Easter Islanders have survived two years without the financial return of mass tourism due to the pandemic. Time has passed. Tourists can once again visit this land 3,500 km off the coast of Chile, famous worldwide for its hundreds of monumental statues, the Moa. Commercial flights between the mainland and the island resumed on Thursday, August 4.
With this reopening, the natives of Rapa Nui now want to perpetuate the rediscovered ancestral way of life, protect their island and resist the temptation to return to the world before. The elders of this indigenous Polynesian people, who first colonized the island around 1200, insisted on the importance of ensuring the island’s food autonomy. A warning that recent generations have pretended to hear.
return to the country
And overnight in March 2020, the 7,000 permanent residents of the 24 km long and 12 wide island cut off all air connections with the outside world to protect themselves from SARS CoV-2. Olga Ikapakarati used to sell small stone moa figurines to tourists, but was forced to rediscover the gestures of her ancestors and cultivate the land. “We had nothing, so we started gardeningaround the wooden house and its tin roof, he says.
In order for the population to meet its needs, the municipality of Easter Island urgently created a seed distribution program, and Olga planted tomatoes, spinach, beets, chard and celery, but also herbs: basil, oregano, coriander. What he did not use, he gave to other families, who in turn shared their crops with others, thus forming a vast network of mutual aid.
The epidemic “a lesson for the future”.
After two years freed from the mania of mass tourism, the islanders have experienced a new life and today do not want to return to the pre-epidemic period, when 11 planes a week landed 160,000 tourists every year. “We will continue tourism, but we hope that the epidemic is a lesson for us in the future.“Julio Hotus, a member of the Easter Island council, is blowing.
On Thursday August 4, after 28 months in isolation, the plane landed for the first time, sparking excitement among residents eager to see new faces. The reopening for tourism will be gradual, with two flights per week, but the frequency will gradually increase. Big hotels keep their doors closed for now. Almost half of the tourist attractions will remain closed due to lack of staff. The island has indeed lost a quarter of its permanent residents in the past two years.
Forced isolation has also forced the Rapa Nui people to think about the urgent need to take care of natural resources: access to water and green energy production. Priority will also be given to islanders in terms of jobs, applying “cultural codes” such as Tapu, an ancestral rule that promotes solidarity, Easter Island Mayor Pedro Edmunds Paoa explained. “Today, the tourist becomes a friend of the local, whereas before he was a foreigner who visited us“, he adds.
Statues threatened by climate change
The sculpted moai, which can reach 20 meters in height and weigh 80 tons, symbols of Easter Island with the mysteries surrounding them, are also at the center of the new reflections. “Climate change, with these extreme events, puts our archaeological heritage at risk– warns Vairoa Ika, director of the environment of the municipality. “Stone degrades, so parks will take measures to protect it“, he explains without further details.
“The problem with moai is that they are very fragile (…) We need to put aside the touristic and landscape vision and take great care of these pieces and protect them“because”they are of incalculable valueadds Julio Hotus, hoping his old advice will be heard.
VIDEO – Covid-19. tourists return to Easter Island after two years of epidemics
Source: Le Figaro
