Tapati

Held every year, on the first two weeks of February, the Tapati is the island cultural festival, when the Rapa Nui window is opened for the world to see. It includes shows of different activities, from handicraft and sports to dancing and singing. The goal of the festival is to elect the island queen, among two candidates. The competitors in each activity participate for one candidate or the other and, by the end of the festival, the candidate able to collect more points wins. In this season, the island fills up with tourists from everywhere, so it is in part true that the festival is held for them and the feeling I got was that most Rapa Nui are bored of it, because it is the same every year. Moreover, some of the supposed traditional activities have been naturally "adapted" to make them more attractive to see or even polynesian traditions from other islands have been imported and are now presented as Rapa Nui. This is the sad part of it, when you realize some things are being staged and in fact you are not going deeper into their culture. However, the simple truth is that it is beautiful and fascinating anyhow.


Most of the time that I spent on the island was dedicated to the Tapati. The first big competition was a downhill slide on banana trunks. The one that would cover the greatest distance would win. The event was celebrated with a typical curanto, free for everyone to join and eat and it was excellent! Handicraft are also part of the festival: sculpting, flower and shell collars, typical chicken feather dresses and even the traditional Rongo-Rongo, the native written language lost in time and that nobody can now decipher. There were also sports activities like canoeing, swimming and even a triathlon, held inside Rano Raraku, the moai factory, of canoeing, running with around 20kgs of bananas and swimming.


However, the most fascinating events were the dancing and singing competitions. These were always held at night, on a designated festival area, with plenty of small bars with cheap and tasty food. The competitions varied from an adapted version of tango and tragic songs to individual or large groups on stage singing and dancing in choreography (see videos below). There were also special performances of the local groups Kari Kari and Matato'a, the latter worldwidely known. In fact, there is definitely something about polynesian music, one or two instruments that make the difference, strong beats and fast rhythms make your body move unconsciously. The dancing movements are very tribal in men, strong and loud, and very sensual in women, with constant and strong hip movements followed by gracious hand and arm swings. All this, together with the typical tribal outfits and paintings, transport you into a parallel world and is part of the special island atmosphere. Sitting there under the moonlight, every night, I took the time to realize where I were and how probable this would be a couple of years ago. Then, I would step into this parallel world and find, once again, paradise...

Ute Song


Ariki Adult Ensemble

Tapati Photo Album

The navel of the world

This was by far the trip of the year and also my last one on this first year in Chile. Rapa Nui, the Easter Island, the navel of the world lies in the middle of the south pacific ocean, 3700 kms west from Chile and 4100 kms east from Tahiti and the French Polynesia, which makes it the most isolated populated place on Earth. It is a volcanic island, formed by the eruption of three volcanoes, with no more than 25 kms wide and 20 kms length and a subtropical climate. It is also one of the vertices that form the polynesian triangle (together with Hawai and Tahiti). Temperature is constant around the year, day or night, with occasional tropical rain and an humidity of almost 80%, making you sweat all day. The island itself is not an amazing natural beauty, not as stunning as the Atacama desert or the Patagonia glaciars, but there is a special aura all over the island, unveiling a very strong and mysterious culture. This is present in the symbolic moai, in the local native population of around 4000 people and in the Rapa Nui music and language. It is like entering another world.

Unlike other trips in Chile, this one was actually vacation and even some rest. I went for 8 days and I was not rushing to visit everything, be everywhere and do as much as possible. The island is small and all the archaeological sites can be seen in a couple of days, which helped to take it easy as well. There is only one town, Hanga Roa, with wooden houses with tropical gardens of banana and papaya trees and colourful flowers. The whole island is an open air national park, with the several moai scattered around. The most remarkable landmarks are Rano Raraku, the eerie moai quarry, where a lot of unfinished moai remain, popping out of the ground and the rocks; Anakena beach, a white sand beach with warm water and palm trees; Ahu Tongariki, where 15 restored moai stand facing the island, and the navel of the world, a magnetic stone said to have special powers. Either by car or bycicle, we did all this and more in two days, exploring different sceneries, like at sunrise and sunset, and feeling the atmosphere around us.

Populating the island are three main inhabitants: horses, all around running free, ants, a plague even at the beach, and of course the people. The island people have three different origins: the local indigineous descendant Rapa Nui, chileans from the continent and foreigners. Continental chileans came to the island mainly to find work, open restaurants and shops or driving taxis; the resident foreigners were once visitors that fell in love with the island or the natives, made family and stayed. However, the most interesting are definitely the local Rapa Nui. They have their own polynesian look, their own language, taught at local schools, and their very own and closed community. All of them are somehow relatives and protect each other as much as possible. They are not very fond of tourists, except of the money they bring, and they definitely hate the continental chileans, who they accuse of stealing their jobs and invadind the island. Everyone lives from tourism and governmental subsidies and the land belongs to the Rapa Nui people and passes on to the younger generations.

Even though these people are native, their culture starts to be invaded by globalization. I was told that not many years ago, the locals would dress as indigenous, barely naked and showing their bodies, but due to the tourist invasion and the suspicious looks, they started feeling uncomfortable and now almost everyone wears jeans and continental clothing. Younger people speak mostly chilean spanish among them, though inside the family they still speak the local dialect. You can also see the influence of television, with kids wearing t-shirts of famous cartoon heroes, and internet. However, there is a cultural pride among them and some small details that keep the island charm above all. Tattooing is a common practice among men and women of every age; women normally have long long hair decorated with a flower; you see no poverty at all, though people do have simple lives and kids still play freely outside, rolling in dust and messing around with the numerous stray dogs on the island. In general, you can see that civilization arrived and is taking over, but there is still a strong resistance to it that is part of this mystical aura of the island. It is hard to tell for how long will it last...

Rapa Nui Photo Album