Hi from the Easter Island, or Rapa Nui which it is called in their local language.
It’s really nice here, lots of wide, green hills and no trees. And of course Moai, the famous statues. Some of them are located near the only town here on the island – it’s a perfect spot to watch the sunset.
The other ones are all around the island, so I booked a tour to go see them – the easiest and cheapest option plus you get information about the Polynese culture and history.
The Moai have been erected on tombs, always facing towards where the family of the deceased lives. They are carved out of basaltic rock, actually already at the quarry, before they are being transported to the tomb. They eyes are made of coral and only when they are placed into the eye sockets the spirit of the dead person revives again (well, or something like it). The Moai have been built from the year 800 to 1600 but have been destroyed and knocked down a lot during internal tribal wars.
The Spanish is hard so far, after all the French in Tahiti I am completely confused and forgot a lot of words, but I’m trying to learn and this is only the first week. I can get around but I have to think a while before I come out with a sentence and it’s not the easiest to understand. Never the less, I’m diving into conversations with my Chilean roommate, who is really nice and invites me out, so doesn’t seem to be annoyed by my lack of conversation skill. Even though I must sound ike an idiot, it’s the only way to improve.
There is currently a cultural festival going on here and lots of Chilean tourists are here. Yesterday everybody had the opportunity to dress up like a Polynese warrior or fisherman or whatever. That basically means, everybody literally got their asses and tits out. Well, lots of the locals did anyway, I didn’t and that’s why it also didn’t look quite as good. I came pretty unprepared and just spontaneously dived into the tub with brown point (which I regret later when I showered). I met a bunch of people who speak English and hung out with them, so all in all, a good day and it’s pretty funny to see all those different shaped bodies. None of those had been perfect in a way media makes us believe it should be.
My last day on Easter Island I spent on horseback. We rode up Tera Vaka, an old volcano. My previous horse riding experiences haven’t been the best, especially in Iceland. But I wanted to give it another go and it was pretty awesome. We didn’t go fast but after a while I got quite confident and didn’t mind him to speed up a tiny bit every now and then. We rode through nice countryside, over green hills up to the very top where the view over the island towards the Pacific Ocean was splendid. I’d say 3 hours well spent and at the same time I got my workout done…
Run Around The World 