Day 7

Day seven started with the alarm going off at 5 a.m. There was a sunrise excursion to Ahu Tongariki. I'm sure it was beautiful, but when the alarm went off, we were just too exhausted to even think about getting up. So we turned over and went back to sleep. We got up about seven and bathed and went to breakfast. Samoa is the next stop, and it's a "wheelie stop" meaning we only get our little wheeled bag. That mean we have to pack that bag with what we'll need in Samoa and put everything else in the big bag, which we won't have again until Australia. Taking the time to do it at leisure instead of under the gun like we did in Orlando is a lot less stressful. I had some fruit for breakfast and Jan and I went back to the room to brush our teeth and get things ready to turn over to the hotel staff to take to the airplane. Bags weren't due until 8:30, but we had ours out just a little after 8:00. We boarded the buses and went to the place where the stone for the Moai was quarried. There are Moai there in various states of completion. Some are broken, some are not finished, and some look like they're ready to put on an ahu. One that's unfinished is huge. Most Moai are about fifty tons, but this one is five times that. This area was run by the carving guild that made all the Moai by order of the local villages. Payment would be the currency of the day. Fishing nets, food, etc. The statues were carved using hand picks. A pick is a sharp rock that's harder than the rock of the ascoria the Moai are made of. When a pick started to get dull, it was struck against the stone at a 45 degree angle making a new edge. When it got too small, it was discarded and a new pick was used. The statue was carved lying on its back with a keel along the back which kept it strong and rigid. The keel was then chiseled loose from the quarry. It was then moved to its final resting place using stones as bearings. To get it into position a ramp was built, and the statue was raised on the ramp. At the end, it tilted down and was raised into position. Sketchy, I know, but if you want the real details ask my brother-in-law Larry. He got diagrams and everything.

After this we went down to Ahu Tongariki. This is an ahu with fifteen Moai on it. It had to be completely reconstructed because in 1962 (I think) a tsunami destroyed it. The ahu was completely eradicated, and the Moai were carried inland. Remember, these things weigh fifty tons, and a wave pushed them not just off the ahu, but quite a ways inland. A crane company, based on a suggestion, decided to donate a crane replace the Moai. When the representatives of the company arrived, they were told by the archaeologist that it would take three million dollars and months to rebuild the ahu to put the statues on. The representatives left immediately and later some archaeologists that were sent by the company showed up to discuss options. They worked out the details, and Ahu Tongariki was rebuilt as exactly as possible.

Next on the agenda was lunch. This was at one of the few sand beaches on the island. It actually looks rather incongruous compared to the cliffs and rocks that surround most of the rest of the island. We took the opportunity to buy a couple of tee shirts from the vendors to commemorate our visit. Lunch was incredible. Every time I think I'm going to be good and eat light they have something fantastic. They had a grill set up and were cooking sausages, chicken, pork and beef. The pork was some of the best I've ever had. I really didn't think anyone outside North Carolina knew how to cook pork, but apparently they do on Easter Island. Some people brought bathing suits and went swimming, but we were told the water temperature was 72, so we passed and just sat and looked at the beautiful water. It's just an amazing shade of blue.

The last stop was Ahu Akivi. This ahu is interesting because it's unique in that it's inland and faces the ocean. All of the others are on the coast and face inland. This ahu has seven statues. Edmundo had a good story about this one, too. He was working with another archaeologist to figure out the story of this ahu when an old man came up and said he knew everything about it. Edmundo told the other archaeologist about the old man, and was told to write down everything he had to say about it. The old man started a long story about seven brothers who were sent out by the first chief of the island to scout it out. Edmundo said he heard this story and there were only six brothers. The old man insisted that there were seven, and he told their names, their family stories, on and on. Finally Edmundo asked if the story were going to go on much longer and the old man assured him they were almost done. So when the old man finished, he had only told about six of the brothers. Edmundo asked about the seventh. The old man said his name is Giovanni. Edmundo told him that's impossible, that's an Italian name. The old man insisted it was Giovanni. Edmundo asked him how he knew all this, was it told to him by his father, or another islander. He said, no, he dreamed it last night and that's why he wanted to tell it to Edmundo before he forgot. Edmundo said the story was repeated as fact for years, though never with the mention of the seventh statue being named Giovanni.

This was our last excursion on Easter Island we went back to the hotel just to freshen up a bit, and then off to the airport to head to Samoa. Our flight was originally scheduled to make a fuel stop in Tahiti, but for whatever reason we didn't have to do that, so we were able to fly direct to Samoa. Nine hours. It actually went unbelievably fast. I was going through my photos, discarding the junk and updating my journal entries. The first officer, Eddie came through the cabin and like everyone else we've met associated with the tour, he was as nice as could be. He promised a surprise that would "blow our socks off". That'll be pretty tough considering the amazing things we've seen already.

On Samoa, I tried to use the Internet with little success. You pay eight dollars to get a slip of paper with a username and password worth twenty-four hours of online time. Dial-up time. After struggling to get my laptop to connect, I gave up and used one of the hotel's computers in their "business center" which is a long shelf with two desktop computers and partitions so you can use your own laptop. And no air conditioning. When I finally got on, I checked my gmail, and got off because I've become far too impatient to sit and wait for dial-up speeds.

The tour had arranged some Samoan dancers to entertain us. These dancers were aggressive or martial in their movements than on Easter Island. The Easter Islanders made occasional grunts or shouts, and slapped their chest or flexed their muscles, but the Samoans shouted a lot and made more aggressive movements. They also had the requisite fire stick twirlers. That's always quite a spectacle. The food looked good, but it was like 2 am by Easter Island time, and I just wasn't up to eating much.