I visited the very Navel of the Earth! The one place from where you can actually see that the Earth is round, the most far away island where volcanoes used to dominate the land and where a few thousand people are still living.
Rapa Nui (Big Land) it was once called “Te pito o te fenua” (The Navel of the Earth). The name “Easter Island” was given when discovered by the island's first recorded European visitor, the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen who encountered it on Easter Sunday 1722.
But I think that there is another name that suits the place better: “Testosterone Island”. I'm pretty certain that if some tests would be done on locals, it will be reveal that they are gifted with a bigger amount of testosterone than the usual.
Making a research on the net looking at what other people said about the place, I was not surprise to find out that mostly women went crazy about it and, without exception, all of them wanted to stay more, or go back, or even live there.
I am no different, I want to go back and stay longer. Four days is the time we spent there and it was enough to drive me completely crazy and in love.
In love with what exactly, I can not say...
At first it was our tour guide, Catherine, a woman in her forties, born in Switzerland and living in Rapa Nui for 25 years now; she has Rapa Nui sisters and brothers as her father married a local woman, she married herself a Rapa Nui and she does not have children of her own but she raised seven boys; she is part of the Rapa Nui big family as all the people on the island are about four thousand.
She had something very special in the way she talked about the things and places that we saw, she was damn passionate and a bit of an actress (good one!) in the way she pronounced the words in rapanui language. I loved her from the start, it was a real pleasure to listen, learn and see how much soul one can put into it.
Than there were the Moai, the representation of the ancestors, these stone statues on the border of the see, all looking to the land as they were supposed to watch over the village and protect it; the Moai's body is shaped with the characteristic of the person that they represent, so that is why some are tall, some small, some large, some thin, and personally, I was stroke by the shape of the nose that is obviously different from a Moai to another.
(“About 95% of the 887 Moai known to date were carved out of compressed volcanic ash at Rano Raraku, where 394 Moai still remain visible today. Recent GPS mapping in the interior will certainly add additional Moai to that count. The quarries in Rano Raraku appear to have been abandoned abruptly, with many incomplete statues still in situ. The most widely-accepted theory is that the statues were carved by the Polynesian colonizers of the island beginning by about A.D. 1000-1100. In addition to representing deceased ancestors, the Moai, once they were erect on ceremonial sites, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living chiefs. They were also important lineage status symbols.
It is not known exactly how the Moai were moved but the process almost certainly required human energy, ropes, wooden sledges and/or rollers.
Another theory is that the Moai may have been "walked" by rocking them forward.
Many Rapa Nui people believe that the statues were moved and erected by 'Mana' a magical force. Great kings of a long-gone era simply used their Mana to command the Moai to move to the distant sites and stand there. Mana is a word and concept you hear frequently in South Seas lore. The people of Rapa Nui believed that the Moai also possessed Mana, which was instilled at the time their white coral eyes were put in place, and that the Moai used their Mana to protect the people of the island. Today none of the Moai have genuine coral eyes - and thus the Mana is no more.”)
The Moai received their eyes only when they were already standing on the platform that was made especially for them, and at that point the Moai was no longer called Moai but Aringa Ora O Te Tupuna, the alive face of the ancestors.
...Just say it out loud, considering to role the r and accentuate some vowels, as I wrote them: Arrriiinga Ooora O Te Tupuuuna.
Doesn't it sound great, like an incantation or something?... I fell like I have access at some mystery world of words... I just loooove it!!!
The sex, male and female, were often represented. Our tour guide told us to look at the Moai's neck and tell us what are we thinking of. Well... Looking at it it made you think at a penis... But I thought it is just to simple to be the answer... Well, we told her, as Fid also thought at the same thing, and she smiled and agreed. The Moais neck it is in fact the prepuce.
The legend say, she told us, that the young Moai sculptors did not know how to cut the Moai's neck so they went to the master and asked him how to do it. All the time they spent with the master they talked about it all but the neck. Disappointed they left when the master called: "In order to cut the Moai's neck, he said, look between your legs".
Moai = mo+ai = phallus+ action
The Moai has a loop of hair on the top of the head that is called pukau.
Pukau = pu+kau = orifice + small lips , and there you have the feminine symbol too .
Then it was the tattoo artist, Moko: he is the choreographer of the dance group and dancing on the Kari Kari scene, a tattoo artist and a jewelery maker.
First time you lay your eyes on him he's a regular guy; you change just a few words and it is obvious that he is very self-confident, he has very piercing eyes, not talking much but very charming. Don't know what makes you like him, but he has “something”... (The testosterone maybe...) Might be simply the fact that he represents both island symbols that the tourists care about: first - the dance, the show, the manhood that comes with the gestures and the traditional music and second - the tattoos that were specific for the tribes and remained as a tradition for the locals on the island. So doing them both, and very well, he's a kind of local star and he is conscious and proud of it, so the result is a the charming Rapa Nui that everybody talks about.
Than it was meeting Adrian, the French guy who is traveling around the world and who was feeling so good here that had extend his stay from a couple of weeks to few months with indefinite return date... He is planing to create a web site talking less about the history and the Moai, and more about the life of the people. I would be the first to read!!!
I met also his charming girlfriend, Violaine, that actually quit a very good job in Paris in order to travel and as they decided to stay longer on this island she took a job at one of the two souvenirs-boutiques at the airport, helping with the sales as she speaks English and French, working 3 hours a day and gaining (per day) the exact amount needed for one night sleep in the pension where they live. Seems like a very good plan!!!
And then, of course, the gorgeous dancer that took me dance on stage, Hamakanui, a real delight looking at his perfect figure from just a few centimeters. From all the dancers he was the best looking one and I secretly wished that if, by any chance, someone will chose me from the public to go dance on stage, to be him! Prayer that was listen, with a little help from my husband who, while been taken on stage by a beautiful girl, directed this exact guy to me, so he took my hand and gently lead me on stage. I was happy. :)))
And than it was the gorgeous dancer Viti that made my head turn in the rhythm of her hips, the beautiful and very young Viti that made my dear husband the "cherry on the top” of the dance show in Kari-Kari as she took him on stage.
This episode deserves some details: the dancers are coming down from the stage during the show and at the end of it, in order to pick up people from the public to go dance on stage with them. Viti, the beautiful, beautiful one, just before the end of the show came to pick up Fid.
Meanwhile I was also taken on stage by the gorgeous dancer, but after one dance I was back on my seat as they lead you back to your place once the music is finished. Well, my man haven't even started to dance yet, he was at the back of the stage with Viti, gently clapping his hands and waiting his turn. All the people from the public were back in their seats, all happy, when the girl took Fid in the middle of the stage while the male dancers went all at the back; Fid was in the middle of all the women dancers who were shaking their red-short-skirts around him; from the behind one guy put Fid's arms up and a girl quickly took his t-shirt off... This was the moment when girls from the public screamed. The dancers surround him even closer moving their hips in an even more amazing rhythm, making the public going nuts and practically howling in excitement. (No need to tell you that he was dancing at least as good as they were!)
...Yeah... that's my man!!!
The two Chilean women beside me asked with ecstatic expressions and smiles that spread all along their faces, “What's his name? What's his naaaame?” ...Well, I am telling you girls, but he's still mine!!! ;)
And the last but surely not least, the Wild-Naked Guy we met on the beach. From nowhere we see an almost naked guy, wearing only a sex cover and a necklace, running along the beach, picking up the rubbish and collecting it under a tall coconut tree. We all rushed for our cameras.
At first he did not want us to take photos of him shaking his head as soon as he sow a camera directed on him, but after he came down from the coconut tree that he climbed with bare hands and bare feet, he became friendly and he chose me from the crowd that meanwhile slowly approached him, to give me a coconut that he opened in front of us, hitting it against a stone and than removing the thick green part on top, then hitting it again very carefully, until he made a small hole, enough to drink the juice from inside. A hand tried to get the coconut before I could get to it, but he just turn his head, looked at the guy, didn't even move and waited for my hand to rich it; I took it, thanked him and then he smiled and invited me to sit beside him; and so I did after I shared the coconut juice with some Fid, Camille, and some other girls around.
He spoke a few words in English, just enough to tell me that I have beautiful eyes and that... I am his queen... (Aaaahhhh...)
Stupid pick up line you might say, and I agree, but it is stupid in any other place but here; saying it in a bad English, with a deep voice, just after climbing up and down a coconut tree, almost naked and in front of a drooling crowd who's taking photos... it kind of works!...
Than he pick up another coconut, the biggest, he opened it and gave it to me saying that if I could drink it all it means I will stay there. (Hmmm?!...)
He saw Fid and he called him “Hey, Africa!” and he hit his chest where the heart is in a sign of salute and admiration; Fid did the same. He smiled. And then I told him “You know, the African guy, is my men, my husband”. He choked as he was drinking from my coconut, looked at me in disbelief and then looked at the ring on my finger, shook his head in agreement and than shook my hand. I really liked that guy!
Talking about him to our tour guide, she told us he's her nephew (well, the island it is small!), that he lives alone outside the village and when he does not have work to do, he's cleaning the beach and the island all around; many it seemed, followed his example.
I really liked this guy! ... I should ask our tour guide for his name... and maybe his email address... (Just kidding!)
And of course there is the sound of this ancient language called Vananga Rapa Nui ; for me there is something quite exiting in this sounds.
The nine Vai'hu (the family clans) were called Aka'hanga, Anakena, Heiki'i, Mahetua, Taha'i, Tepe'u, Tongariki, Va'i Mata et Vinapu. Isn't that beautiful? Difficult to remember, but beautiful! And the village where most of the habitants live is called Hanga Roa.
The king's name was Hotu Matu´a and the queen's Avareipua.
The ancient writing is called rongo-rongo and it is the one that even in our times we did not succeed in translating.
And just a little bit of legend-fairy tale :
“Hotu Matu´a requests the fortune-teller Haumaka, member of his court, the search of a new land to save his people, in an astral trip the spirit of Haumaka moved toward the East going by a series of islands, until reaching an eighth earth. There he identifies to "Ko nga Kope Ririva Tutuu Vai A Te Taanga" (the beautiful son of Taanga that are on the water) referring to the three islands in front of the Rano Kau, (Motu Kao kao - Motu Nui - Motu Iti). The spirit of Haumaka traveled by the Island identifying a total of 28 places with its names, until arriving to the bay of Hanga Rau (Anakena), identifying it as the worthy place for the King's landing.
Seven browsers are correspondents to discover the new land and to prepare the arrival of the settlers, establishing the first cultivations of Uhi (yam) in the crater Te Manavai (Rano Kau). Finally the King's arrival takes place Hotu Matu´a and the Queen Avareipua, in Hiro Moko and Hanga Ohiro, respectively (both ends of the Bay of Anakena).”
Also a bit of history of the island name:
“The first name Rap Nui received was "Kahukahu o Hera." I can't literally translate those words, but they were shouted out by the first explorers to King Hotu Matu'a to let him know that the island wasn't suitable for vegetables because of the fast and easy growth of grass and weeds.
They said: "E haho e! Kainga kino, kahukahu o hera mai te unu, mai te vere, mai te" (Ahoy, you out there on the sea! It's bad earth, weeds grow where you pull them up, weeds where you uproot them, and there are more than enough weeds).
After that, the island received the name "Te Pito o te Henua" (the Center of the World). Nowadays, if you take a plane to the island it'll take five hours from Chile's mainland and almost six hours from Tahiti. If you look at a map of the Pacific Ocean, you'll see that Rapa Nui is right in the middle.
There's another name: "Mata ki te Rangi" (Eyes that Look at the Sky). I've been told that this name came with the returned slaves from Peru. They were put in houses without ceilings and the only way for them to feel at home was by looking at the stars at night.
The name Rapa Nui (Big Rapa) came later. There's another Polynesian Island named Rapa Iti (Little Rapa) and when people came to this island and saw the similarity, they named it after it.”
The traditional songs that they danced on were beautiful also; they made me move my buttocks on the chair even while sited. And the movements seem to describe in gesture what the words are saying. I noticed that most of the time the men gestures are wide open: arms going strait to the sky with hands wide open, while the legs are also wide open and the hips are moving backward and forward; some gesture seem like warrior gestures, ruff, menacing, the dancer advance slowly from the profile, kind of jumping in the rhythm, few hits on their chests pointing out the power and the manhood; they seem never get tired of jumping and at a point they looked just like a bunch of wild young horses ready to devour the fields under their hooves. It is impressive as you could actually feel waves of energy coming from the scene.
A Chilean woman living there told me and the young French girl that we became friends with, Camille, that many foreign women who came here fall in love with a Rapa Nui man and they do not wish to go back in their countries any more. They stay, have children, and the stories are not always ending well, as some men seem to be looking only for the money that the foreign woman can bring... Well, like anywhere else... This things happen...
But the feeling of wanting to stay, the charm of the simpleness and the wildness... I deeply understand as I felt it too!
Unfortunately we were not there for the events that are carried out in the Island, festivals that are contributing to diffuse and to revalue the Rapa Nui Heritage; there is the Festival of the song - "Ka Tangi Te Ako", the Day of the Language Rapa Nui - "Mahana O Te Re´o Rapa Nui", both during the month of November and the "Tapati Rapa Nui" or festival of Easter Island that takes place during the first period of February.
As I am planning already to go back, it will probably be during one of these festivals.
The funny thing is that I am someone who appreciates the comfort of a nice hotel, the chic things and stuff, but for a change, the places where I felt the best and that I keep the most precious and live memories of, are the two places that had a kind of savages ways of life, a village named Sapa in the mountains in Vietnam, and Rapa Nui Island; here, in order to get a certain standard of comfort, it's a bit of a struggle; but these are the places that make you realize how little is needed to actually have everything you need.
There must be the Mana, the higher power the Rapa Nui believe in. Think I felt it.
And Mana along with my “testosterone theory” may finally explain the mystery so long talked about. :)
PS: Each of my experiences has a total subjective point of view and I sometimes get excited like a 16 year old, as sometimes I get quite narcissistic, but I refuse to be satiate and capped and not live at the fullest the things that are (still) sensitive for me.
