Thanks BenLurkin.
Posted on 03/06/2020 12:34:27 PM PST by BenLurkin
A Chilean island resident was arrested on March 1 after his truck... crashed into one of the stone figures and badly damaged both it and the ahu, or platform, it was perched on.
Local authorities believe that the accident was caused by brake failure that caused his truck to slide downhill.
On the island, which is known as Hanga Roa by its native Rapa Nui people, the enormous stone heads called moai have long been a source of intrigue and wonder.
In 2019, Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Director of the Easter Island Statue Project, told CNN Travel that bad tourist behavior, such as tacky photos of visitors pretending to "pick the noses" of the sacred moai, was causing a rift between travelers and locals.
"There are 1,000 statues and there are 5,000 people," Van Tilburg said. She urged visitors to the island to show respect for the Rapa Nui community and to engage local guides and services in order to make sure tourism revenue stayed on the island.
Some measures to curb overtourism were implemented in 2018, including a changed visa policy that allowed foreigners and non-Rapa Nui Chileans to get visas for only 30 days instead of the previous 90.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
THAT is FABULOUS! LOL!
Easter Island became an abort destination for proposed Vandenberg launches. Fiction inspired real planning.
G. Harry Stein’s 1981 novel “Shuttle Down” explores the escapades involved in recovering Atlantis, after a multiple engine failure prevents an ‘Abort to Orbit’ which actually occurred on STS-51-F.
Thanks BenLurkin.
Oh, my. Sounds like something Florida Man would do.
Or a jihadist.
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