community effort. We see yet another great show of dancing and singing.
Our visit to Rapa Nui comes to an end, too and so does our journey.
We are flying home to Germany soon.
We have travelled for 5 months and are still married;)
It has been a journey of a lifetime around our beautiful planet.
Terry and I take back many wonderful memories that will stay with us forever.
We met so many interesting people who welcomed us and shared their stories.
Stephanie Pauly is one of them. She was a biology and chemistry teacher in Cologne and went on a sabbatical to travel on the mainland of South America.
A friend asked her to take fotografs of the wildlife on the Easter Island.
So she flew over to Rapa Nui to stay for 2 weeks and take fotos.
Carlo, a wood carver and artist on the Easter Island, had asked the spirits of his ancestors to send him a woman to live with until the end of his time on earth.
The spirits told him to be patient and wait.
Stephanie and Carlo met, he told her about his request to his ancestors and asked her to stay. They have lived together for 16 years.
They live in a house with no fridge, no washing machine, no gas, no electricity,
no running water.
A lot of their time is spent working in their garden growing sweet potatoes, tarot,
tomatoes, avocado, pineapple and beans.
They collect rain water for drinking and washing.
She earns money as a certified guide for tourists.
She has collected old Easter Island stories and legends and published them.
She has interviewed the old people to hear about their life.
She writes stories for 'grown-up children.
She started fotografy and has had exhibitions in Germany, Chile and Poland.
Her main focus: People on the island and their body painting tradition.
We spent three afternoons together. I update her about German politics and education issues.
I tell her about my project 'Traffic tamers'/ Verkehrszähmer.
She tells me that the children of the only town on the island
used to walk to school or ride to school.
Now that there are more tourists there are many taxis.
So what do the parents do?
They ask for a taxi to drive their children to school.
Sometimes some people don't even want to go and buy their cigarettes.
They pay a taxidriver 1000 pesos ( ca. 1.50 €) to drive to a shop,
buy 10 cigarettes for 1000 pesos and bring them back to their house for 1000 pesos.
So maybe I am going to introduce Traffic Tamers/Verkehrszähmer to the Easter Island;)
So: Good bye to you all, thank you for sharing our travels with us.
Iorana! Maururu!
