Iorana from Rapa Nui!

Iorana to all TC.

Is this the first ever post to Tiki Central from Easter Island itself?

DangerGirl and I got here last night at about 9 pm after a gruelling 36-odd hours travel time.

It´s been pouring rain all day, and our jeep got stuck in a ditch in the orange mud while we were out exploring. But we have already been to some spectacular sites.

The food here is just as amazing as I remember it, but as I have feared - in postings on several threads - there is a lot of new construction here, and prices on all tourist goods and services are up.

More as I have time...

Ha ha! That is great! (The posting from Rapa Nui, not the new construction.) Say hello to dangergirl for me, I hope you guys have a fabulous time (I know you will).

I hope you two have a blast, I would love to be there!

[ Edited by: mrsmiley on 2004-11-11 18:56 ]

Here is a website that I was sent the other day. It is for a Rapa Nui band http://www.matatoa.com./htmls/ingles/home.htm Check out the links -go to the Easter Island Home page, check out their links, and under Miscellaneous Links is "Rapa Nui Puzzle" ---too funny!!!

Have a nice Tiki Day!

[ Edited by: mrsmiley on 2004-11-11 18:56 ]

[i]On 2004-11-11 18:44, tikibars wrote:
Iorana to all TC.

Is this the first ever post to Tiki Central from Easter Island itself?

Iorana? That must be "Aloha" in Rongo rongo.

A tiki central post from the birthplace of tiki? I feel a certain harmonic convergence in the tiki, or at least the tiki central, world.

On this Veteran's Day, throw a flower into the ocean at Anakena Bay in honor of the original tiki veteran, Hotu Matua.

Hola companeros!

How very very exciting to hear from you like this! May you find still-cheap food and may your cameras function like a dream. We all eagerly await more reports and even more photographs!

Wait - did I mention HOW FREAKIN' WEIRD it is that there is Internet on Rapa Nui?!?!

alice b

TIKI: Now, more than ever

[ Edited by: Formikahini on 2004-11-11 20:34 ]

Great to know your having a great trip.
Please bring me back one Moai from the AM/PM Tiki Mart!

Glad to hear that your adventure is underway!

Already you've proven your prediction that there is an (as in one) internet connection on the island. This post feels so exotic, just knowing that!

Wishing you both auspicious travel luck!

Enjoy your travels and adventures James! Can't wait to hear of them in person next week!
How are the waves?

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-13 11:19 ]

A TC post directly from Rapa Nui --- wow, very cool indeed! It would be great to see pics as your trip progresses.

Man.... I'm so jealous of you two right now!

ditto... mahalo for the message you two...

sigh

That is so cool. I can't even imagine what it must be like to be there and be able to actualy touch a real live moai with your hands. That is so cool!

On 2004-11-12 08:25, finkdaddy wrote:
to actualy touch a real live moai with your hands. That is so cool!

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-13 11:19 ]

LakeSurfer - the waves here are tasty, and the water is the most amazing shade of perfect blue. But there´s only one sand beach. If you surf anywhere else, you´ll end up impaled on jagged volcanic rock along the shore.

There are many metric tons of moai souvenirs here, more by far than when I was in here in 2000. There is a new craftsmen´s bazaar open, it´s like an antique mall that sells nothing but moai! 40 or so vendors, and all moai, moai, moai... Moai Mall!

Jen, who has cash, is going nuts, I am a bit strapped, so I am limiting myself to one nice carving.

There are actually three internet cafes here - three souvenir shoppes each have one in the back for 1000 pesos for 15 minutes - that´s about 2 bucks.

The heavy rain stopped after Thursday.

Jen and I made friends with a couple from the UK and a guy from Holland. We were out last night drinking some Pisco sours in a bar where the locals hang out and the tourists avoid.

Only way to travel.

We saw all of the major sites Thurs-Fri-Sat, so today we´re just hiking by the cliffs taking in some minor sites before flying home tomorrow.

oh, and yes indeed, Iorana is the local equivalent of Aloha!

And Mahalos is Maururu here.

Time to go hike!

The other JT, You are, where we all want to be. Take it all in for us and then write more about it. I for one am looking forward to hearing or reading more. One day I'll get there.

When I was in the Galapagos I felt the same about not wanting any development...yet, I did want to have beer when I was there, and did buy a T-shirt.

Why are we so elitist about us going some place, and that being okay, but not others?

(This is a real question, and I'm incuding myself in the guilty circle)

Is it because so many things in our lives we loved have been plowed under and we view progress (unlike Walt Disney) as not positive?

Have fun, Drink it up...make everyday thaksgiving and all of that.

I say we start pouring cement heads all over, and leaving them around freeway offramps...taking up where the ancients left off.

[ Edited by: Gigantalope on 2004-11-14 11:45 ]

Maururu for the travelogue and Easter Island update, Tikibars.

Worked on my sunburn, got teased by some 10 year old Rapanui boys on the beach, took pictures of Moai with wild horses in front of them, and got sunburned on top of my skull. Took a picture at the Pito Te Henua similar to the one Filslash posted above. Met a very lost Maori man who tried to sell me a carving of a turtle remarkable similar to the tattoo on my right pec. Gave a German couple who only have one day on the island a list of the must-see sites. Avoided cows on the road. Saw moai, and mo´moai. Last night in town... how did it all go by so fast? 30-odd straight hours of travel begin early tomorrow morning, and then I go straight to Trader Vic´s for this month´s Tabu Tiki event, sunburn and all... Of course the FULL report will be posted in a few weeks after I finish writing it. Maururu for all of the nice comments!

I made it home safe and sound. I will have Rapa Nui red mud under my fingernails for days, thanks to the job of helping get the jeep out of the mud using a series of small boulders and branches. Yes, we had four wheel drive. No, it was not turned on properly.

I hope James made his Chicago flight.

Mark your calendars for June, 2010. Solar Eclipse. Rapa Nui. Be there.

There is much more, including pictures, but I"m at work and just finished the 26 hour commute back with very little sleep.

where can I get a calender for 2010?

I'm back home too, seven hours after DangerGirl. Yup, made the connection, Jen. No worries. Paid $1.40 for one banana in the SF airport.

Jen, I made good on our plan and ordered a pizza while on the bus home from the airport. It arrived as I was unpacking.

Damn good 'za, but nothing compared to the seven identical varieties of fish at that one restaurant by the docks, or that first meal of Pisco and tuna at Kopakavana right after we arrived.

The 2010 thing: Jen and I met a nice guy from Holland named Walter who swears he will be back on Rapa Nui for the full solar eclipse in 2010. Jen and I vowed to meet up with him for it. The lot of you on TC are invited of course. THIS TIME, we're giving you all 6 years advanced notice (rather than the 4 months as was the case with this latest trip) to join us!

No excuses.

Start saving up now.

and then there's this:

Random cheery guy in airport:
"Welcome to Chile!"

James (tired as hell):
"No thanks"

hmmm... that isn't even 5% as funny in print as it was at the time.

You had to be there.

Well, you had to be there on the slopes of Rana Raraku when we were hiking among the moai, too.

Pics in a few days when I get a sec to get them edited and uploaded.

All I have to say is:
"Chhhilllleeeee! Fuck Yoooouuuuu! Rapa Nuiiiiii!!!!"

Good to have you back home James!

Now get some sleep... we have a party tonight!

lakeSurfer - yeah, if I had slept at any point in the 36 hours before writing my previous message, it would have made sense to someone other than me and possibly DangerGirl. See ya' tonight.

I believe the local rapa nui drunk guy (but which one?) said something more like: "rapa nui to chile: fack you! kees my yass!"

surely you recorded it about 100 times, if you remember, Compadre!

I'm still very tired. I ate my weight in indian buffet in SF with my sweetie for lunch and it kept me full all day long! so no pizza for me.

I drank only one bottle of vinto tinto last night and it felt like just a single glass of wine compared to all the drinking I did out there!

On 2004-11-16 17:43, dangergirl299 wrote:

Mark your calendars for June, 2010. Solar Eclipse. Rapa Nui. Be there.

Sounds like a Tiki Central vaction plan!!! We could do a bar crawl--all two(?) of them!! I figure if one puts away $35 a month, the vacation would be paid for when the day arrives!! :)

I heard james had a hangover one day-talk about a "Big Stone Head-ache !!" :)

On 2004-11-17 11:21, mrsmiley wrote:
I heard james had a hangover one day-talk about a "Big Stone Head-ache !!" :)

Nice one.

It wasn't just a headache, it was the all time champion Hanga Roa Hangover. Never, ever, agree to drink Pisco and Sprite after the bar runs out of both beer and ingredients for proper Pisco sour, and absolutely do NOT drink 5 of them, especially when the bartender is pouring in the liquor saying 'say when'.

That said: I got up and climbed a volcano the next day.

It was hard.

is "climb a volcano" a euphamism? :)

looking forward to the photos!!!

the volcano day was a scary day due to james' hangover, the fact that we had not brought a ton of water, and it was the one day the sun came out, and there was no shade, and james wasn't doing a whole lot of talking.

I didn't feel confident in my ability to dead man's carry him down the volcano to the car, if needed.

however, the spirits of the moai protected us from near-fatal Dehydration and Other General Malaise!

I was also scared when I heard, from some English folks we met, that when they were wandering home late that night (well, early morning), they encountered James sitting on a chair in the street after his Marathon Drinking, just "enjoying the evening." Luckily, Rapa Nui is a safe place to just hang out, alone, drunk as a skunk (or "pissed as a fart" as the English say), and sitting by the side of the road in a chair just a few hours before dawn.

As for me, I got pooped out after our pre-dinner half a bottle of rum cocktail "hour" and went to bed early shortly after dinner and dancing with the "fack you chile" guy at a bar, to "deep forest" put on a rave music type beat. that alone impressed (or depressed, can't tell which) our English friends.

DangerGirl....you live up to your name.

[i]On 2004-11-17 11:01, dangergirl299 wrote:
I believe the local rapa nui drunk guy (but which one?) said something more like: "rapa nui to chile: fack you! kees my yass!"

The new Rapa Nui cry of independence?

On 2004-11-17 20:36, christiki295 wrote:

[i]On 2004-11-17 11:01, dangergirl299 wrote:
I believe the local rapa nui drunk guy (but which one?) said something more like: "rapa nui to chile: fack you! kees my yass!"

The new Rapa Nui cry of independence?

In his case, yes indeed.

I've finished sorting 198 pics from my digital camera... I have three rolls of 35mm (glorious black n' white, 36-exposure) film yet to be processed. Here's a few of the 'fun' highlights from the digipix (as opposed to my dozens of closeups of petroglyphs and rock formations that might bore most of you). Lots more pictures will accompany the inevitable travelogue on http://www.tydirium.net when I get around to writing it (maybe within 2 weeks if I get inspired).

Ahu Akivi

Ahu Nau Nau at Anakena Beach

Navel of the World

This fish was really delicious.

This Rapanui woman is catching the same sort of fish I ate in the pic above.

This local couple were hanging out with the "Chile Fuck You" guy.

Here's DangerGirl and our pal Dana from the UK

The first Pisco Sour, just a few minutes after arriving.

The Moai Mall in Hanga Roa

No comment.

Ralph Steadman-like grafitti in Hanga Roa.
"Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious moai collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can."

Candid shot of Jen

Here's DangerGirl with Walter from Holland and Tim (Dana's guy) from the UK

This food was AMAZING!

We spent a good aprt of one afternoon trying to get the Jeep out of the mud.

Just in case you can't find them by yourself...

The famous Rano Raraku hillside

Evidence.

Ahu Tahai at sunset

Fallen Moai... as most of them are.

Two pics of ahu Tongariki, easily the most impressive of them all.

At the Navel of the World.
Hi Filslash!

Iorana!

JT

http://www.tydirium.net
Tiki Bar Review Pages / Tiki Road Trip / Left Orbit Temple

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2004-11-18 23:58 ]

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-07-31 15:17 ]

WOW, thanks for sharing the amazing photos.

all the pix are great, but i particularly liked this one

hey, that little plastic moai I was wearing around my neck that one night gave me a rash! I should have "energized" it on the Navel rock like Walther did.

we look tired/hungover/sunburned and/or jet lagged in almost every pic!

the pic of me with all the muddy branches doesn't quite do justice to how much MUD I was covered in! I still have it under my fingernails. and it does look like I was about to cry, but inside I was thinking "kill.... killl... killl" although it was determined later it was my fault we got stuck in the mud for talking james out of the correct route to the coast, and not because we had failed to bring a map. or any combination of the above.

I think James hurt the hill's feelings with all the cursing of it that he did.

James, curious to know if the standing Moai's are where the early carvers placed them? Or were they moved to where they are now standing by more recent inhabitants of the island?

here are my pics. I added the remaining rolls, plus some of james' since mine didn't turn out so great.

http://public.fotki.com/jhenry299/rapa_nui_1104/

[ Edited by: dangergirl299 on 2004-11-23 18:26 ]

On 2004-11-19 12:51, Jungle Trader wrote:
James, curious to know if the standing Moai's are where the early carvers placed them? Or were they moved to where they are now standing by more recent inhabitants of the island?

ALL of the moai were tipped over, except the ones on the Rano Raraku hillside. Those were impossible to tip, since erosion on the hillside had half-buried them.

The guys who have resurrected the ahu moai (mostly William Mulloy, but Heyerdahl and a Japanese firm did some too) on the various ahu near the sea shore have placed them back as close to their original positions as possible. None were moved any substantial distance.

On 2004-11-19 11:23, dangergirl299 wrote:
we look tired/hungover/sunburned and/or jet lagged in almost every pic!

We WERE!

On 2004-11-19 11:23, dangergirl299 wrote:
I think James hurt the hill's feelings with all the cursing of it that he did.

Now that you mention it, it was a little weird of me to have had as many conversations / arguments / threats against that hill as I did.

I think I talked to that hill more on that day than I did to you the next day.

Maybe it was yelling at that rat bastard slimy mudhole that gave me the sore throat that silenced me for most of the next day.

Either that, or the Aku Aku of the island took their revenge for me cursing it by silencing me for the duration of the following day....?

[ Edited by: tikibars on 2004-11-19 17:32 ]

On 2004-11-19 06:50, Johnny Dollar wrote:
all the pix are great, but i particularly liked this one

[ Edited by: filslash 2008-09-13 11:22 ]

Awesome report and pix guys. Really makes me Jealous. What an experience. Thanks for the report and pic's.

On 2004-11-20 00:08, filslash wrote:
That's inside of Cafe Otai, across from Plaza Hotu Matua on the outskirts of Hanga Roa town. (Pretty sure anyway!)

Rongo-Rongo!

It's the Kopakavana, down the stret from the church and a few doors down from Vai Kapua, where we stayed.

hey tikibars, i just read your 2000 rapa nui travelogue directly after finishing [the rapanui section of] aku-aku. fascinating! i promise to buy big stone head when it's published :)

random fact, but i noticed yesterday that one of the chilean wines we bought recently is named 'anakena!' the lable has quasi-petroglyphs as graphics. funny how the rapa nui sneaks up on you.

On 2004-11-18 23:52, tikibars wrote:

This local couple were hanging out with the "Chile Fuck You" guy...

...who sounded like THIS:

http://www.tikibars.net/rapnui0411/KidsInTheBarEdit.mp3

[ Edited by: tikibars 2009-07-31 15:20 ]

!que precioso! Gracias para el recuerdo, mi compadre.

A very beautiful photo.