Day 7: June 10

I went to Orongo today and WOW just when I thought I saw the prettiest part of the island, this place had to smack me right in the eyes. I took a taxi up to the ancient city, which I am forever grateful for.  It was a 15 minute ride straight up the mountain.

Orongo is the ancient city where the “Birdman” tradition took place.  There are two smaller islands off the coast of Orongo. There is no beach, though.  Orongo is high up on the volcano, directly next to a crater. The cliffs are 90 degrees down and very dangerous.  The bigger of the two islets is called Motu Nui. If that sounds familiar, that is the island that the Disney character Moana was from! Legend says that the god Make-Make came back from his island of Motu Motiro Hivo and left Sooty Tern birds, or manutara, on Motu Nui to breed and populate the surrounding areas.  Motu Nui has been a breeding place for the birds since ancient times. These seabirds were followed by ships and canoes as they showed that there was land nearby.

The Birdman era was a time of new religion and culture on the island.  When the system of religion and power of the moai era did not keep order on the island anymore, the Birdman era came to power to bring order back to the people.  The Birdman competition was a competition that was sought out by everyone on the island. Men would train hard for it every year. First, there was an opening ceremony in the spring.  In July, the competitors, or hopu, climbed down the dangerous cliffs, swam across the shark infested waters, and made land on Motu Nui. The competitors hid in the caves on Motu Nui while they waited for the birds to lay their eggs.  The birds would start to lay their eggs every August through September. There are over 20 caves on the small islet of Motu Nui, all of which have petroglyphs and paintings on the insides that talk about the Birdman competition. The men would leave their stories on the insides while they waiting for the birds to lay their eggs.  The winner was the first man to bring back the first egg of the Sooty Terns.

The winner returned to the village as the Birdman, or tangata-manu. The man would either represent the title himself, or the title would be given to the chief he represented in the competition.  The new birdman was considered tapu, or sacred, and lived in solitude for a year. The last competition took place around 1867.

These are ancient petroglyphs carved into the rocks around the area of Orongo.  These three pictures represent their god Make-Make, the birds, and a depiction of the competition.  

Orongo was the only ceremonial village on Easter Island that was built only for religious purposes.  Legend says that this place of the island is the most sacred place of the island, even before the city and competition were created.  It has since been lost as to why the people believed this, but scientists today have proven that this was were the island emerged from the ocean.  Rano Kau is the oldest volcano of the island, with a (now dormant) magna spout below it. Legend also says that this is where the people planted the first yam of the island. This site is also where the first chief, Hotu Matu’a, spent his final days. We do not know what the people knew about their island at that time, but it is clear that they knew the importance of this point of the island!

The houses of Orongo were created before the Birdman period sometime in the 15th or 16th century. However, they were used to house the family members, spectators and high ranking priests of the competition during the Birdman era.  Orongo is the most important ritual area on the entire island.

The entrance to an ancient Orongo house.

Orongo is in the National Park of Rapa Nui, however, you can only visit it once during your stay.  The other parts of the park are unlimited visits with your 10-day ticket. They established this rule to try and keep the foot traffic down through the ancient stone houses.  They created specific pathways and guided trails here that the rest of the park doesn’t have because much of Orongo has already been destroyed over the years. The ancient houses were destroyed because people found the incredible paintings inside of the houses still in perfect condition, as they were shielded from the salt, wind, and rain.  Once people heard of the art, they destroyed the houses in search of more perfect treasures to steal.

I was given the opportunity to walk through the ancient houses and see some of the carved and painted artwork the ancient city still has.  What a neat experience!

After Orongo, it was time to make my way back down the mountain. The city was on one side of a giant crater.  This crater was formed when Rano Kau had a giant explosion and blew the top off itself! Scientists today believe this was the last volcanic activity the volcano had.

It was so so beautiful. Rano Kau literally translates to “a big volcano that holds a lot of water.” It deserves no truer name. It was absolutely stunning.  The walls of the crater are a few hundred meters high and protect the life inside the crater from salt and wind. The walls also create a natural greenhouse by keeping the humidity high creating a tiny microclimate!  In 1955, scientists began to carefully extract samples from the crater. The precise conditions of Rano Kau allowed endemic plant species (meaning plants that can ONLY be found specifically on Easter Island) to thrive.  The toromiro plant was nearly extinct from deforestation except for in the crater. An expedition to save the plant and regrow it around the world in botanical gardens has helped bring the species back on the rising charts.

Toromiro tree. Picture taken from http://plantoromiro.org/educacion/vision-general-del-toromiro/

It took me about an hour and a half to walk the entire way around the crater Rano Kau.  Since I was pretty much alone, I had plenty of time to find good rocks to sit on and just admire the scenery.  In these ancient rocks just inside the crater you can see ancient carvings and paintings that are still intact!  No one dares to go down the crater, so they are perfect visible when you are sitting along the top crest of the landscape. I feel that many people taxi back on the road instead of hiking and miss all of this!! Even just hiking by at fast paces means that you cannot see all these artifacts.  I think that is what I like most about the island, not everything is behind ropes and glass with specifically crafted signs. Most of it is still left to the world to just see and enjoy, exactly how the ancient cultures intended.

After I left the views of the crater, I made my way through the ecological project for restoration.  The small amount of trees and larger foliage that were native to the island had been used for canoes, boats, tools, and other items.  The island suffered from deforestation for hundreds of years. Recently, there have been projects to bring back the native and endemic plants to the island.  I was able to walk through the forest that is growing best on the island. It was weird to smell sap and hear the crunch of pine needles while the salty air was still blowing on my face!

I only passed two other tourists my entire 4 hour hike down the mountain.  It was nice to have time to myself, with no noise, walking the exact path that thousands of people have before.  The same trail used during the birdman ceremonies is the trail that is kept today in the national park. How cool is that!! The exact paths that their “olympians” took, I also got to walk down hundreds of years later. I love that. I wonder what they would think of the world today.

I also passed by some houses and people that did not appreciate any tourists being on the island at all.  They hung large banners outside their houses, reminding us that this land is sacred. We are trespassers. If we did not have direct lineage to the people of the island, we should be punished by law for walking on their sacred mountain.  To an extent, I agree. This is not show-and-tell. This should not be just a walk around and take as many pictures as you can while causing a mess and a scene. That is why I try to talk with the people, take my time, and really listen to the messages the ancient people are trying to tell us.  I explained to one man what I was doing here. I told him that I was studying the ancient culture and how I want to get it right, not just make some documentary and fill in the holes to capture the audience. He took a minute to think about my proposition and began to tell me the facts about the competition I wrote above.  He was glad that someone wanted to truly learn, not just have a new profile picture. I am forever grateful for the information he told me, passed down through thousands of years and hundreds of generations. That is something that tourists will never get.

Before a gigantic rainstorm hit, I was able to visit Ana Kai Tanjata. This cave was directly connected to the Birdman cult, or Tanjata Manu.  Along the cave ceilings are red, white, and black colored paintings. Most of them show pictures of the Sooty Tern birds or other meaningful things about the competition. This cave is also where small canoes, or vaka ama, were built.  They were made out of sewn planks. Sewn planks were used during the time of deforestation on the island when wood was scarce.