World Heritage Sites: Protect Our Past!
By Robin Tauck, July 28, 2009

I recently had the honor of being a board observer at the 33rd annual World Heritage Conference in Seville, Spain, courtesy of UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. As a career travel professional, I passionately believe in the importance of UNESCO’s World Heritage multiple initiatives. In addition to their inherent cultural, humanitarian and environmental value, they play a key role in educating people and building bridges for a different and better future.

Research verifies that many travelers give a high priority to visiting a World Heritage Site. Travel agents and suppliers also have new opportunities to tap into this interest. There is no question that the vast majority of sites, as well as the many local communities and economies they impact, would benefit from a closer relationship with our industry.

Cruise, hotel, tour and adventure companies are stepping up, taking action to improve traveler access, develop community programs and/or upgrade training on World Heritage Sites. On a corporate level some companies direct their operations and business development staff (and their travelers) in accredited sustainable tourism practices. The travel industry can play a very significant role -- one that benefits people and places the world over -- and this is good for future business.

In the 10 years between 1999 and 2009, hundreds of sites and 34 new countries became part of the World Heritage Sites initiative. Cape Verde, Burkina Faso and Kyrgyzstan are the three countries most recently included. Happily, 2009 represents a banner year for World Heritage Sites. Some 890 diverse sites from 148 countries are now under international protection -- and the list is growing.

The diversity and complexity of these 890 sites is a great accomplishment for UNESCO. Nominations are submitted far in advance, with 47 nominations this year alone. Based on my experience at this year’s conference, I would like to share some insights into how these natural, cultural and historic places of wonder are selected.

Only a dozen or so sites achieve World Heritage status each year due to the rigorous process of assessing “Outstanding Universal Value.” Assessment is a complex process involving the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Centre for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), as well as the interests of world citizens and world heritage. For example, Intangible Cultural Heritage, such as traditional dance and linguistics, is now included along with Historic Urban Landscapes, Natural Biospheres, Underwater Heritage and special monuments and buildings, and all must be “uniquely differentiated.”

The assessment process is led by the World Heritage Committee in Paris, with delegations from 21 of the 187 member nations participating on a rotating basis. This year members from Spain, China, Brazil, Egypt, Israel, Peru, Australia, Canada, the United States and other countries evaluated nearly 100 sites over the course of nine very full 14-hour days.

I sat through many long and serious deliberations focused on serving the interests of world citizens. In the end, 13 new sites -- 11 cultural and two natural sites -- were accepted with celebration. With great joy I envisioned the many travelers who will soon experience these remarkable places, opening doors to awareness, education and tourism in new regions. New sites selected this year include the Dolomites of Italy and the Wadden Sea (the world’s largest inter-tidal ecosystem in Germany and the Netherlands.

The United States now has 20 World Heritage Sites, and 14 more are being considered. Existing sites include Mesa Verde, Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone National Park and the Statue of Liberty. A special United Nations mission is set to review the U.S.-Canadian trans-border Glacier National Park by the end of 2010 to determine its conservation status, which means the park could well become the first U.S. site to be placed on the endangered list.

During the conference, I was intrigued by three-day updates on the 33 sites on the “Endangered List.” For example, the Galapagos Islands, lauded for stabilizing threats from the cruise and fishing industries, continues to suffer from land development issues. And the Belize Barrier Reef, the largest in the Northern Hemisphere, is now endangered due to mangrove cutting and development.

I have personally sailed both these reefs and island areas where we all send tens of thousands of travelers. We can educate our industry and our travelers about these much-loved sites and potential loss of protection, and create ways to safeguard them. We can make a difference.

Finally, Jerusalem remains on the World Heritage Sites endangered list. The city’s many archaeological restorations are subject to complex and important multi-national and religious interests. Sadly, one site was removed from the list -- Dresden & the Elbe Valley - due to a proposed bridge, an unfortunate yet common example of the modern conflict between conservation and use.

During the conference I had the opportunity to meet Stephen Morris, chief of international affairs for our National Park Service. Morris, who has led the U.S. team at the conference for four years, believes the cooperation among nations to name World Heritage Sites is a truly phenomenal accomplishment, as well as a noble cause. “As we near 1,000 sites, it is imperative that we balance new nominations with greater efforts to take care of current sites,” he told me. “The travel industry has much to offer us, especially with service initiatives with and for local communities.”

For the next three to five years, challenges include climate change and its impact on natural sites and biospheres (top of the list); creating a global balance in World Heritage Sites by including under-represented areas such as Africa; and the impact of impending population growth and human intervention, including the impact (and opportunity) of tourism. In response to the latter, UNESCO emphasized the need to actively engage the global travel industry in a Sustainable Tourism Program.

We are at an exciting juncture as World Heritage Sites nears its 40th anniversary in 2012. New tools, criteria and monitoring systems will be added to protect such sites and engage local communities. There is a vibrant call for alliances between governments and business to assist UNESCO (http://www.unesco.org) in realizing its 2012 goals.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) has joined forces to raise awareness about tourism’s global impact, influence and business opportunities. Surely the travel industry can create interest and education on World Heritage Sites despite the current recession woes. Protecting our global heritage is an investment none of us can afford to overlook, and one that will also improve the image of America. Remember, to protect our past is to ensure our future. For more information, visit http://whc.unesco.org.

Watch Out! Airline Fees You Haven't Heard Of ... Yet

By George Hobica, July 23, 2009

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Think the airlines are done with new fees? Not likely.
If past experience is any indicator, several new ones could be tacked on to your fare, maybe not today, but not tomorrow, but someday, soon, and for the rest of your flying life. The question is probably more when, than if. After all, Continental, Delta, and United have just added an extra u$5 checked bag fee for anyone not pre-paying online, a move that will reduce labor costs at the airport, but with the added benefit of driving traffic to their websites at the expense of online travel agencies.Airlines are making lots of money charging fees for checked baggage, ticket changes, frequent flyer programs, and other services (see the Airfarewatchdog blog for an up-to-date list), a lesson they learned from discount carriers in Europe, such as Ryanair and easyJet. (No matter what you think of Ryanair, at least it puts every single one of its fees in one handy chart. But these foreign carriers charge for services that would seem unimaginable in the U.S. -- until, that is, you start seeing them on your credit card. No, you probably will never see a charge for using the onboard lavatories, at least not in the U.S. But here are some we won't be surprised to be paying for as U.S. airlines continue to lose millions ... and emulate foreign-based low cost carriers.

In person airport check-in.
European carrier Ryanair will soon be charging you if you need human intervention to get a boarding pass at the airport (in fact, they're getting rid of airport check agents in entirely). Ditching check-in counters would allow U.S. airlines to eliminate staff and save millions. So you'd get a boarding pass online before heading for the airport, pay for your bags online, put them on the conveyor belt yourself, then head for the gate.

Online check-in.
Ryanair already charges £5 for this, and since you'll soon have to check-in online, there's no way around it.

Paying with a credit card.
Several European airlines charge a fee for this already, and also charge (albeit a bit less) for debit card purchases. Only way around this is to pay with cash.

Priority boarding fee.
Pay a little bit extra (maybe u$5) and after the parents with small children and elite frequent flyer members get boarded, you're next, with early dibs at the overhead bins.

Booking online.
One U.S. airline, Allegiant, already charges for online bookings, as well as for phone bookings (only way to avoid a fee is to pay at the airport). They call it a convenience fee. Whose convenience, exactly?

Advanced seat selection.
Several U.S. and foreign discount carriers already charge for this perk. We wouldn't be surprised to see other airlines follow suit. British Airways stopped offering advance selection on its cheapest fares (essentially charging a fee in the form of a much higher fare).

More frequent flyer fees.
You already pay to cash in miles on short notice, to redeposit those miles if you don't use them, to change your frequent flyer ticket itinerary, and for other "services." How about a fee to preserve frequent flyer miles when there's no activity in your account (say per mile fee to protect miles from expiring, although you can do this if you make a purchase with their online shopping malls or use an airline credit card among other methods)?

Name change fees.
As long as you give notice far in enough in advance, might the airlines let you transfer a ticket you can't use to another person for a fee (u$100? u$150?). Ryanair, surprise, charges for this.

Carry-on bag fee.
They charge for checked bags, so why not for cabin luggage?

Infant fee.
No more free rides for those lap riders two years and under. Ryanair currently charges £20 (about u$33) per child.

Surcharges for musical instruments.
Anyone who has seen that video about the broken guitar will understand why Ryanair charges £30 (about u$50) for checking a musical instrument. Probably has something to do with the liability of transporting these fragile items. Or maybe, just maybe, it's to boost the bottom line.

Chile, la puerta de entrada de Turquía a la región

El gobierno chileno sumó un nuevo socio comercial al firmar un TLC con el país europeo. Brasil y el Mercosur son los próximos objetivos turcos en Latinoamérica.
por Patricia Zvaighaft (14 julio 2009)

Santiago.
Chile sumó un nuevo socio a su extensa red comercial, tras firmar un Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) con Turquía, que permitirá el ingreso sin aranceles del 98% de los productos de ambos países. Los productos restantes incluidos en el programa de desgravación van ser liberados en un plazo máximo de seis años.
Las negociaciones para este tratado comercial, que aún debe ser ratificado por el Congreso de cada país, se iniciaron en marzo del 2008 y es el primer TLC que Chile suscribe con una nación mayoritariamente musulmán. Pese a que cuenta con casi medio centenar de acuerdos comerciales.
También es el primero que Turquía firma con un país latinoamericano. Sin embargo, el ministro adelantó que se está trabajando para lograr un tratado de libre comercio con Brasil y, además se está conversaciones con el Mercosur.

Chile y Turquía contra el proteccionismo.
El acuerdo fue suscrito por el canciller chileno, Mariano Fernández, y el ministro de Finanzas y Comercio Exterior turco, Zafer Caglayan, quien señaló que el TLC entre ambos países plantea un desafío a la situación actual, donde producto de la crisis financiera se ha visto un aumento del proteccionismo. “Que se eliminen estos aranceles, que se eliminen los límites a la economía, es un punto importante”, aseguró.
En esa línea, adelantó que cada país se convertirá en un plataforma comercial para el otro en sus respectivas regiones" y sostuvo que “Turquía es un corredor del oeste al este del mundo”.
La presidenta chilena, Michelle Bachelet, dijo durante la ceremonia de firma del pacto -que se realizó en la casa de gobierno- que “el intercambio comercial chileno-turco ha experimentado un crecimiento importante en los últimos años, llegando el año pasado a los US$1.122 millones”.

Aumento del intercambio.
El secretario de Estado turco señaló que “tras un TLC el comercio se duplica en un período muy breve, por lo que espera que en el próximo tiempo el comercio (entre ambos países) se pueda triplicar y hasta cuadruplicar”.
A su juicio, el acuerdo comercial traerá innumerables beneficios, no obstante, principalmente permitirá diversifcar el intercambio entre las dos naciones, el que hasta la fecha estaba basado en muy pocos productos. En ese sentido, señaló que, si bien hasta ahora Chile exportaba exclusivamente productos ligados al cobre y Turquía hacía lo mismo, pero con el hierro y el acero, el TLC cambiará ese panorama. Los sectores que se verán mayormente beneficiados serán los productos industriales y agrícolas.
Asimismo, adelantó que así como se dará un importante intercambio comercial de bienes, también será importante el de los servicios. “Es el inicio de un buen desarrollo comercial”, aseguró Caglayan. Y según prevé los principales sectores de servicios beneficiados serán turismo, defensa, energía y construcción. “Turquía es el tercer país en infraestructura, sólo detrás de China y Estados Unidos”, destacó.
Por su parte, la mandataria chilena resaltó que el pacto comercial beneficiará en Chile a las firmas mineras, agrícolas, pesqueras, forestales y a las vitivinícolas. Con este tratado, ingresarán al país libre de aranceles maquinarias, automóviles y artículos de línea blanca provenientes de Turquía, entre otros productos.

Los Cusqueños y Machu Picchu

Antes de Bingham, según el autor, los cusqueños tuvieron una relación fluida con la ciudadela mucho antes de que llegara la expedición de Yale.

Por: Jorge Flores Ochoa / Antropólogo cusqueño

Los cusqueños tienen, tenemos, dos actitudes en relación con Machu Picchu. Admiración, orgullo, considerarse descendientes legítimos de sus constructores, frente a comportamientos que lindan con la irracionalidad. Para comprenderlo trataremos algunas referencias a sucesos de fines del siglo XIX e inicios del XX. Machu Picchu no fue desconocido ni demandó sacrificios extremos para llegar a él. De hacienda real inca pasó a encomienda de Hernando Pizarro en 1539. Desde entonces su historia hasta 1877 es conocida, como remarca el historiador Donato Amado. La documentación histórica de cambios de propiedad de Machu Picchu son precisos, llegando del siglo XVI al XIX.

Mapas

A partir del siglo XIX se cuenta con mapas, del fechado en 1877 a los de 1878, 1880, 1881, 1904, hasta 1910. Algunos ubicados y todos difundidos por la historiadora Mariana Mould de Pease, evidencian la existencia de Machu Picchu. Fueron elaborados por viajeros, buscadores de tesoros y minas, constructores de caminos, huaqueros, empresarios, busca fortunas que precedieron a Bingham. Los mapas señalan con exactitud la ubicación y el nombre de Machu Picchu, años antes de que Bingham supiera de “la hacienda real de Pachukuti”. El historiador estadounidense conocía los mapas y los utilizó, como evidencia su archivo personal conservado en la Universidad de Yale.

La ciudad y el valle
Machu Picchu no era el fin del mundo. De Ollantaytambo a la ciudadela existía camino apto para el tránsito de las carretas, que transportaban durmientes para prolongar el ferrocarril desde Sicuani a la ciudad del Cusco. La tala fue principal actividad en las haciendas de la región, al punto que agotaron los bosques. Hoy solo quedan nombres como Cedrobamba, “la tierra de los cedros”. El viaje en caballo, de Ollantaytambo a Machu Picchu, no demandaba más de un día.

Haciendas y hacendados
El valle del Urubamba se angosta a partir de Ollantaytambo, cambiando en cañón estrecho, que no impidió la formación de haciendas. No existieron comunidades indígenas. Los trabajadores agrícolas requeridos procedían de diferentes zonas de la región, trabajaban parcelas a cambio de días de trabajo en la hacienda. La reforma agraria cambió este sistema al convertir a los campesinos en dueños de sus parcelas.
Las haciendas fueron grandes propiedades, como la de Justo Zenón Ochoa, formada por los sectores de Pampacahua, Cedrobamba, Mandor y Collpani. El caserío de la hacienda se hallaba en Mandor. En sus tierras se estableció el campamento del ferrocarril a Quillabamba y se convirtió en punto final del tren. Dio origen a viviendas precarias con los nombres de Aguas Calientes, Punta Rieles o Máquina. Hoy día ha cambiado por Machu Picchu Pueblo, motivado por razones mercantiles. Sus antepasados, los hermanos Pablo y Antonio Ochoa compraron tierras a Manuela Almirón y Villegas: “[...] nombrados Quenti, Carmenga, Picchu, Machupicchu, Guaynapicho [...]. Las vendieron a Marcos Antonio de la Cámara y Escudero el 3 de diciembre de 1782. Años después, a fines del siglo XIX, Justo Zenón Ochoa adquirió Mandor.
Los hacendados residían en el Cusco, puesto que eran abogados, funcionarios o comerciantes. Sus hijos, como era costumbre, pasaban vacaciones en sus propiedades. Visitaban lugares arqueológicos, como la hacienda Cutija con su sector de Machu Picchu. Seguramente también huaqueaban. Así hicieron los hijos de Justo Zenón Ochoa, los dueños de Mandor, cazando venados o visitando sitios arqueológicos, que siempre llamaron la atención de los cusqueños. No era interés científico al estilo moderno, tenía más bien mucho de aventura.

Preocupación
Hay incertidumbre sobre qué hacer para cuando se cumplan cien años del arribo de Hiram Bingham a Machu Picchu. Un sector considera que no se puede celebrar, cuando la Universidad de Yale se niega a devolver lo que se prestó a Bingham. Otros piensan en los beneficios que pueden lograr, con el arribo de visitantes motivados por el acontecimiento. El sector preocupado por el patrimonio cultural siente que Machu Picchu se halla en peligro, principalmente por el desboque del turismo y necesita medidas urgentes de protección.
No se respeta el número de visitantes. El límite de 2.000 por día hace tiempo que ha sido excedido. Existen empresarios que consideran que el problema no es el número de visitantes por día, sino su ingreso y salida. Con criterio de coliseo deportivo, proponen más puertas, para que el ingreso y salida sea más rápido, calculan que pueden ingresar 4.000 o nada menos que 10.000. No faltan los que proponen que no se pongan límites y el mercado determine el número de visitantes. Todo con la complacencia —casi digo complicidad— del Instituto Nacional de Cultura, que existe pero que no tiene vida ni interés en la protección y cuidado del patrimonio cultural.

San Pedro de Atacama
Oasis in the desert

Long before the Incas conquered what is now northern Chile in the mid 1400's, there were inhabitants who lived around one of the rare sources of water in the Atacama Desert. The water ran off the Andes, forming oases, and into the desert where it evaporated.
The people who lived there were agrarian, raising their crops in family-maintained plots. They developed a culture called “Atacameño”, and they were there for a long time, developing settlements along the Rio San Pedro. They also built fortresses for protection from other groups. The earliest found Atacameño artifacts date from 11,000 BC.
The Spaniards passed through, a century after the Incas, when Diego de Almagro came by on his way south. Though there was water, there wasn't the gold found in Peru and Mexico.
Nevertheless, the Conquistadores set up a small outpost. The area continued as the center of the Atacama region, now under a different administration. Over time, it gained in importance as mining operations developed around the settlement and San Pedro became the administrative center of the desert.
San Pedro was a main stop on the cattle drives from Argentina to the nitrate mines as well as a stop on the Salta-Antofagasta railroad. When both these activities ended, San Pedro lost importance.
In the 1870's, the governmental offices were transferred to Calama, about 60 miles (100 km) to the west, and San Pedro lapsed almost into obscurity.
Today, San Pedro de Atacama is one of the most widely visited places in Chile. The inhabitants (fewer than 3000) still raise crops; much as their ancestors did, sending their produce to Calama and other markets. The streets of the town are narrow, lined with buildings of adobe and the native wood of carob, “chanar” and pepper trees.
As in most towns in South America, the center of town is the plaza and the shade trees provide welcome relief from the sun and glare.
The church of San Pedro, dating from 1641 and named an historical monument in 1951, has suffered damage from earthquakes over the years, and in 1964 the current tower replaced the one before it. It is built with the same white adobe as the rest of the buildings in the village, with wood from the cardón cactus and leather straps in lieu of nails. Because rain is so scarce, the desert air preserves the adobe.

Easter Island:

A Faraway Land Steeped in Mystery

By Jennifer Vanderbes

It was nighttime, and as the plane from Santiago hovered above the small island, I could see the yellow galaxy of porch lights and street lights in Hanga Roa village, population about 3,500, the sole developed area on Easter Island. I had been traveling for 24 hours, almost 7,000 miles from New York, to reach one of the world's most remote inhabited islands, and, as the plane finally touched down on the runway, I was exhausted - and exhilarated.

No one arrives on Easter Island by accident. It is on the way to nowhere, and it is next to nothing. Chile, the country that has overseen it as a province since 1888, is some 2,300 miles away. You must seek out Easter Island. I did because I needed answers: I was at work on a novel, my first, and had chosen Easter Island as the setting. In the course of my research, I found myself falling in love with the island's history.

And that is why people go there: Easter Island has a unique and beguiling past, fragments of which are strewn across the landscape, physical clues to a centuries-old mystery.
The island, some 63 square miles of grass-covered volcanic rock in the South Pacific, was settled by Polynesians around 400 A.D. Their descendants had no known contact with the outside world until 1722, when the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen anchored off the island, naming it in honor of his arrival on Easter Sunday.

Roggeveen made known what he had seen: a barren island where hundreds of enormous human-shaped statues, called moai, lined the coast. What perplexed him was how such a primitive people, on an island devoid of timber and pack animals could have moved such megaliths. Roggeveen's reports sparked the interest of other voyagers, and soon ships from Spain and England and France were headed there. But by the time Capt. James Cook arrived in 1772, something important had changed - the “moai” were all lying in the grass. This, of course, spawned another question: What had caused the statues to fall?

To visit Easter Island today - the inhabitants call it Rapa Nui - is to explore these mysteries up close, to wander through a centuries-old open-air archaeological museum. The town of Hanga Roa is small, consisting of mostly simple one-story homes and basic shops, nestled in one corner of the island's triangular landscape - the rest is rustic and generally uninhabited. The moai still line the coasts, toppled except for the roughly three dozen that have been restored upright in recent years. Almost all the sites are without ropes, barriers or signs. The ruins remain au naturel, and the statues now standing look as they did when Roggeveen first saw them.

I decided to begin my visit at the moai quarry, an extinct volcanic crater named Rano Raraku, about eight miles outside the village. I had been told to go early to avoid the tourist buses, and I was there, via taxi, by 9:30 a.m. on a sunny October day, completely alone.

Quiet definitely improves the experience of this site. Here the island's famous megaliths were carved from the crater's soft volcanic tuff, and some 394 statues remain unfinished in this vast volcanic workshop, some still attached to the inner rock, some upright on the crater's outer slope, as if frozen on their way out. These quarry moai reveal an interesting pattern: the statues here are markedly larger than those on the coast. The largest, El Gigante, measures some 65 feet and is estimated to weigh up to 270 tons, while the largest moai ever erected on the coast measures about 32 feet, leading archaeologists to believe an "obsession" in moai building was under way and ended abruptly (carving tools were left at the site, though they have since been removed) at the time the coastal statues fell.

What caused the islanders to abandon their statue building? And why were the statues toppled? Scholars think the moai were most likely moved to the coast by means of the timber of trees that were extinct by the time Roggeveen arrived. Pollen analysis has revealed that thick-trunked palm trees once forested the island; their trunks were probably used as levers or rollers to manipulate the statues. Many scholars assume that moai building played a critical role in the island's deforestation, and that environmental collapse was a factor in the abandonment of the effort.

From Rano Raraku, it's a short walk toward the coast to Tongariki, where a Chilean archaeologist directed the restoration of a row of 15 moai, completed in 1995, with workers using special resins to piece together the decaying statues. The moai were hoisted into position by a hydraulic crane built and donated by the Tadano Corporation of Japan (a reminder of how impressive a feat it was to move the statues without mechanical power). The sight of these towering figures on their original ceremonial platform, or ahu, begins to suggest the magnificence Roggeveen saw, when hundreds of such statues skirted the island, facing inland, worshiped by the islanders as sacred chiefs and divine ancestors.

Anakena, one of the island's two sand beaches, is on the north shore. (Legend says that the first king, Hotu Matua, landed his canoe here.) This is a great place for a picnic lunch, beneath the grove of coconut palms; shade is a rarity on this mostly treeless island, and should be enjoyed when found. Just beyond the beach stands the very first moai re-erected, restored in the mid-50's by Thor Heyerdahl (author of "Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island"). Anakena is a great place for a swim, but if you prefer a slightly less crowded beach, Ovahe is just down the road. The water at this small, secluded cove is crystal clear and calm. On the way back from Anakena to Hanga Roa is Puna Pau, the quarry for the red scoria topknots (pukau) that once crowned the moai.

At the day's end, I stopped in at Tavake, an informal restaurant on Atamu Tekana Street, where I tried my first “pisco sour” (Chilean brandy mixed with lemon juice and sugar), along with a portion of fresh-caught tuna ceviche. Tuna is one of the better choices, along with anything with avocado (the islanders grow the most delicious avocados I've ever tasted), poi cake (which tastes a little like cornbread, but is made with taro and banana or guava and is a traditional Rapa Nui dish), any meat cooked in the traditional curanto earth oven or the rich and satisfying empanadas (a Chilean influence).

I found several options for evening activities. If it's a weekend, a visit to one of the island's two discos is a great way to mix with the locals, but these get going late, around 11 p.m., so a nap back at your room isn't a bad idea. Or have a drink at the Aloha Pub, a great bar. Two nights a week, the group Kari Kari performs at my selected hotel. With their feathered headdresses and white-painted bodies, these singer-dancers put on a vibrant and impassioned show combining traditional and contemporary Rapa Nui music.

I was there in October (and returned again last November), which is low season, and crowds were not a problem either at the night spots or the archaeological sites. The tourists I did meet were from all over - Japan, Europe and South America, many from mainland Chile. Because of the town's small size, you are likely to keep running into the same people. And it's worth chatting with visitors who have traveled so far to reach this island - they have interesting stories of what drew them. I met a Brazilian man who said he had been dreaming of visiting the island since reading "Aku-Aku" 30 years earlier.

Visiting the various moai can occupy a few days, but there are other sites that tell the island's story. At the outskirts of Hanga Roa sits the Father Sebastián Englert Museum, named for the Bavarian priest who spent much of his life here. Its prize display is the coral "eye," discovered in 1978, that ended centuries of speculation about whether the moai once had eyes. Last year, just beside the museum, a library was opened in honor of William Mulloy, an American archaeologist who was a leading expert on Easter Island until his death in 1978; it provides an abundance of literature, photographs and old films.

And there are many archaeological sites unrelated to the moai. Orongo, on the rim of the largest volcanic crater, dates from the mid-16th century. This ceremonial village was the axis of the cult of the birdman, a religion centered on a creator god, Makemake, that replaced the ancestor worship of the moai religion. The birdman cult initiated an annual event in which young men competed to find the sooty tern's first egg of the season.

Petroglyphs of a half-bird, half-man figure and Makemake adorn the rocks near this site, and the ceremonial houses where the participants would sleep still remain. On the road back to Hanga Roa is the coastal cave Ana Kai Tangata, rumored to have been the site of cannibalism, but notable mostly for the beautiful bird paintings on its high-vaulted ceiling.

One of Easter Island's most glorious sights has nothing to do with its archaeological offerings, but everything to do with its history. Terevaka, the largest of the three major volcanoes, is the island's highest point, some 1,670 feet above sea level, and from the summit you can see the horizon line, unbroken, for 360 degrees. Residents have traditionally called the island "Te Pito o Te Henua" (the navel of the earth), and from this vantage point it certainly feels as if you're standing at the world's center. You are reminded that the moai were all originally positioned with their backs to the sea, facing inland, toward this "navel."

The island also offers a range of sporting activities. There are two stores right by the coast, Orca and the Mike Rapu Dive Center, which rent snorkel or diving equipment. One morning I went scuba diving off Anakena beach and saw a wide variety of coral and colorful fish, and I have been told by experienced divers that the diving from Motu Iti and Motu Nui, two islets off the island's coast, is spectacular. Also, the waves there are immense, as can be seen in the 1993 documentary "Easter Island: Forbidden Surf," which features the surfer Laird Hamilton and others riding the fierce whitecaps on boards and kayaks.

For landlubbers, hiking, bicycling, horseback riding or caving are options. My guide took me to Ana o Keke, the cave of the virgins, where young girls were once sequestered in order to become pale for religious festivals. And the brave can explore some of the more challenging lava tubes. Squirming into one with my excellent guide, Ramón (of Haumaka Tours), I couldn't move my arms for quite a distance, in the pitch dark, until it opened onto a beautiful, bright, spacious cavern on the coast. It is said that during times of strife, the islanders took to living in caves, and in some you can even see evidence (usually skeletal remains of food) of their habitation.

On Sunday, Mass is celebrated at the Church of the Holy Cross in Hanga Roa. The singing is often in Rapa Nui, the island dialect, and the church is decorated with an array of wooden figures carved by local artists in which traditional Roman Catholic imagery is mixed with island motifs: the beautiful crucifix above the altar shows the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus's head in the form of a seabird.
While Easter Island doesn't fit the stereotype of a lush South Pacific hideaway, its scenery is breathtaking nonetheless. Gorgeous sunsets cast a splendid array of colors over the landscape, and at almost any coastal spot, a picnic is a treat. People have compared the island's grassy hills to Scotland or Wales, and because it is unforested and relatively flat, you can see for miles. Traveling across it feels like moving through a desert of grass, the three volcanic craters punctuating the horizon.

The treelessness is part of Easter Island's singular environmental story. Centuries later, Easter Island is still in the process of rebirth. Attempts have been made to reintroduce the Sophora Toromiro, an indigenous tree that hasn't grown on the island for decades, and to plant new trees, like eucalyptus, that might provide a protective barrier against coastal winds.

As we drove past a Chilean government building on my last day, my guide pointed to a cannon and told me the story of how in 1991, the French issued a set of postage stamps celebrating French Polynesia, one of them depicting Easter Island. Alarmed that France might have intentions of bringing their province into its domain, Chile swiftly sent three warships to the island.

It turned out to be a simple mistake, an artist's geographical confusion, but the story reveals how fervently the islanders, and even the Chilean authorities, guard the moai. Only by traveling across this faraway landscape can one fully appreciate the enormous accomplishment of creating these statues, and begin to meditate on the mysteries associated with them.