LESSONS
Wavesailing doesn’t come easy on Easter Island, neither does the surfing, the yachting or life in general. That is what you get for experiencing some of the greatest mysteries on earth in such an isolated land. There is a rough feeling to the place, its landscapes, climate, customs and people. The weight of the island’s history made of exodus and tribal wars can still be felt nowadays as Rapa Nui is still struggling to live in peace with its identity and attachment to Chile. On the other hand, for the ones that are willing to spend enough time there, to wait for the right moment to either get in the water or meet people, then Easter Island will share the best of its Mana for what will be a stepping stone in a traveller’s life. Nonetheless if it took thousands of years for Rapa Nui to create the geologic and historic heritage it represents today, it only took us humans a century or so to put at risk the entire ecosystem that surrounds it. After looking at the sand the way the Race for Water Odyssey taught me to, I know I will never look at it the way I did before and it bothers me. It bothers me not only because Mother Nature suffers but, selfishly, because it will temper the joy I get from simply putting my feet in the sand and feeling it between my toes. It bothers me because, 40 years ago, when I was Shadé’s age, going to the beach with a bucket and a screen, there was hardly any of that plastic that I found in my screen 40 years later. It bothers me because it is all happening in my life time. In the end what maybe bothers me the most is that I can’t blame it on anybody.