and coldest year people can remember. When it rains the water soaks through the porous island and comes out in springs along the coastline. They have also drilled wells in modern times. There are a number of tree projects and small stands of forests are growing again. Scientists think Easter Island long ago lost their trees and then topsoil. Sea life is scarce. The ocean is barren around these parts and then they were over-fished. There are a number of invasive plant species that are taking over: Canadian Thistle and the worse one is horse grass which ironically horses wont eat. Its a fuzzy grass that interweaves and climbs everything until it kills it. If you touch it, it feels fuzzy and then leaves a sticky residue on your hands. Nasty stuff! There are three volcanic craters here, two with lakes inside. However Easter Island is really all about the Moai. The Moai were quarried on one end of the island and then they walked to the other end. Walked may be figurative and literal as some believed this was how they were transported, by walking them corner by corner. There are about 1025 Moai on the island. Many are in-progress at the quarry. Legend says that work stopped on the Moai on a single day. None were left standing but were pushed over by other clans that were at war with one another.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 16:35:24 +0000