I lied. I said that the last post was going to be the final one from Rapa Nui, but here’s another. The fact is that to go to Rapa Nui and not to be mesmerised by its skies is 100% proof that one has, to quote from former Italy goalkeeper Gigi Buffon, “A dustbin in lieu of the heart”.
Storm coming down.
From Orongo, looking east. 3,500 km in that direction is Chile. A bit closer for some rain. Storm Coming Down, to quote from the great Norse band The Devil and the Almighty Blues.
William Ashcroft endorses this view.
A late Victorian artist, William Ashcroft, painted his name into history with a series of sketches of Chelsea at sunset, the skies unusually glowing red thanks to the ashes blown worldwide by Krakatoa volcano in 1883. I somehow suspect that he’d have loved this view.
Sunrise.
This is what Rapa Nui sunrises look like when looking in the opposite direction of the one where the main action is. It was in those moment that I caught myself thinking at the Akivi Seven, at the sunrises they must’ve witnessed in their voyage into the unknown.
Crab-walking.
Aged 5 I learned, from a nursery rhyme, that crabs walk sideways. 27 years later I found myself copying them – and, let me tell you, it wasn’t easy – on a rocky path running along the north coast of Rapa Nui. I did it because this was the view just off to our right.
One last sunset.
I lived in the Pacific Islands (Guam and New Caledonia) for seven years, and also traveled to many others. The skies there are simply heavenly. I used to wonder what made them so special, which atmospheric conditioned created that shimmer, and that sense of peering into another kingdom. But I finally let the need to figure it out go. It really intensifies the otherworldly feeling in mysterious places like Rapa Nui and Nan Madol (in Pohnpei).
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Thanks Julie! Now, Pohnpei, that’d be something! I read about it as one of the stops of the old Air Mike (now United) Honululu-Guam “milk run” flights, I can’t even imagine what it’d be like to actually travel there…
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Pohnpei is one of the most incredible places I’ve ever visited. I snorkeled in the ruins. Had them all to myself except for the 2 guides. I was on my way home from Guam and this was back when Continental Airlines offered island hopper flights. You could stopover for free on all of the Micronesian islands (except for top secret Kwajalein atoll)…and I did. 🙂
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You’ve broken my jealous-o-meter.
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These are all so heart-tuggingly beautiful, but the last two would get my vote in a contest. Not that anything about Rapa Nui would suggest a need for a contest – seems like a very chill place!
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Thanks Lexi! Funnily enough, it seems that the Rapa Nui people had a thing for races. They had the Bird Man event, where youngsters from different clans raced against each other to fetch the first bird of a migratory fern, and women also competed in the election of “miss Rapa Nui” (not these words) in a selection that included what could be defined as an Iron Man without bikes…
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Amazing how a sky can be clear, dramatic, say “hello, here’s a day for you” or simply “amen”, and you could consider each sky perfect.
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And how you could spend the whole day just watching it. Thanks Dave!
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Such dramatic photos
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Thanks! 🙂
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Some of the most spectacular morning and afternoon skies I’ve ever witnessed in my life were when I was traveling in Bali and other islands in eastern Indonesia. Perhaps it’s the timing of my travels, or the right weather conditions, or luck, but those were as marvelous as the islands themselves. I have a feeling those sunrises and sunsets in the Pacific would evoke the same sensation.
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I have a feeling they’d do. There’s something that makes those places special, I’d say.
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