Êaster <island part 2
Aug. 9th, 2005 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanFirstly, pardon the weird keystrokes, itçs a keyboard on the navel of the world, so it has itçs idiosyncrasies.
Second, Içm not planning on saying much. Içm kind of in a state of awe. The landscape and archaeological treasures are rather beyond my pathetic writing skills. Fortunately I took many pictures!
Since the wildlife refuses to cooperate for photography, I can describe them a little. Foremost is a small raptor a little bigger than a pigeon, locally called a Manu toke toke. Itçs really a tiny caracara==the Mexican flag features the crested caracara, a big species, killing a rattlesnake. The manu toke toke seems to thrive on tiny skinks. In some places there are groups of these birds, and once today I saw a group of about 10, engaged in some mysterious social behavior. They are handsome tan raptors, with bold white markings on their wings, and long legs. They walk and run much more than hawks or eagles ever do.
We went into a small cave, the ceiling of which had a thin covering of spiderwebs. Our guide warned that there are black widows on the island. Looking closely into the webs I saw the exuviae of many common house spiders, but unfortunately, no black widows.
The first day of sunny weather gave way to constant rain. My luggage came in on the only flight from Santiago today, just in time. All my clothes had been worn at least 36 hours in a row, or were soaking wet.
We went to the Rano Raraku quarry site today, where hundreds of the famous Easter Island statues stand==the only place on the island where they were standing when Europeans came here. Bizarrely familiar and totally alien, you can kind of understand wheré the racist and antihuman theories of Erik VanDanniken excuse my spelling came from. The true story of human effort is much more fascinating. Íçm embarrassed to have said though itçs true "thatçs the polynesian restaurant one!" Unspeakably haunting and beautiful place. We arrived in sunsprinkles, climbed the side of the extinct volcano while getting soaked by showers, and came down the precarious muddy slopes. Another successful effort at getting my father back to the hotel uninjured knock wood again.
Yes I photographed El Gigante, the largest Moai ever carved. He lays there waiting to be cut the rest of the way out. The keel he is attached by is not visible due to restrictions on how close visitors can come. Dale, our excellent guide, convinced me that if they hadnçt cut down all their raw materials for rope and wood, that they would have actually moved El Gigante the nine miles to where he was supposedly destined.
We went to a few of the restored sites, a few of the in situ sites, and many of the most sacred sites. In the TMI department, I said my first pagan prayer in years when I begged for forgiveness and thanked the gods for their sense of humor when I had to HAD TO take the most urgent piss of my life while at the very sacred site of Te Pito te Kura in a driving rainstorm. Dont worry, I got my guides okay, and ran away from the plaza in front of the Ahu to leave a small bit of myself behind a nonsacred boulder.
On that note, my hour is up. I may post again from Santiago, or I may have to wait until Im back in the States on Sunday.
Iorana
Second, Içm not planning on saying much. Içm kind of in a state of awe. The landscape and archaeological treasures are rather beyond my pathetic writing skills. Fortunately I took many pictures!
Since the wildlife refuses to cooperate for photography, I can describe them a little. Foremost is a small raptor a little bigger than a pigeon, locally called a Manu toke toke. Itçs really a tiny caracara==the Mexican flag features the crested caracara, a big species, killing a rattlesnake. The manu toke toke seems to thrive on tiny skinks. In some places there are groups of these birds, and once today I saw a group of about 10, engaged in some mysterious social behavior. They are handsome tan raptors, with bold white markings on their wings, and long legs. They walk and run much more than hawks or eagles ever do.
We went into a small cave, the ceiling of which had a thin covering of spiderwebs. Our guide warned that there are black widows on the island. Looking closely into the webs I saw the exuviae of many common house spiders, but unfortunately, no black widows.
The first day of sunny weather gave way to constant rain. My luggage came in on the only flight from Santiago today, just in time. All my clothes had been worn at least 36 hours in a row, or were soaking wet.
We went to the Rano Raraku quarry site today, where hundreds of the famous Easter Island statues stand==the only place on the island where they were standing when Europeans came here. Bizarrely familiar and totally alien, you can kind of understand wheré the racist and antihuman theories of Erik VanDanniken excuse my spelling came from. The true story of human effort is much more fascinating. Íçm embarrassed to have said though itçs true "thatçs the polynesian restaurant one!" Unspeakably haunting and beautiful place. We arrived in sunsprinkles, climbed the side of the extinct volcano while getting soaked by showers, and came down the precarious muddy slopes. Another successful effort at getting my father back to the hotel uninjured knock wood again.
Yes I photographed El Gigante, the largest Moai ever carved. He lays there waiting to be cut the rest of the way out. The keel he is attached by is not visible due to restrictions on how close visitors can come. Dale, our excellent guide, convinced me that if they hadnçt cut down all their raw materials for rope and wood, that they would have actually moved El Gigante the nine miles to where he was supposedly destined.
We went to a few of the restored sites, a few of the in situ sites, and many of the most sacred sites. In the TMI department, I said my first pagan prayer in years when I begged for forgiveness and thanked the gods for their sense of humor when I had to HAD TO take the most urgent piss of my life while at the very sacred site of Te Pito te Kura in a driving rainstorm. Dont worry, I got my guides okay, and ran away from the plaza in front of the Ahu to leave a small bit of myself behind a nonsacred boulder.
On that note, my hour is up. I may post again from Santiago, or I may have to wait until Im back in the States on Sunday.
Iorana
