Here Flat Tommy poses in front of another group of moai with his travel friend, Judith Bland ’68. They had a great time discovering the island together.
Pictured is a restored site. Europeans, local unrest, and time had toppled many moai. Different groups now work to restore the moai found in various areas. These are sacred to the current residents of Rapa Nui many of whom are descendants of the original Polynesian settlers. The moai were erected to face inland. Initially a chief would have commissioned a moai to serve as his “headstone.” Once his bones were interred beneath the moai and the eyes were completed, his spirit was believed to move into the moai that then became a guardian for the local community.
Judith Bland ’68 and Flat Tommy on the way to Easter Island (Isla de Pascua). Almost there! It is 5 1/2 hours from Santiago.
The local Catholic Church had a grotto that reminded Flat Tommy and Judith Bland ’68 of TMC and its campus!
Judith and Tommy visited the moai (statue) quarry first. Behind Flat Tommy is a moai that was still being carved on when work stopped.
This statue was in front of the quarry, it was a little farther along in the process. The artisans dug a hole while they finished the moai. Time has filled in the hole but the moai was about ready to be moved to its erection site somewhere on the coast.
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