When I was
living in Santiago, Chile, the one place I
wanted to visit more than almost anywhere else was Easter Island. The island has a powerful allure, not just for
it’s famous statues, but for the mere idea that people actually settled there, lived there, thrived, and thn
mysteriously disappeared. Archaeologists tell us that the Easter Islanders went through their natural resources
and ended up unable to survive. Some like Jared Diamond also tell us that this could be our own fate if we’re not
careful.
But we’re not there yet, obviously, and the guy driving his SUV to work thinks less about Easter Island as a tale of
conspicuous consumption than as a tourist destination. So be it. And so,
here is a decent tourist
tale of a visit to Easter Island. A bit of that history is here, but also some talk about how the island fares as a
tourist destination. And yes, I still want to go.