Easter Island: Chapter four
Connecting the dots.
It’s overcast when Yoyo picks me up.
He looks anxiously at the sky and tells me that in his professional opinion we should rethink the day’s itinerary. As if on cue, the skies open up and rain starts pouring down upon us.
He takes me to an old structure that was once used for sheep shearing. He shows me the generator used to create electricty for the shears and finds half of a metal sign that he takes for safe-keeping.
There are plans to turn the site into a museum, though there are protests against the action written on sheets hung around the fences. He tells me that once the museum is complete he’ll bring the piece back. He wonders who has the other half.
He picks passion fruit from the trees and offers me one. We sit in the car in the rain and eat our fruit. It’s delicious. He asks me if I like waffles. I tell him I love them. He tells me he’ll buy me waffles for breakfast and we drive to Anakena beach. It loooks like I might get my seafood empanada after all.
At the beach, the restaurants are not yet open. Yoyo tells me we’ll come back. he drives around the beach and into the mountains surrounding it on dirt roads until it proves too challenging for the car.
We alight and walk along the coast towards the west. There are storm clouds before us and we walk towards them, watching the rain approach over the ocean.
Soon the rain is upon us, drenching us just as we reach the other side of hte promontory. Below, we can see Ovahe. I hadn’t realized how close the beaches were to each other.
Yoyo points to a path that leads down to the beach. He tells me to follow the path. He’ll go back to the car and bring it around. We’ll meet at the parking lot.
There’s a small group of people at the beach. Most of them stand back near the rocks, hiding from the rain, which soon passes. A child heads towards the water and her family soon follows to play in the surf.
We drive to the moai paro, at 9 meters, the largest moai that had ever been stood up on the island. Its top knot sat nearby, and Yoyo tells me that the top knot had never been placed on top. Had it been on the moai’s head at the time it feel it would have rolled much further away.
Nearby sits the Te Pito Te Henua or navel of the world. A magnetic stone with a high iron content, it causes compasses to behave erratically when placed near it. Yoyo tells me that you used to be able to stand next to it and demonstrate the effects. Now there’s a barrier of rocks protecting the site.
We walk to a nearby village and Yoyo greets a fisherman looking out over the water. They chat with each other a bit and Yoyo tells me about the tsunami that last hit the island, which filled the small harbor with sand.
He asks if I went into any astronomy caves during my hike yesterday. I told him we hadn’t and he brings me to one next to the village. Sitting inside there’s a small opening at the top, where specific stars would be seen at specific times of the year.
I climb in and look up at the grey skies, imaginging the stars beyond.
We walk back through the village and along the road to the car until Yoyo pulls me back into the fields.
He points out top knots near ruined platforms and I am amazed at how the entire island is strewn with evidence of the previous civilizations. There seem to be moai everywhere.
As we continue walking Yoyo shows me faded etchings in a rock. Nearby he shows me a small moai slowly being overtaken by the earth. On previous days I saw a moai being used as a makeshift door to a stone chicken coop.
Back at the car Yoyo takes me to Pu o Hiro, a stone trumpet he tells me was used to announce the birdman competition. When the wind direction changes and the sound can be heard over the island, the competition begins.
Yoyo asks me the time and, satisfied with the hour, drives us back to Anakena. The huts are open for lunch save for the hut that makes waffles.
He has a friend selling a herbal drink of his own making and we each buy a bottle. It’s refreshing and delicious. We watch as he sets up shop by the boardwalk leading down to the beach.
I settle at a table and order a seafood empanada. Yoyo orders a crepe from another restaurant and they bring it to our table. The empanada is freshly made and delicious.
We while away the afternoon at the restaurant. On the stereo they play Dire Straits and the Traveling Wilburys and island remixes of popular songs from the 80s and 90s. Yoyo tells me that they love country music and as if on cue, a country song plays on the stereo.
He asks me if I want to go for a dip. At first I demur, but then think better of it. I change and head back to the beach and into the water.
• • •
Back in town I say goodbye to Yoyo and thank him for his time and expertise. And for the crepe he shared with me.
The day remains overcast and rain threatens but I grab my rain jacket and decide to explore more of the town, walking away from the center towards the north and Mirador Hanga Kioe.
At the mirador I watch horses graze by the moai and take in the scenery. Nearby, people are bathing in the shallows and I wish I had my bathing suit to do the same.
As I walk back towards town it rains another rainbow. I pause to reflect upon the fact that I’ve seen more rainbows in the past two days than I’ve seen in a year. And more complete rainbows than I’ve seen in over twice that time.
Back in town the restaurant where I had planned to take dinner is full. They tell me to try back in an hour or so.
Nearby, there is a table outside at the Oheho Surf Cafe and I take a seat and order a Pisco sour. The sun is setting and it’s warm, but the view is spectacular and the drink is cold. I order the catch of the day and write postcards as I watch the sun dip towards the sea.
After dinner I walk home past the soccer pitch. Another match is under way and I catch a few minutes before heading back to start packing.
It’s been an amazing few days; it feels like it’s been a dream.
The next morning I take breakfast at Polynesian Coffee and bar.
The cruise ship has arrived and frommy table I watch launches ferry people to the shore. It’s a beautiful day, the skies blue, the clouds white.
After breakfast I walk to the harbor to watch people alight just under a faded moai at Ahu Riata. A French woman asks me to take her photo and I happily comply.
Buses line the street and lot waiting to pick up passengers for their day tours. A few people with no excursions planned walk the road towards town.
I walk back home to finish packing and gather my things alongside tourists here for the day. It’s a pleasant walk and I stop to take photos of sculptures I hadn’t yet seen, having not made it to this part of the island in days past.
Back home, I hang the leis Patricia had given me outside and gather my bags. She picks me up and drives me to the airport. She hugs me and takes a talisman from around her neck. This isn’t for me, she tells me. It’s for you. I bend down so she can place it around my neck. To keep you safe, she says. She gets back into her car and with a wave of her hand is gone. It’s like a dream.
The flight taxiis to the end of the runway and turns to point east. We take off in the same direction we landed. I am sitting on the same side of the plane, almost in the same seat, and from my window I watch the island disappear from view as we fly back towards Santiago.
It’s been an amazing trip and I am so thankful to have been able to spend some time on the island. As the ocean fills my view, I touch the talisman that rests against my chest, the feather enwraps my finger like warm memories around my brain.
20 February 2023
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