Day 12 - Rapa Nui

A hare paenga, a typical original home... with a yellow dog who may just be mine

My last full day on the island.  No tours today.  So no wake-up call.  After the past three days, it seems restful.
       But something magic has happened overnight.  Having heard tales about how beautiful and bright the Milky Way is here, I once again try to see it, as I did in Ollantaytambo.  But the moon is too bright and there are too many trees blocking the horizon, which is crazy for a place I had been told didn’t have a single tree left.  I could walk down to the ocean, but I’m naked under my robe and don’t feel like getting all dressed... or heading out alone.  Which I think I am.  But suddenly I see a shadow moving out of the corner of my eye and swing around.  It’s a yellow dog, appeared out of nowhere.  He doesn’t belong to the hotel.  Tail wagging, he decides to adopt me and when I head back to my room, he rushes inside.  I manage to get him out, but he curls up in front of my door and guards it through the rest of the dark night.  When I wake up, he’s gone.  But it wasn’t a dream.  I choose to believe he was my Spirit Dog sent to watch over me.

       I take up my station on the terrace.  Over breakfast, a German woman also visiting the island on her own tells me about her pre-dawn ride to the eastern end of the island to see the sun rise.  I would have loved to go - if the dog would have let me - but there was no more room in the car.  She promises to send me photos.  (And ends up coming to visit me in Paris a few months later.)  After she heads off, I pull out my book, to finish it so I can leave it for Kim.  After the fiasco in Santiago on the way out, I intend to travel light on the way home so I can keep my suitcase with me as carry-on.

Hugo and his ancestor

       Then Hugo appears.  No tours this morning, I guess.  He’s been answering questions from the Canadian philosophy professor, whose interest is also in the history of the island and what nearly destroyed it.  The questions and answers are interesting and make it hard to concentrate on my book, so I ask if I can join them “if I promise to shut up”. (Because Hugo always welcomed questions during the tours and I had a lot, but this morning is the Professor’s gig.)  Hugo laughs and the professor says “sure”, maybe because I went along to the hospital yesterday and then checked in on him later.  It’s a very pleasant way to spend some down-time and I learn a lot. I’m surprised when we stop and I see it’s already 1 p.m.

Graffiti with rooster, in Hanga Roa

       At which time Hugo leaves, the professor and his team head out on a film shoot at the other end of the island in spite of yesterday’s gash on his head, and food becomes an issue.  
Kim suggests going next door to the restaurant and decides to walk me over there and introduce me to her friend, the owner. Which she does.  I order “to go”, which Kim has already announced, but somehow the message doesn’t get through and after a while, cutlery is set out on the terrace table where he told me to wait.  O.K.  I can go with that.  Maybe he just found my curiosity appealing, as I’ve been chatting with his boyfriend.  The two people at other table leave and the friend’s attention turns to me, by default. He compliments me on wearing a skirt.  Says women don’t wear skirts any more.  Little does he know that it’s the only thing in my suitcase that I haven’t worn yet on the trip and that’s why I’ve got it on.  I leave him to his illusions.  Then he finds out I just had a birthday... and he orders drinks for both of us. (Maybe merely an excuse to have another one himself, but who cares?)  The drink is followed by a huge kiss on both cheeks.  I return to the hotel with a full stomach and a lot merrier.

The cemetery, lit by a golden sunset

       That evening I decide to walk out to the edge of town, in spite of my night semi-blindness.  Kim told me it was a great place to watch the sun set, setting both on Easter Island / Rapa Nui and on my adventuresome trip.  This is where Hugo dropped everyone off while we went to the hospital, so I want to see what I missed.  No problem walking out, but so many interesting things to photograph on the way - including the cemetery - that I almost miss sunset and have to scurry the rest of the way.  Of course the clouds decide to amass on the horizon in spite of an otherwise cloudless sky.  I’m not the only person here, which is good because after the photo shoot I pick a couple and follow them through the darkness.  There are way too many rocks to stumble over here, and they’re all sharp black basalt.  I saw yesterday what that can do.  Walking at night in the pitch black (no streetlights, no moon) down streets one doesn’t know, just headed in the right general direction... well, that’s enough adventure for me.  Lunch was late and copious.  I’m tired. Headed for bed.