Rapa Nui (Easter Island); Photos, Info, and Controversies

Easter Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world. Around 1200 years ago a double-hulled canoe filled with seafarers from Polynesia landed on shore and created a sustainable community. Over the centuries the society developed in almost complete isolation. For reasons still unknown they began carving giant statues out of volcanic rock. These monuments, known, as "moai" are some of the most incredible ancient relics ever discovered. The people of Easter Island called themselves the Rapa Nui.

There have been a lot of speculation about UFO's, Atlantis, and an advanced ancient races which has disappeared, has always been a part of the Easter Island debate. Science has made great strides in understanding who made the giant statues of Easter Island and has proven these extreme stories to rest.

Property Conflict on Easter Island

Here is a copy of an article I found from the Santiago Times regarding the conflict over the Moi and Rapa Nui. It discusses properties and how it is affecting many families on the island:

Distribution of land deeds among locals defuses conflict in Chile’s Easter Island

Chile’s Interior Ministry Undersecretary Rodrigo Ubilla announced this week that more than 30 Easter Island title deeds will be delivered to Rapa Nui families within the next 60 days.

The announcement is expected to put an end to two months of demonstrations and conflict on the island that included the take over of several publicly owned buildings by families of Easter Island’s original inhabitants, the Rapa Nui indigenous group.

The conflict was initially sparked when President Sebastián Piñera appointed Pedro Edmunds Paoa as provincial governor of Easter Island in March. Edmunds’ appointment caused controversy among the Rapa Nui when it was discovered he planned to sell land plots on the island to non-indigenous people. Edmunds later resigned and was replaced with Carmen Cardinali Paoa.
These events sparked concerns by local inhabitants that non-native people may eventually own much of the island, that land ownership titles be updated and clarified, and limitations imposed to contain the influx of non-natives as residents (and thus avoid its overpopulation and environmental destruction).
On Aug. 6, the government issued a proposal to resolve the conflict, prompting discussions and setting a 60-day deadline for finding possible solutions to land issues, to the protestors’ petition for special status for the island and to their request for immigration restraints.
“The decision to regulate these lands came about, decrees were signed and we shared the news with families,” Ubilla said. “They are very happy about this situation.”
Alberto Tepihi, one of the beneficiaries of new land titles, said he was surprised and cried “when the secretary included my name among the beneficiaries."
Despite the government’s claim that the conflict had ended, some 36 clans are still occupying land, insisting the government has failed to resolve their claims to ancestral lands.
The Hito clan, for example, is still occupying the Hanga Roa Hotel. “The occupation of land will continue because the only achievement of the government was to hasten the delivery of title deeds the Vaitea Fundo area of the island, a situation that has nothing do with the issue of ancestral land,” said Marisol Hito, a spokesperson for the clan.
He did not rule out a hunger strike by families to press for further solutions.
In related news, the board of the Association of Archaeologists in Chile called on the authorities to meet the demands of the Rapa Nui people regarding the land issue.
Andrea Seelenfreund Hirch, an archaeologist at the Universidad de Chile and professor at the University Academy of Christian Humanism, said, “At this stage Chile needs new regulations in its treatment of the Easter Island community and its heritage.”
Meanwhile, Leviant Araki, the Rapa Nui Parliament’s president, called for the withdrawal of the contingent of Special Forces (armed police) on the island.
“These first 36 titles will later be joined by others,” said Raúl Celis, governor of the Valparaiso Region (V), which includes Easter Island. “If the government fulfils its part, hopefully the clans will suspend the land occupations.
By Dominique Farrell – Santiago Times
http://en.mercopress.com/2010/09/16/distribution-of-land-deeds-among-locals-defuses-conflict-in-chile-s-easter-island

The Languages of Chile

The official language of Chile is Spanish ( castellano as Chileans call it), which is spoken by practically all the country's inhabitants. In the northern region about twenty thousand indigenous people also speak Aymará, while most of Chile's Mapuche population speak or at least understand their ancestral language, Mapudungu. In Eastern Island the two thousand native inhabitants speak their own language of Polynesian origin. Chileans of foreign ancestry do sometime also speak their mother tongue but do so almost exclusively in the intimacy of their home.
One of the most spectacular expressions of the existing cultural homogeneity is the relative absence of recognizable regional accents, despite the country's extreme geographic length. For instance, the differences in accent between middle-class Chileans from Antofagasta, Santiago, Valdivia, and Punta Arenas are almost inaudible. The national coverage of many Santiago-based radio and television stations also helps to homogenize Chilean Spanish. In contrast, there are in Chile very sharp accent distinctions among the different social classes.
Chilean Spanish is quite characteristic and is immediately identified in other Latin American countries for its distinctive "melody." Chileans generally speak very fast and terminal consonants are often not even spoken. They also often add the suffix –"ito" or –"ita" (meaning "little") to the end of words. In addition, Chilean speech contains many words adopted from the Mapuche language as well as much chilenismos (Chilean slang).

Castes, Classes and Social Stratification

Chile is, on the one hand, the most modern country in Latin America and has relatively low levels of poverty. On the other hand Chile shows the second worst distribution of wealth in the region (after Brazil). So while the richest 10 percent of the population obtains 46.1 percent of the national income, the poorest 10 percent has only 1.4 percent of the national income.

While color does not constitute the main source of social discrimination in Chile, class does. In contrast to many other Latin American countries, most Chileans constantly think and act in terms of traditional class divisions (largely expressed as lower, middle, and upper).  Entrance to a university is based on the points one obtains at a single national academic test. Even though someone from a lower class can get into a university and go on to get a good job does not automatically guarantee social acceptance among the middle and upper classes. The same is true for people from lower class origins who have made money and live in middle- or upper-class neighborhoods. They are often disdainfully called rotos con plata ("vulgar people with money"). Generally, it can be stated that most Chileans of European roots belong to the upper and middle classes, while most Chileans of mestizo and indigenous backgrounds belong to the lower classes.

In larger cities, classes are spatially segregated. Upper, middle, and lower classes live largely isolated from each other in very distinctive neighborhoods and city sections. Also, primary and secondary schools express social stratification. Chileans automatically categorize a person socially based only on the comuna (municipal division within the city) where the person lives and the name of the school he or she has attended.

Speech is another important marker of social stratification. Upper-class Chileans exaggerate their particular way of speaking to indicate their social predominance. On the other end of the social ladder, lower-class Chileans speak in a very idiosyncratic way. Chileans are so speech-conscious that even the slightest difference in pronunciation of some consonants immediately "betrays" social background.

Ceremonial Foods

During the celebrations of Independence Day (18 September) Chileans eat a large variety of traditional food. As a snack or the first course of a large meal, Chileans normally eat empanadas. This pastry of Spanish origin is stuffed with meat, cheese, or seafood, as well as onion, raisins, and olives. Another popular starter is humitas, which contains a paste of white corn, fried onions, and basil, wrapped in corn husks and cooked in boiling water. A classic second dish is pastel de choclo ( choclo is the Mapuche word for corn). It is a white corn and beef casserole topped with sugar and mostly cooked in traditional black ceramic dishes, handmade in the small town of Pomaire. Also on Independence Day, large parrilladas (barbecues) are organized across the country. Large quantities of wine, chicha (fermented apple brew), and pisco (grape brandy) accompany the celebrations.

The Araucanian

The Araucanian culture are suggested, by archaeological evidence, to exist starting around 500 B . C . in the territory of present-day Chile. The aboriginal Araucanians were hunters and gatherers and practiced horticulture and incipient agriculture. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Araucanians were divided into three geographically contiguous ethnic groups: the Picunche in the north, the Mapuche in the central-south, and the Huilliche in the southern section.

One of the greatest resistance of indiginous people from the colonizers and other indiginous people of Chile were the Araucanians. The Inca's had conquored the Picunche and the Mapuche, but could not penetrate the Huilliche. The spanish, in numbers, were able to conquor from the land from the Araucanians down to Rio Bio-Bio and beyond during the last major rebellion of 1880-1882. Unfortunaley, the survivors of the last resistance were forced into reservations in Chile and arrested or confined into remote areas in Argentina.


Araucanians on a reservation circa 1900

Food Industry: Agricultural and Fast Food Impact

Chiles Agricultural Info

This article I found has an amazing amount of information regarding the Chilean food industry and agriculture. Here are some stats from the website which I have also listed below.

• Chile’s food industry, which includes fruit, salmon, wine, processed foods, meats, and seafood products, is one of the most dynamic sectors of the Chilean economy. It represents around 24% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it is the second most important exporting sector.
• The Chilean food industry employs more than 1 million people, representing around 20% of the country’s workforce. It is expected that by the year 2030, the GDP generated by the food sector will account for more than 35% of Chile’s GDP and 1 out of 3 workers will have jobs within the sector.
• Chile is ranked 17^th amongst the world’s leading food exporting countries. Its food exports have grown at an average annual rate of approximately 10% over the past 10 years, making it the world’s fastest growing food exporter. If this rate of growth continues, by 2010, Chile will be among the top ten food exporters in the world.
• Chile supplies more than 150 countries around the globe with fresh and processed foods and beverages

http://www.prochile.us/flavors/fast-facts-about-chilean-food-industry-specialty-food-exports

Fast Food in Chile

In several recent articles published there have been agreance that fast food chains are on the rise in Chile. According to the Santiago Times US "ARESTA Restaurant Administrator, which operates the popoular US brands Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and T.G.I. Friday’s, this week announced an upcoming expansion in Chile."

Here is another article from Global Post regarding fast food and Chilean health concerns:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/chile/100527/obesity-fast-food

"SANTIAGO, Chile — Gone are the days when McDonald’s fliers boasting of well-balanced meals of cheeseburgers and French fries landed on Chilean doorsteps. Now there is talk of taxing junk food and putting warnings on fatty foods to combat Chile’s exploding obesity rates.
Needing to finance reconstruction from the February earthquake, Health Minister Jaime Manalich recently suggested an unpopular idea: taxing junk food. Like raising taxes on tobacco, he said, it would bring in revenues and attack a public health problem at the same time.
Sixty-two percent of the Chilean population is overweight or obese. Almost 22 percent of first-grade students are obese and 25 percent of all adults, according to figures from the Health Ministry.

But the reaction from the food industry, restaurants and fast-food joints was swift and unanimous: no one is being forced to eat unhealthy foods, and unlike tobacco, they aren’t addictive. Manalich took a step back.
“The tax would have no effect anyways,” said Nelba Villagran, president of the Nutritionists Association. “It’s impossible to determine what is junk and we would run the risk of being unfair with some industries. Food isn’t intrinsically bad; what’s bad is how it is composed and combined.”
OBESITY IN THE AMERICAS
Mexico City: 31 percent
Santiago, Chile: 26.6 percent
Barquisimeto, Venezuela: 25.1 percent
Lima, Peru: 22.3 percent
Buenos Aires, Argentina: 19.7 percent
Bogota, Colombia: 18 percent
Quito, Ecuador: 16.3 percent
Source: American Journal of Medicine (January 2008)
Many blame the arrival of international fast-food chains and their aggressive advertising for what President Sebastian Pinera called a “rising epidemic” in his State of the Union address. Companies like McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King and Domino’s Pizza, among many others, staked a place in the Chilean market as soon as the 17-year military dictatorship ended in 1990.

However, Chileans' changing eating habits appear to be more of a problem than the proliferation of McDonald's. Along with the fast-food outlets came major supermarkets with a greater variety of cheap processed foods. And higher incomes meant more money to spend.
Hamburgers and pizzas — completely absent from Chilean tables — quickly became routine weekend meals. Babies who were once given fresh fruit and natural juices are now eating yogurts, processed puddings and other high-calorie desserts.
Chileans are eating more pork, meat, roasted chicken, fries, sodas and products high in sugar, while salads and legumes retreat from the dinner table and the price of fish makes it largely prohibitive.
National surveys over the past decade conclude that obesity is greater in low-income groups and twice as frequent among adults with only a high-school education. Daily intake of fruits and vegetables in low-income households is only half of what wealthier families consume.
“Cars, television, domestic appliances and transportation services closer to home are making them more sedentary. Modern life is giving people less time to cook and exercise,” said Dr. Tito Pizarro, head of the food and nutrition department at the Health Ministry.
Health surveys show that about 90 percent of Chileans lead sedentary lives, and in all age and income groups, obesity is more common among women than men.
In March, a bill that would warn consumers of foods high in fat, sugar, sodium or other harmful ingredients through explicit labels passed a major hurdle in Congress. If approved, these items would not be sold, distributed, advertised or promoted in the school system.
Companies would not be able to use toys or gadgets to lure children under 12 into buying unhealthy foods, and schools would have to include nutrition and eating habits in their curricula and require at least six hours a week of physical education.
Another bill introduced in Congress in June 2008 would require schools to have a “healthy food stand” to give students an alternative source of snacks or lunches. That bill has made no progress.
The government set a goal in 2000 of lowering obesity among first-graders from 16 percent to 12 percent by this year. But 10 years later, obesity in 6-year olds has shot up to nearly 22 percent. So what happened?
According to Pizarro, schools are more concerned about preparing students to perform well in national exams than about fomenting physical activity. Meanwhile they continue to sell cookies, chips and sodas. Moreover, he said, “the school environment doesn’t encourage a healthy lifestyle, with school authorities more worried about not having kids running around in order to avoid accidents, and kids using recess time to eat more than to play.”

In May, the Health and Education Ministries announced a plan that would offer economic incentives and equipment to schools that increase physical education to six hours and stop providing or selling junk food to students. However, a similar plan begun in 2006 had virtually no effect on children’s eating habits.
That year, the Health Ministry launched “EGO-Chile,” a national strategy that included publicity campaigns on eating right and exercising as well as a pilot project in 1,000 schools aimed at improving eating habits and increasing exercise among children.
However, a recent University of Chile study found that obesity rates in those schools had risen almost 3 percent, the same amount as national obesity rates.
“EGO-Schools is not enough. People generally know what food is bad for them, but obesity is not going to drop as long as parents keep feeding their children the same awful food and sending them to school with the same snacks high in sugar and saturated fats,” Villagran said. “We’re playing by double standards: even in hospitals and doctors’ waiting rooms you’ll find vending machines that sell only junk food.”"

Food and Drink

Food
One of my favorite things to learn about when studying or traveling to another country is their culinary traditions and influences. Chilean's usually eat 4 meals a day starting with a light breakfast of coffee or tea and toast. The countries typical meal almost always consists of an abundance of meat. Beef and chicken, rice and potatoes and a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables are staples. Chile also has a coastline of 4,270 km (2,647 miles) which adds a very diverse seafood menu. While many people assume the chili is used in chilean cuisine, it is not common spice used. More common herbs and spices are cumin, salt, garlic with basil and cilantro.

Here a few of Chile's most traditional dishes:

- Pastel de Choclo: corn casserole with meat stuffing
- Empanadas: pastry filled with meat, cheese or mussels
- Cazuela: homemade stew with beef, chicken, corn, rice and potatoes
- Asado: barbecue of beef, pork or chicken
- Reineta, Congrio, Corvina: the most typical fish
- Locos: a rare type of mollusks
- Jaiva: shrimp, crab
- Centolla: king crab with tender meat of reddish color

Mealtimes are an important part of family life. Families almost always eat together at home, only going to a restaurant on a special occasion. Mothers prepare a light breakfast of toast and milk for their children. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day, and two main dishes are often served. The first dish might be a salad with seafood. The other dish might be cazuela de ave , a thick stew of chicken, potatoes, rice, green peppers, and, occasionally, onions. Chancho en Piedra (Chili and Tomato Spread) is often served with bread as an accompaniment to meals, or may be eaten by students as a snack. In small towns, businesses close for almost three hours so people can go home and eat lunch with their families and take a siesta (nap).

Since about 90% of Chileans are Roman Catholic, Christmas is a major holiday that has a few traditional items served during that time. Pan de pascua , a Christmas cake made with fruits and nuts that comes from the German influence in Chile and also, the tradition of drinking cola de mono (Chilean eggnog) is served at most homes while entertaining family and friends.

Wine and Pisco

Chilean wine has become a very popular export in recent years. However, Chileans have been enjoying their vineyards for more than 400 years. The spanish missionaries brought the first vines over from europe in order to produce wine for catholic ceremonies and masses. Most people drink wine with lunch and dinner on a regular basis now and the exporting has grown substantially. The most common grapes grown in the Chilean region are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec and Carmenere. Wine tasting has become a newer tourist attraction as the vineyard business rises.

Another popular alcoholic drink in Chile is the famous Pisco Sours. Pisco is a strong, colorless brandy and when combined with sweet and sour mixture it can be quite enjoyable and refreshing.