28 October 2009

Mecca

So dear visitors, I made it to Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua, Easter Island which ever you choose to call it... and I am not disappointed I can tell you.
On Monday I scrambled down inside Ranu Kau crater to a unique microclimate, sheltered from the worst of Pacific gales and from the encroachment of disease and human interference. I felt like Simon in "Lord of The Flies", gasping in the thick green jungle undergrowth and further along the crater lake´s tangled edge I discovered a huge rock inscribed with petroglyphs from long ago.
Back on the crater rim having sweltered in the sunshine on the long climb back, I collapsed in a heap before heading down to the broken "ahu" at Vinapu. So many "moai" were pushed over or broken up perhaps in inter-tribal warfare or because the old certainties of the island were disappearing...but you still sense the echoes of the amazing culture that was developed here in total ignorance of the outer world which lay over two thousand five hundred miles away.
For the first people of Rapa Nui, this was their entire world and I feel privileged, even a little humbled to have this opportunity to witness first hand palpable evidence of those lost and distant times. I´ll tell you more when I am not in an expensive little internet cafe where speed of internet access is clearly not a priority but hey... blogging from Easter Island.... isn´t that just amazing anyway!

8 comments:

  1. Three cheers for Yorkshire Pudding! I am impressed!

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  2. A very, very interesting summing up of your exciting expedition. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to share it straight away. I too am impressed.

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  3. It is amazing indeed, YP! I trust all this is forming the basis for a book in due course?

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  4. I'm really enjoying reading about your trip - it looks amazing!

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  5. Oh how much I would like to visit Easer Island, what a totally fascinating place. Lucky you.

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  6. READERS Thanks for dropping by. I have so much more to tell you about Easter Island when I am not in a pressured hotel lobby with people looking over my shoulder.

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  7. Fascinating!! I must add Easter Island to my list of volcanic areas to be investigated. Tell me more!!
    Ms Soup

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  8. Blogging from Easter Island indeed. Yes, Wow with a capital W!

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Mr Pudding welcomes all genuine comments - even those with which he disagrees. However, puerile or abusive comments from anonymous contributors will continue to be given the short shrift they deserve. Any spam comments that get through Google/Blogger defences will also be quickly deleted.

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