Tourists are returning but Easter Island residents are learning lessons from Covid isolation

For more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic, Easter Island has been closed to tourism – forcing residents to adopt more sustainable ways of life and relearn forgotten skills.

Now that the island’s borders are open again, locals, including the indigenous people of Rapa Nui, are looking to resist the temptation to return to their pre-pandemic lifestyle.

“The time has come which the ancients foretold,” Julio Hotus, a member of Easter Island’s Council of Elders, told AFP.

Hotus said the Rapa Nui ancestors warned of the importance of maintaining food independence as the island risked becoming isolated one day, but recent generations ignored the warnings.

Before the pandemic, the island’s food supply was almost entirely provided by Chile.

Located 3,500 kilometers (2,100 miles) off the west coast of Chile, Easter Island is world famous for its monumental statues of human figures with giant heads, called Moai.

With just 8,000 residents, it used to attract 160,000 tourists a year – “an avalanche” according to Hotus, but in March 2020 Easter Island closed its borders over Covid.

Olga Ickapakarati used to sell small stone Moai figures to tourists, but when she ran out of income she turned to farming and fishing to survive, just as her ancestors had lived before contact with European explorers.

“We were left with nothing, we were standing in the wind… but we started planting,” Ickapakarati told AFP.

She used a program that yielded seeds before the island was sealed off from the outside world.

Ickapakarati planted spinach, beets, cilantro, chard, celery, basil, pineapple, oregano and tomatoes.

What she didn’t eat, she shared with neighbors, as many families did in building an island-wide support network.

“All islanders are like that. You have a good heart. If I see that I have something extra, I give it to another family,” said Ickapakarati, who lives with her children and grandchildren.

This new focus on sustainable living does not mean the end of tourism on Easter Island.

Last week the first tourist plane landed on the island in 28 months, much to the excitement of locals who were desperate to see new faces.

But there will be no immediate return to yesterday’s two flights in one day. For now it will only be two a week, although the number will gradually increase.

Large hotel chains have decided to remain closed.

“We will continue with tourists, but I hope the pandemic has taught a lesson that we can apply going forward,” Hotus said.

Also, the pandemic has raised awareness of the need to take care of natural resources like water and energy affected by climate change. And also the emblematic Moais.

Carved out of volcanic rock between 1200 and 1500 by the Polynesian people of the Rapa Nui, there are more than 900 on the island, which measures 24 by 12 kilometers.

The statues can be up to 20 meters high and weigh more than 80 tons.

Most remain in the quarry where they were originally carved, but many others were taken to coastal areas to prospect inland, presumably for ceremonial purposes.

The Moais were damaged by heavy rains, strong winds, and the sea waves crashing against the statues and their pedestals, leading to fears for their future.

“Climate change with its extreme events endangers our archaeological heritage,” said Vairoa Ika, the local environmental director.

“The stone is degrading” and must be protected.

“The problem with the Moais is that they are very fragile,” added Pedro Edmunds Paoa, the island’s mayor, who says the value of the statues is “immeasurable”.

He said authorities must “forget the tourist vision” and take protective measures, even if it means covering the statues “with glass domes,” which would ruin not only the authentic view but also tourists’ photos.

He also wants residents to make maximum use of natural resources and prioritize local employment while reviving the age-old practice of promoting community solidarity.

“From now on, the tourist must become a friend of the place, whereas earlier he visited foreigners,” said Edmunds Paoa.