Arrival on Easter Island

A moai of Ahu Hotake stares off into Hanga Roa harbor

I have been on Easter Island and I have solved the mystery of the giants heads. I have a serious answer. But you'll have to work your down to the end of the post to get the answer.

I flew in on a 787. The flight was quite unpleasant. It's a five-hour flight. It left Santiago's airport about an hour and 15 minutes late. That was not the problem. The only thing on my schedule today was flying to Easter Island. It's not like I had a connection to make. The problem was that I had a window seat and, in the middle seat, was a fat guy. He was big enough that he was encroaching on my seat. And I'm a fat guy, too, so I had no seat to spare. And to make matters worse? There was no one in the aisle seat! Tubby McLardbutt (he spoke English, so I know his name was not Tubito Culatagrande) could have moved over, or at least leaned over to the aisle seat and let me enjoy the entire seat I paid for. Not the type of problem I expect on international travel.

My back was killing me from the contortions I had to make to fit into my seat. I just about kissed the ground when I deplaned.

But who could prostrate oneself when there are sights to seat, right alongside the airport runway?

The airport is small. Not as small as this "gate" makes it look like.

But there is only one flight in and one flight out each day, all involving Santiago's airport. This is a massive improvement from the last three years. Isla de Pascua was completely shutdown for the COVID for 2020, 2021, and 2022. It only re-opened for twice WEEKLY flights at the beginning of this year and the current daily regimen just started this month. Time for us tourists to march right in.

I didn't feel like rolling the big bag the mile from the airport to the hotel, so I took a cab. And within a few seconds, I arrived at the Easter Island Ecolodge.

This hotel is much simpler than the one in the hipster neighborhood in Santiago. But still very clean.

And, unlike the hipster hotel in Santiago, this one has live chickens on the property.

And they won't shut up. Hopefully they will go to sleep when the sun goes down. I'm thinking I may not need to set an alarm clock.

This is most definitely not a hipster neighborhood.

The hotel is in the village of Hanga Roa, which is, for the most part, the only human settlement on this small speck of an island thousands of miles from anywhere. I think the population is a little more than two thousand permanent residents.

And as I am strolling down Te Pito o Te Huana -- which, I think, on Google Maps means that there are alternative names -- "Te Pito" or "Te Huana" rather than one long, cumbersome name -- and I spy my first two Easter Island heads:

Psyche! Just the busts of a couple of Chileno military men from the distant past.

They were in a little park at the corner of Te Pito (o Te Huana) and Atamu Tekena.

But I am on a mission to make it to Hanga Roa harbor, which is just another block away. Two whole blocks from the hotel.

By the way, there are a couple of super-ultra high end luxury spa hotels on the island. There are lots of what we would call "primitive" lodging. There is not much in the middle market. My Easter Island Ecolodge is probably what passes for mid-market on the island.'

And even though Isla de Pascua is, technically, Polynesian, way out in the middle of the South Pacific, it's still Chile. Which means it is still South America. Which means: soccer pitches:

Right across the street for the harbor.

This harbor area is the closest that Hanga Roa gets to "over-developed."

Ahu Hotake and the harbor in one frame:

"Ahu" means platform. The "moai" -- those world famous Easter Island heads -- are mounted on "ahu."

I have been trying to get to Easter Island since this was the vacation destination chosen for me for 2018, when for Advent 2017 I put the names of 30 places in the cookie jar and "Easter Island" was the last one in the jar. But I couldn't go in 2018, because the chance to go to China came up. In 2019, there were riots in Chile that were frequently shutting down Santiago airport and I didn't want to take a chance on getting stranded.

Then, in 2020, the 'vid hit. Chile was the most locked-down country in the Americas and Easter Island, in particular, was locked tight. I only learned a few months ago that they were re-opening the island for daily flights.

And, as I've learned from years of vacation planning, when a window opens, you have to throw yourself through it. The window opened and here I am: On Easter Island.

I have a full day tour scheduled tomorrow to see as many heads as I can.

I have three days here. I figured two days (which means three nights) would be enough to see everything, but this I know is a once-in-a-lifetime destination. I want to make sure I've seen it all here. I am not planning on leaving anything for a "next visit" to Easter Island.

Although I don't see myself booking a boat trip on one of these boats:

I left Santiago before breakfast. I ate only a cheese sandwich on the airplane. Tengo hambre!

I'm not sure how reliable google reviews are in a place like this -- especially since it has been largely shut down for the last three and a half years, so I decided to eat and what appeared to be (but is not billed as) a Peruvian restaurant.

La Vie Belle, which served Peruano food under a French name. I order what on the English language translation of the menu was dubbed "the butter fish of the day." The catch of the day, cooked in herbed butter.

Who doesn't like food cooked in butter?

The "butter fish of the day" was tuna. A very fresh tuna. I ordered it cooked "medio," which I thought would mean "medium."

"Medium rare" must mean "sashimi." "Rare" must mean "still in the net."

Anyway, as I am sitting in the restaurant, staring at the harbor, it came to me. The "experts" keep saying that "no one knows" why the early people of Rapa Nui (as Easter Island is called in the native tongue) carved and mounted all the giant human head statues all over this small island. And I know the answer. The serious answer.

Easter Island is a tiny, tiny speck of rock out in the middle of the Pacific, surrounded by nothing but thousands of miles of salt water. Even today, with modern transportation technology, it's a five-hour flight. And even today, with modern technology, the island can support a population of only a couple of thousand. So why carve out and populate the island with all these heads?

The early people of Rapa Nui just wanted to feel less alone in their isolated world.