22nd November – A lazy day

After 2 hikes the previous day and a bit of a boozy send off to the 3 American ladies, we had a lie in and a lazy morning lounging around the lodge.

Perfect light this time!

This afternoon though, we decided to visit the 15 moais again as the light was much better.  Really glad we did as saw so much more detail on the figures and with a dark sky behind them, they looked terrific. Apparently this tribe was not a royal one, but very powerful as they had good farming skills and as they were so close to the quarry, building figure heads there was a breeze compared to some of the other tribes.  They had a great rivalry with the royal tribe to the north of them who were jealous of their large and impressive moais.  They lured them down to admire their platform but set a trap.  They agreed to a race down the hill, but had built a deep pit with a fire in it in which all but one of the unfortunate royal tribe fell into and burnt to death.  The one that escaped fled to warn the rest of his tribe and, apparently, that’s how the civil wars started.  This led to the destruction of the platforms and the pulling down of the heads – most of which snapped at the necks as this is the most vulnerable part of it.  We also learnt that this culture flourished between 900AD to about 1600 and that it would take 6 skilled stone masons about 2 years to cave a 5 metre head.  In reality though, many more masons worked on each head so they were produced within a few months.

Top knot moai...

We also went to look at some petroglyphs in the rocks which we’d missed on our 1^st visit and a hole in the ground that led to a deep cave where the lesser members of the tribe slept as the more important people slept in the boat houses.  My impression of this society was that it was very violent and only the strongest and fittest survived.  The rivalry between the tribes was intense and due to the pressure of over population on the natural resources this inevitably led to the downfall of these people as they squabbled between themselves.  I couldn't help but think of my favourite poem, Ozymandius, and the words "Look on my works ye mighty and despair!....but nothing beyond remains......"  except, of course, modern man has re-erected some of the amazing follies from the past so we can all wonder at them today.

I find it amazing that the 2-3000 people today are the descendants of just 111 left after the Peruvians kidnapped a lot of the islanders and introduced western diseases such as small pox etc.  You would think they might be inbred, and perhaps they are (?), but I have to say they certainly are a very handsome race – tall and elegant on the whole with really beautiful faces.

When we got back from our short trip, Mum and I enjoyed some time in the Jacuzzi.  We’re now packing and getting ready to fly back to Santiago tomorrow.  Luckily, we have a couple of hours in the small town before going to the airport, so might do some shopping and perhaps visit the small museum there?