And Christmas Day On Easter Island

Published in 1968, but telling of travel a few years earlier, culminating in the 1965/65 Canadian Medical Expedition to Easter Island, which the author managed to blag her way onto (well not exactly blag, but was persistent enough, despite have no qualification that she was invited), but I have got a bit ahead of myself.

In her mid twenties, Carlotta Hacker decided she wanted to see the world, she wanted to travel and she was game to do it alone. She had research and basic secretarial skills, and managed to organise an job in Pakistan at the site of large civils works for the Mangla Dam, being undertaken as a joint venture by Pakistani, British and American companies. It was a remote site, close to the Kashmir region, and Hacker was forced to adapt very quickly, but she took it all in her stride and managed her administrative tasks, and ended up staying for months longer than she intended. This gave her some money to finance the next stage of her travels.

From Pakistan Hacker spent some time in India (Delhi and Madras), and made a trip to Kathmandu (where she was promptly offered a job, which she turned down, on the basis that if she was able to get work there, hours after arriving, she could surely get work wherever she wanted!). But my now Australia had stolen her heart, and Sydney was the next stop shipping out of Bombay for a sea journey.

Again Hacker falls on her feet - she lands a job for Australian Britannica - returning to her researching role. She was tasked with answering readers questions - anyone who buys the set of books can ask 10 questions they can't find the answers to in the books - and Hacker would find the answers! Australia for her started a bit love/hate - she couldn't really figure it out, and while she liked some aspects of Australian society, she disliked others. City living was getting her down, she was not meeting the adventurous Australians she had expected, and was soon ready to head off to the red centre. Here travelling companion for this leg is Deidre, a Scottish friend who had planned to meet her in Australia. This was rough travel - a bus, in which the passengers must all fend for themselves, camping cooking, etc. Long hours of driving, and little water available, so washing was an absolutely low priority, leading to some amusing situations.

And so, to the final destination - Easter Island (via Canada). A medical research expedition was Hacker's only option to get to Easter Island, with no tourist transport to the island available. Persistence got her onto the expedition, and a strong work ethic and reliability ensured she was well utilised and busy for the duration, and she writes well about the people, their culture and their way of life on the island. At the particular time of the visit the awkward relationship between the Islanders and the Chileans reaches a pressure point, resulting in a ‘revolution' against the Chilean control. Around a third of the book is dedicated to the time Hacker spent on Easter Island, and it gets thorough description, which provides a good mix of entertainment and history.

An enjoyable and easy read.

4 stars