Go to wonder at the Moai and above all to applaud the dignity of a people
Go to wonder at the Moai, and, above all, to applaud the dignity of a people that have suffered and survived so much. He expects his two children to leave.So, if you’re going, go soon. His best dream for Rapa Nui in 50 years time? “That I never see a big air terminal here.” He’s a campaigner who works to keep island traditions alive, but it’s hard to hold on to the island’s youth. At present there is hardly a two-storey building on the island Hotels are simple and owned by local people Pedro Edmunds Paoa, the mayor, believes it can’t last “Money is a terrible temptation,” he says. “I lived 12 years in that country [Chile] where money is made and I don’t want that for my island But you can’t stop it.
There will be high rises here.” Nikko Haoa Cardinali, who part-owns one of the classiest hotels on the island, agrees. Last century, Chile annexed Rapa Nui and rented it to a UK sheep-farming company which enclosed the people, leaving the sheep to roam the island. Luckily for British visitors, islanders blame the Chilean overlords for this scandal.The islanders are rightly anxious about Rapa Nui’s future: Easter Island’s economy depends solely on tourism, but too many tourists would be the death of its individual culture. Airlines’ plans to increase the number of flights to the island are the subject of constant, nervous speculation. With more knowledge of the sea than of cities, Rapa Nui modelled its shelters on upside-down boats, and you can still see the oval foundations.
The Rapa Nui language is alive and defiant despite attempts to impose Spanish on the islanders, and a musical tradition lives on.Something of Rapa Nui culture has survived, despite the near annihilation of the native population, and unsympathetic control of the island. Easter Island may only boast one town now, but once there were many settlements and traces of ingenious houses remain. Just 100 souls left to protect a history which depended on collective memory and an oral tradition.Given all this, it is a miracle that there is still so much left. Manufacture of the Moai was abruptly ended by the war, and you can still visit the quarry where work on the last statues was interrupted. Mostly, the bodies are buried and only the heads stand visible, trapped masterpieces, still waiting to be born.
