Thomson Airlines Boeing 757 Explorer One (G-OOBF)
Easter Island, Chile
Thursday, February 11, 2010

    The morning started with breakfast at 8 am, a reasonable time for me given the late night activity yesterday. This was followed by a mini-bus trip to Ahu Tahai, another restored site of moai – these much closer to town. Because of the later start, it was time for lunch after this visit. The meals just keep on coming. I’m getting a little better at eating less, though it is hard not to overeat.

    After lunch, those staying at other hotels joined us at the Iorana Hotel for a talk by Jay Dickman on “The Anatomy of a Story” that described the process of creating an article for the National Geographic Magazine. It was unbelievably hot in the room, so he graciously made the story short. I was fortunate to have heard this lecture last August in a more comfortable atmosphere.

    We then all departed the hotel for the last time with all of our carry-on luggage to visit Orongo and Rano Kao, the site of the Bird Man Cult. This is a beautiful site along the coast, with high cliffs. On top, there is a fresh-water lake in a dormant volcanic crater. It is fresh water, but there are a lot of things growing in it – all of which make for a pretty photo.

    Following our visit to the site of the Bird Man Cult, we drove into town to view the parade that is part of the Tapati Festival. Hundreds of Rapa Nui have undressed and decorated themselves in traditional mud and paint to participate. A lot of the spectators also get into the spirit of things. The parade consisted of several “floats” decorated with flowers, grasses, and people, as well as groups of men who were dancing and chanting in traditional manner – or what is thought to be traditional manner.

    Jay approached a local policeman and also the organizer of the parade and introduced himself as a National Geographic photographer. He asked if it would be okay if he was out in the middle of the street and mixing it up with the parade to photograph it. They said that was fine. I just stayed close to him at this time so that I was included in the permission.

    The dancers really got into the spirit of things and many were playing to the cameras. They were quite fierce sometimes and Jay and I were both shooting wide-angle lenses, which meant that we were VERY close to the action. That, and we were moving with the parade, but running backwards while staring through the viewfinder of cameras. That is real exercise, especially when it is so very hot and humid and out in the direct sun. There were several times when I looked up from the camera to find that my subject was only inches in front of me and was moving toward me! Somehow, I only ran into a couple of people during the whole time.

    We left the parade after a couple of hours and had dinner overlooking the ocean in an outdoors setting. Then it was back on the buses and off to the airport for an evening departure to Samoa. We will have a technical stop (refueling) in Papeete, Tahiti, and we need to fly around a developing cyclone. The total flying time to Samoa will be about 10 hours and we don’t expect to arrive until about 2:30 am. That will put us into the hotel about an hour later (3:30 am). Ugh!