This volcanic flyspeck is arguably the most remote inhabited spot on the planet — marooned in the South Pacific 1,200 miles from its nearest neighbor, Pitcairn Island, and 2,300 miles from Chile, which calls the shots. It's also one of the strangest.The sun rises and sets unnaturally late because clocks have been altered to better sync with the distant mainland. The tiny, 64-square-mile island, which locals call Rapa Nui (Big Island in the native tongue), was claimed by Chile in 1888, but the native islanders are ofMaori descent and identify themselves as Polynesians, not Latinos.About 2,000 horses, or about one for every two residents, roam free, wandering along the dusty streets of its sole settlement, Hanga Roa, and elsewhere.
The town sports a raw frontier feel with its haphazard collection of single-story, corrugated-roofed buildings.
Rapanui men,
generally a strong-jawed, broad-chested bunch, ride bareback through
the streets, turning the heads of many a tourist. (Years ago, a Chilean
landed here intending to open a brothel. It failed. "Guys here can get
it for free," one resident explains.)
Mayor Petero Edmunds boasts
that he hasn't passed a single law in his 14-year tenure. Rapa Nui has
Chile's highest per capita beer and cigarette consumption. "Everyone
smokes," he declares.
The island is difficult to
get to. Its landscape is not lovely in the traditional sense. Its
hotels, for the most part, range from not-great to not-good.
Restaurants are expensive. Nightlife is almost non-existent.
Yet Rapa Nui ranks on many
a traveler's places-to-see-before-you-die list. The compelling draw, of
course, is the stone giants. There are 887 of these monolithic statues,
some of which stand with their backs to the sea, hollow eyes locked on
the barren, windswept terrain as if guarding vanished villages. Forty
restored figures have been erected at 11 sites.
Others lie in ruin, apparent victims of rage meted out long ago by warring factions.
The statues, or moai,
painstakingly were carved with rudimentary basalt tools from the 11th
to 17th centuries. Almost 400 remain in various stages of completion
where they werec......
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Easter Island stone heads are 'dying'
Easter Island Exposed
Easter Island - shedding light on an ancient mystery
