The Face Off

Your mind is racing. It's happening again. You have to battle with that awkward feeling which overcomes you as that stranger of a coworker approaches you in the hall. Quick! Contemplate your next action. Do you say "hi"? Give an uncomfortable wave and a smile? Or do you pretend you don't see the stranger at all?

Well, one thing is certain. As we finish our long journey from Egypt and pull our boat onto the sandy shores of Easter Island, we can't ignore the strange faces that stare at us. On this South Pacific island, known as Rapa Nui in Polynesian, stand the Ahu Akivi, a series of impressive yet intimidating moai statues that rest on an ahu altar.

Although these stony sentinels are only 7 of 887 moai statues on Easter Island today, it's hard to rid yourself of the fear you feel as you face statues that average 23 feet tall and have incredibly deep, dark, and hollow eyes. The fact that Rapa Nui is one of the most isolated and least inhabited islands in the world only adds to its strangeness.

The history of Rapa Nui is an eerie tale indeed. After all, the place that the Spanish named Isla de Pascua wasn't always a desert island. It's said that the first settlers of Rapa Nui were Austronesian Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands. In fact, there were two groups of early settlers: the "Long Ears" and the other "Short Ears." In time, both groups became obsessed with carving statues for ancestral worship, the moai, from the volcanic rock at Rano Raraku. Eventually, this obsession overwhelmed both societies, leading to crop failure and deforestation.

Although the moai once symbolized Rapa Nui's homogenous culture and centralized government, these stone statues would destroy life on Easter Island. There were violent protests with killings, cannibalism and spiteful destruction of sacred statues. Sadly, this was only the beginning of the tragedy.

In December of 1866, ships in search of slaves for Peru's mines landed at Rapa Nui and captured or killed half of the island's population. Those who survived this alien invasion were infected with tuberculosis and small pox, strange diseases to which the islanders lacked immunity.

Easter Island's tragic story continued when Chile annexed Rapa Nui in 1888. Afterwards, and until the 1960s, the descendants of Rapa Nui were exiled to Hanga Roa while a Scottish Sheep company rented out their land. Talk about baaaaa-d luck. Finally, in 1966, the people of Rapa Nui were reunited with their homeland. Their ancient culture was re-embraced, and even the moai statues were restored to their upright positions.

Not quite the holiday you were expecting? Well, some of our destinations need to be recognized for not only how remarkable they are, but for what they've had to withstand. As for destroying an island's ecosystem through excessive stone-carving, just think of the damaging effects that today's workaholic engineers could cause.

So here we stand on the shores of the "navel of the world". As you inhale Easter Island's salty air, take a moment to consider what was once the center of a vibrant culture, and to mourn the human tragedy that stone statues could create. May the story of Easter Island help us to put our everyday stresses into their proper perspective. After all, how important is a hallway confrontation with a coworker in relation to the destruction of an ancient civilization?

As we stare at the volcanoes in the distance, let's take a moment to be thankful for everything that is good in our lives, and to remember what others have sacrificed so that we could enjoy the moai today.

Hey, cheer up! Our luck is about to change. We're on our way to Ireland!.

Next Stop… A Bit O'Blarney

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island
http://travel.howstuffworks.com/easter-island-statues-landmark.htm
http://www.mysteriousplaces.com/Easter_Island/
http://www.bugbog.com/gallery/chile_pictures/easter_island_pictures.html