We moved straight on to the hotel, got room assignments and were granted the blessing of free time. Hot and sticky from the plane, the group made out way down to the shore to find one of the rocky shores and start the photo taking. I was the first in the water, diving into a rocky cove with a man made rock wall to provide slight protection from the crashing waves. I was alone in the water for some times as the fellow exchange students looked on, saying it was "too cold" to get in. I made friends with the local boys that were also swimming there and they showed me how to dive off the rocks when the waves broke over the rocks for the biggest splash and the safest way to climb out of the water on to the black volcanic rocks. Lennart, Alex, and Peik joined me later and hung in the water with out new friends for a while. At this point all of the other students had left and the three friends invited us to play a pick up soccer game with them at the near by school turf field. We jumped out the water dried off and walked over to field with the boys, running into Joey on the way who decided to come with us. I sat on the bleachers and chatted with a guy who I cannot remember the name of about what it was like to live on the island. At 6, we dragged ourselves away from the coastline and soccer game back to the hotel for dinner and a walk down to the Moai statues at Ahu Tahai that sat along the coast for a beautiful sunset. And that included the first wonderful day on Isla de Pascua.
Day two, all of us were up at the bright and early hour of 8:30 to begin our first full day on the island. After comsuming coupious amounts of avocado and fresh fruit for breakfast we headed out on the first day of touring. We stopped first at the rockly coastline to watch powerful waves break over the rocks creating a massive spray of salty water. Next we bussed over to Rano Raraku the biggest collection of Moai and is thought to be their place of construction.
We then moved on to one of the most famous sites on the island Ahu Tongariki. These 15 Moai are thought to be the sententials of the island. Many a photos were taken, however their grand size and beauty couldn't be properly captured on film.
Somehow and someway, I was able to drag myself out of bed at an ungodly hour in the morning to see the sunrise in the bitter cold. But as Chileans put it "vale la pena" which kinda translates to worth the pain. It was beautiful with a sky full of purples, pinks and oranges.
We clambered back to the hotel, consumed another yummy breakfast and headed out for another day full of wonders. We headed over to the largest lava caves on the islands and hiked around inside and on the rock cliffs that meet the ocean. Inside the cave, at one point, we all turned off our flashlights and stood in complete silence and darkness for a few minutes. Our tour guide then started to sing in a rasping voice in the Rapa Nui language filling the cave with the haunting melody.
After the lava cave, we moved on to more Moai viewing sights, which let me tell you, there were many, I think we probably saw every Moai that was on the island. We ended the day with free time to head into town and shop and swim at the beach if we wanted. I ended up doing both. The one drawback of the beautiful island is that everything was extremely expensive which makes sense seeing that it is isolated.
That night we went to our first Sau Sau show, Sau Sau being the dance of Rapa Nui. We went to the spectaculo Kari Kari one of the longest running and most famous on the island. At first, let me just say that it is quite a shock to see men come out on to the stage in only a thong made of feathers or shells and some body paint. The show was very beautiful with the women in elaborate feather headdresses and skirts. It just started to go down hill for me when the dancer in front of me with the crazy eyes and the long tounge stared at me though an entire song so intently that the president of Rotary exchange sitting behind me grabs my shoulder and says " that is a little spooky", of course, it couldn't just end there for me. Once the next song start up , the leader of the group says that they need audience members to come up and dance with them. I, of course start sinking into my seat, but that alas doesn't help me at all when crazy eyes points directy at me and pulls me on stage, in front of roughly 200 people. And away we go, dancing Sau Sau, which I luckly had a bit of practice in because I danced it in front of my school with my classmates for the Chilean indepence day, but that was interrupted by an earthquake, so I was a bit rusty. After being thoughly embarrassed, but hiroucly cheered on by my friends, I sat back down and tried to calm down my flaming cheeks. After the show we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep after a few rounds of cards.
The next day was the final organized tour of the trip. We bussed over to Volcan Rano Kau, now extinct and its crater servies as a fertile wild crop land full of native fruits and vegetable. We hiked around the gaping crater is it was serenely beautiful. Walking through lush green bushes with bright yellow flowers and the blue ocean surrounding us in every directions. I could see the curve of the world. The rest of the day was spent at Anakena beach swimming in the pouring down rain and exploring the town.
The final day on the island was by far the most incredible for me. SCUBA DIVING!!!!!!! The final hurrah and since weather was permitting, I was able to pull on a take and explore the underwater world. Of course it was more organized than that, we all went in group of 4 and each had our own personal guide. My guide, Alfredo, was awesome because most of the guides hovered over their charges holding onto their tanks and directing then to where to go. Alfredo and I practiced breathing with the tank and changed water depth for roughly 5 minutes in the bay before bringing me to the surface saying that I was good to go. We then took off and left the group behind swimming out into the ocean. I saw an arry of fish, crabs, huge crawling sea urchins, and starfish. When the beautiful session ended, Alfredo asked me I had swam competitively before and I told him for roughly 10 years, his only response was, "well, that makes sense, you're a natural.".
That even we had the final Sau Sau showed at another club, this one being a more modern take with a blend of traditional music and a live rock band. I luckily was not pulled up on stage for that one, although it was attempted, I just threw the girl sitting next to me out of her chain and into the isle.
That concluded my amazing trip to Isla de Pascua seeing as we left in the morning on Friday. I was so sad to go because I wanted more time to explore and swim. It was one of the best weeks of my entire exchange and life. I do not know if I will ever make it back to Isla de Pascua ever again in my life, but I am so grateful for the time that I had there.
No comments:
Post a Comment