Powerless Beneath the Stars: Atacama, Peru

   I arrived in the town of Nazca by night, with a few days of travel under my belt and feeling ready for anything. As the bus rolled to a stop we were greeted by processions of locals. My guide's face glows in the darkness. "Its the 'Apagón'", I was told. My best translation? The Big Lights Out. Apparently it happens with some regularity: the power fails and the townsfolk surrender to the darkness armed with nothing more than candlesticks.

   The town of Nazca is smack dab in the middle of the Atacama Desert: the driest place on Earth, which is why the famous Nazca lines have been so well preserved. I would look down on these the next afternoon, by daylight, from a tiny 8 passenger plane: the monkey, the spider, the humming bird, and a dozen or so other figures cut into the sand centuries ago for mysterious purposes. A German woman, Maria Reiche, studied these lines all her life only to come up with a debunked theory relating the lines to the stars: a nice thought. She built a home, the only building anywhere near the lines, that is now a museum displaying unusual maps, precariously displayed bits of priceless earthenware and the odd mummified corpse. I would also visit a planetarium and see a show about the lines, and afterward join a lineup for a turn at a telescope aimed at Saturn. My first view but its nothing more than a tiny yellow plus sign. They could have upped the magnification so much more.
   It turns out that the Atacama desert is the ideal place to stargaze. Because of its almost total lack of humidity the atmosphere is very still and the air (superbly) unperturbed. I've just arrived at my hotel. I'm standing in the courtyard supplied with nothing more than a candle to acquaint myself to my surroundings, but its not on my mind. In the open air of the clearest night I've ever seen, I'm staring at a thick canvas of stars over Peru, shooting stars streak through the sky in every direction, dazzling my eyes with a spectacle I will never forget.
   Months or years later in Canada I am developing an interest in astronomy. Among other things I learn about meteor showers: regular shows put on when Earth barrels through debris left hanging in space by long passed comets and asteroids. The specks of dust ignite on entry into the atmosphere and burn up, putting on a display worth watching from any venue. But from Canada this austral meteor shower would scarcely send a streak of light above the horizon; from Peru it is the show of a lifetime. July, 2009, South Delta Aquarid Shower. Nazca, Peru. Lights out in the city.