Koo koo roo koo roo koo roo!!!  That´s how I woke up this morning.

Went out on a tour with Pina, the owner of the bed & breakfast I´m staying in.  We were supposed to leave at 10am but I had locked my key in my room and since it´s the ONLY key they have, she had to get her brother in law to open the door.  He tried squeezing his son through my bathroom window, but he couldn´t fit.  Luckily, my Spanish neighbor suggested trying to shake the lock on my sliding doors and it worked.  So much for security.

Luckily, it´s a safe island.  There actually is a jail and there are about 10 people in it at a time.  They go in for things like shoplifting and non payment of child support.  The only drugs they use is marijuana and alcohol.  I walked home in the dark last night and didn´t have a problem.

Pina told us a lot about the island on my tour with Toshi, my Japanese neighbor who has been traveling the world for the past 2.5 months.  Next stop for him is Chile, Mexico and then Alaska before he heads home.  Here are some facts she shared with us:

• There are 5,000 inhabitants.  In the summer that numbe goes up to 15,000 with tourists.
• Easter Island is expensive.  Pina says 1 kilo of fruit in Santiago might be 400 pesos and 1 piece of the same fruit on Easter Island is 400 pesos. 
• The Island wants to gain independence from Chile because they don´t really do much to benefit them.  I haven´t noticed many paved roads.  The few I´ve seen were probably paved quite a few years ago. 
• LAN Airlines is the only airline that flies to Easter Island, so they have no competition and all of the profits go to Chile.
• If they want to buy a car, they have to purchase one in Chile for about 7 million pesos (about $12,000US) and have it shipped for 2 million (approx. $3,000US). 
• Pina even pays the $600 round trip fare to Santiago just to buy her daughters school supplies and clothes because the prices and quality are better than on the island.  She also brings back supplies for other parents.
• The U.S. donated 5 large generators and Chile still makes them pay for electricity. 
• There´s one hospital and about 10-12 doctors,  mostly from Santiago.  Cuba offers full scholarships to anyone who wants to go to medical school (in Cuba).
• The island got internet service in 2003 and cell phone service in 2005. 
• With everyone almost being related to everyone else, there aren´t many pure Rapa Nui people left.  Many choose to marry outside of the island so they can avoid risking birth defects.

So the tour lasted most of the day.  We saw a lot of Moai, of course. 

Rano Raraku

Rano Raraku is basically the quarry where the Moai were built and then taken to other parts of the island.  There are no trees in the area and Pina says that is how the workers transported the heavy statues around the island.  Being there was like stepping back in time.  It was beautiful and I couldn´t really take a bad picture.

Rano Raraku

Ahu Tongariki

Ahu Tongariki are 15 Moai, the largest site built, that were face down either because of a warfare or the tsunami in the 60´s.   A Japanese company took it upon themselves to restore it.  Toshino says that he knows about Easter Island because of this site.

Tomorrow I hope to get to the 9am mass.  The hymns and service are all in Rapa Nui.  Freaky coincidence, Pina recently became 7th Day Adventist in the past year.  She said she´d fill me in on the details later.  Her mother sounds a lot like my mother too.  At first I thought it was the Latin connection, but her mother is 100% Rapa Nui.  Go figure.  Her mother´s father gave her away to be married for the price of two cows.  So her mother ran off to Chile and came back two years later with a Chilean husband.  Pina´s grandfather always treated them like second class citizens.  Family dysfunction is alive and kicking around the world!

Pina also said that Rapa Nui men are hot, strong, muscular and all around manly men.  According to Pina, they are supposed to be great lovers.  I told her the same thing is said about Italians and Latins in general.  She looked at me and said she never heard of that.  Here we are in front of a fallen Moai hat.

Ruth and Pina