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Readers' Feedback
Eclipses
Page 3 of 5
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Your BA flight details are as follows:
04Feb London Gatwick - Caracas BA2249 1045 1625
06Jun Buenos Aires - London Gatwick BA2266 1820 1120
Fare inclusive of tax GBP 607.
Please call / e mail with credit card details so we can issue tickets.
KryssTal Reply: Thank you. I will telephone to confirm but you should already hold my Credit Card details. Attached is a map of the total eclipse of the sun path in South America in six weeks. This may be of interest.
Pictures and stories of previous eclipses and journeys can be found on my
web site. I would be happy to provide a link for you as you have handled all my previous latin american flights.
Floating somewhere inside our unconscious minds is a perfect place. We pass quickly through it each night on the way toward dreamland, momentarily conscious that the world around is free of the rules and laws inflicted by order and physics. We see things we know can't be real, and pleasure in watching these special effects of the mind. I have been shown the place on earth where this place is real. Where rules of order are bent and warped as we observe absurd happenings around us in awe and disbelief, within the path of a Total Solar Eclipse.
The plan and the journey sound just as absurd too, when we chose to plant ourselves in an invisible mathematical path in an empty spot on the plane of a distant country. I had seen the pictures, I had seen the movies, and watched reactions of others, but had no idea what I was about to experience.
Tensions built, anxiety heightened and whispers of anticipation grew into a near frenzied uproar in those who were destined to be there, as the magical day and hour approached. We prepared our equipment and tapped our feet, nervously pacing in anxious excitement. Having sold our shirts to endure resistance and conquer obstacles to reach this place, we each fret the possibility of failure up until that last real moment of first contact.
"No Clouds!".
It's whispered. It's announced. It's shouted across the valley as the moon creeps invisibly closer to the disk of the sun. A timer beeps and releases the cry, "First Contact!" It's happening we know; but still we must wait. I paced like an expectant father, impatient enough to discard the introduction and hurry ahead to the main event.
But when I placed the glasses to my face and looked up at our disc, it began to hit me that I knew nothing. This was the same spot I had seen, examined and been accompanied by every day of my life, being snipped into, frame by frame from some invisible thing. As the back half of my brain was trying to rationalize how something could dominate our sun and be logically acceptable, the front half continued to see the oddities compound. I watched in disbelief as the temperature gauge we had set moved down through the numbers as if it were unplugged or malfunctioning. I wanted to shake it to be sure of what I saw. It was an illogical effect and was moved back to the shelf with the growing stack of improper observations.
As the light dimmed, into twilight, I noticed I was blinking and blinking to clear the fog from my eyes. The white stayed white, but color evaporated into the cooling air and disappeared with the degrees. No dimmer switch could make this odd light. No special effects crew stood behind the mountain with fans and switches.
I noticed over the mountain to the west, that a darkness of looming stormclouds was building and spreading toward us in mounting apprehension. But I knew there were no clouds. So, I had begun to absorb this peculiar display just as that little moment of bliss when our eyes are only shut long enough to drift away.
But this wasn't the end... It was only the beginning. That bizarre effect of light and dark and cool and still was only the introduction... Moans and screeches welled up in harmony in the crowd as the cold and dark grew just as our roller coaster car began to crest it's tallest hump.
The sky was now alive and celestial objects had grown the skill to slide and move visibly upon each other! The moon took one last breath and slid its body boldly over the sun in a magnificent act of glory! One last brilliant stream of light erupted in a heavenly spectacle from the sun as if in a final stabbing effort to defeat death. But only as brief as the moment of death, faster than the eye could perceive, these actors were replaced with a new mystical icon.
Wings of pure hypnotizing white light sprayed softly out from its body made of that hole where our logic had spilled. The crowd fell away and I was surrounded by utter muffled silence. It was real! It was happening! I could see it and feel it and hear the truth of what this event was and then fell to my knees in surrender and awe as the blind man healed now with divine power to see.
I turned my head away to look around, blinking the stream of tears from my eyes and saw only more twilight reality frozen in time around me. Scrambling to remember my tasks I had planned, I realized I was horribly derelict in my duties of recording the event. "I can see it!" I repeated, and reeled in the knowledge that the miraculous act of finding myself here was dwarfed by the magnitude and magnificence of the experience. So what was the point of snapping shots that can't represent the encompassing phenomenon of this moment?
I went ahead and wasted my time and performed my jobs as assigned, though only as far as necessary while frozen jaw down and eyes up at this "THING". But hark! I began to see detail.
Molten ruby eruptions of glassy light swirled in pockets around the disk. I could notice the strings of soft flailing light had patterns pulling out from blackness - or in - you wouldn't know.
I remembered suddenly, to look for Venus in the dark sky and backed my focus away enough to glimpse the bright spark only quick enough to keep from blinking. Just as a leprechaun is bound by the ties of your stare, I didn't dare lose hold of this line of sight for it might blink away. I heard in the distance, the motorized clicks from our other cameras, then was returned to only the dim sound of solar wind against the water.
Shaking my head in disbelief, I could feel the bulge of anticipation as an inevitable end edged in upon us. First, a glow of discernible lightness crept in around the moon's edge. Then a spark, and just as sudden as the last, that giant shard of white crystal light burst triumphantly in the sun's ultimate victory. I watched it heave the exhausted moon over across itself and push it off to slide back away again. More dramatic than a battle or sports victory, or the end of a pressing and involving tale, I turned my glance away in streaming tears, now needing to find the others and share our joy.
We are a family of survivors now. Not survivors of the experience. Survivors of the life that we must endure knowing we are not in this place for more than those few fleeting moments. It was gone. The darkened room looked natural and normal as we floated around on the cold sand. Our measurements showed a 40-degree drop. So what. "Did you see that?" How rhetorical to ask, but everyone did. I looked back up again; but only forced to filter the sight with my protective goggles. It was slipping away. I blinked again and again, gawking up into the sky.
"It happened! It was real!" The logical brain was now shouting to my skeptical consciousness. So, we all wandered around in the euphoric glow of the dark, from embrace to smiling embrace. I could hear each sniffle and shout from the crowd that was only minutes earlier, as silent to me as the sea.
We rewound our film and chuckled about or lapses in reason as we went about the careful preservation of our images. But then, with the disappointment of the child after all the presents are opened, I watched in growing dismay as all the cases and cameras and equipment were disassembled and packed quietly away into their trunks. The murmur of camaraderie wandered quietly away as the crowds moved to our waiting busses and dissolved into nothingness. "Come on, sweetie. It's time to go." He said, ten paces off. "You mean we're done?" I whined. It can't be over. It only lasted a second. I didn't want it to end and stood stubbornly for a moment, grieving the event's passing. I closed my eyes and wished so hard that I could place myself back onto that twilight zone. But just like that perfect lucid dream state...
I can't go back and will spend the next 18-month long day wishing my way toward that next accidental rift in space as it streams across us once again.
Hi
Is the [1998] eclipse visible from Peru or will it be partially visible or nothing.
Let me know.
KryssTal Reply: Buenos dias
No. I fear the eclipse will not be total in Lima. It will be partially visible but not very noticeable. I enclose a JPG file with a map of the path of totality.
Thanks for the info on the eclipse. I am a bit ignorant of such matters so I will ask you what is UT is it local time or what is it in GMT. If it is local time then it is pretty near sunset anyway for Peru so I don't think even a partial eclipse would be very visible.
Thanks for the info
KryssTal Reply: You're welcome
UT is Universal Time which is identical to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Sice Peru is about four hours behind GMT, the eclipse will be in the early afternoon.
Partial eclipses are not very interesting unless you are an astronomer. During a total eclipse, the sky turns dark and stars / planets become visible.
By the way, your name looks Anglo-Saxon rather than Peruvian - do you live in Peru permanently? We spent two months in Peru during 1995 after seeing the 3 Nov 1994 total eclipse in Northern Chile. Peru was very interesting archiologically. We stayed in Puno, Cuzco, Arequipa, Nazca, Ica, Lima, Huaraz, Casma, Trujillo.
Hi Kryss
Yes, your'e right. I am English and I live in Lima. I have been here for nearly two years now and teach science in a local school. Luckily they are taught science in English. I am here as my wife is Peruvian. I have been to many of the places you went to. I think Peru is one of the most interesting places I have been to. Things here now are very much more relaxed than in 1994. Everyone here is bracing themselves for the Nino rains next month. It should be the worst rains of the century according to the news. At the moment the sea temperature is 5 or 6 degrees celsius higher than normal. There are lots of dead pelicans as the water is too warm and their normal fish have moved away.
Lima is changing every month as big new hotels are springing up all the time. At the moment I am happy here but I must say we don't see many stars in Lima although when I was in Huaraz it was amazing. To me as a real non astronomer it appeared that there were more stars visible here than say in the UK. Is that true or is it that I have never been anywhere dark enough in the UK?
Bye for now
KryssTal Reply: It's partially that there are less street lights away from the concentration of European cities and also that the southern hemisphere skies have the centre of our galaxy better placed.
I agree with your comments about Peru - I preferred it to Ecuador and the people were generally more friendly than in Bolivia.
I was also at the 1991 Eclipse in Cabo. A group of friends caravaned down with 3 vehicles. One friend brought $3,000 of Haagen-Dazs ice-cream packed in dry ice in the back of a Toyota pickup with a camper shell. (he would live off the profits then come back to LA to do it all over again).
This was the greatest natural event I have ever witnessed. When the darkness started moving across the hillside, it was an eerie feeling. When the horizon on a 360 degree view had a sunset that was the ultimate. I could feel the temperature drop considerably. The animals started reacting to the change.
Just thought I would share my experience.
KryssTal Reply: Very nice of you to write. Shame I never met your ice-cream toting friend!
Last night (20 January 2000) I attempted to see a Lunar eclipse from my bedroom - unfortunately, London's weather is not to be relied on. O well!
I just want to let you know that you have just an excellent page. I will definitely link my page with yours so my friends will have a chance to read all those interesting stories of yours! Excellent!
KryssTal Reply: Thank you very much.
Hey Kryss, I hope this e-mail finds you and yours in good health and spirits. If you recall we had dinner together in Punta-Fijo the night of the [1998] eclipse last year. I'm writing you to ask if you have a last minute suggestion for a good, relatively cheap place to get a good view this August.
We have been having some trouble getting air tickets to Turkey and were thinking of taking a chance on the weather in Europe. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Love your website!!!!!
Take care
KryssTal Reply: Nice to hear from you.
You could come and stand in the rain in Cornwall or try Eastern Europe (Hungary / Romania should have the best weather).
I remember there were two of you we had supper with after the eclipse. One of you said they had been "ecliptically deflowered" which I liked.
That was I. I must say after many philosophy classes and many hours spent writing songs, I am pleased a quote of mine had an impact on someone. The other guy was Phil Stevens. If you recall he too was a Zappa freak. Thanks for the info. I will pray hard for sunshine for you in the north. Take care
hello there
my name is jorn threlfall. i am a producer in the on-air department at discovery europe in london.
i am currently making a series of films based around the notion of personal discovery and "exploring ones world". my recent film focussed on a blind man with a metal detector on camber sands beach. in addition, i have been asked to make a film about the upcoming eclipse in august. i thought it might be fascinating to combine the two ideas.
i am looking for individuals who have a fascination with exploration and discovery and who are interested in the total eclipse. i would be excited to speak to eclipse chasers and photographers who would be willing to be a subject for a short branding film for the channel.
might you know of such people? or might you be interested yourself?
i hope you might be able to help.
thanks
KryssTal Note: I met Jorn for lunch and we discussed my eclipse experiences.
Kryss
I hope you received the [video] tape [containing examples of my work]. It was enlightening to hear your stories of eclipse chasing on Wednesday. I was enamoured. I think that a short film piece for the Discovery Channel would be ideal. I hope you agree.
Here are a few thoughts and developments:
I have a meeting with my cameraman on Monday at 10am. I will call you after the meeting. It would be useful to hook up again for lunch, perhaps on Monday or Tuesday. What do you think? I could relay some ideas that I have gone over with Martin (cameraman) then.
I have had a few thoughts about props / locations etc. They are preliminary and plucked straight from my overworked brain! Forgive their somewhat haphazard nature. As I mentioned on Wednesday, it is the raw emotionality and enthusiasm that you express (together with your unique experiences) that I believe we should focus on. Other Discovery projects will take a science / boffin angle.
Your experiences / emotions will guide the piece. As you mentioned, if you could think of some more wonderful little anecdotes, similar to the ones you spoke of on Wednesday, that would be great. In addition, just a simple emotional journey through the stages of the eclipse as it happens, from anticipation to post-eclipse moments would be ideal. What do you think?
Call me. I look forward to speaking with you, Kryss.
KryssTal Note: This correspondence eventually ended up with a four minute film being made and shown on Discovery Europe.
Dear Kryss Katsiavriades
I have got your name and email address from your site on the Net, and am interested in talking to you regarding the eclipse this August.
Discovery Channel Europe, based in London, are looking to put together a special event to co-incide with the eclipse in August and I am looking for people to talk to about eclipses in general, and also as potential guests. As I mentioned, I read your site with interest and would be keen to talk to you further about some ideas we have.
Please [ring and] leave a message and I will get back to you.
I look forward to hearing from you
Many thanks
KryssTal Reply: Thank you for your interest.
I am planning to see the eclipse in Cornwall because this is the only eclipse in my lifetime that will be in my own country. Had it not come to England, I would have gone to eastern Turkey. There's a place called "Batman" close to the centre line which I would not have been able to resist.
But Cornwall it is. We have rented a house in St Agnes and plan to take our family and friends so that they can see what all the fuss is about and why the pull of total eclipses is so strong.
One of my friends grew up in the same street as me and was interested in astronomy. We talked about the 1999 eclipse when we were 10 years old not realising that, by the time it came round, I would have seen six and my dear friend none. The other friend came to the 1991 and 1994 eclipses with us so will be a veteran. My wife has seen four.
We rented the house from a friend of the family. I [will be giving] a talk plus slide show a day or two before the eclipse in St Agnes. Preparations are under way. Including photos of T-shirts we saw in Venezuela (1998) proclaiming "the final eclipse of the century".
In 1988, I was interviewed by the local radio station in the Philippines. In 1994, we did some TV interviews in El Salvador and Chile about various eclipses (the former in Spanish). I've also run into Patrick Moore on a couple of occasions while chasing eclipses.
Dear Kryss,
I am writing from a company that is making a hour long special on the 1999 eclipse. I had a look at your web site and I would very much like to talk to you about your experiences. I am also looking for some eclipse chasers, either from the UK, of Europeans, and specifically, people from the South West of England.
Please could you give me a ring when you get this message? My name is Ginny Russell.
Dear sir,
Thank you for reading this letter. Can you please advise me regarding travelling to a site of totality [for the August 1999 eclipse]?
I live in Liverpool, and am a communal Rabbi with daily responsibilities at my Synagogue. As such, the option to travel done to Cornwall from Liverpool on the 10th and return late on the 11th is not possible.
My only solution is to drive to Manchester ASAP after my morning duties at the Synagogue, and fly to Paris or a similar European destination. However, from the maps that I have viewed on-line, it is unclear as to where would be the best place to go, in terms of flight time, suitable destination, etc. It had occured to me that a scheduled flight might alsobe under the path of totality, but I have not been able to find out the flight paths. Would you believe that I even contacted staff at BA to ask about flight paths? They were sadly unable to help!
Apart from the awesome sight that I seek to see, and apart from the joy of fulfilling a life-long ambition of seeing a Total eclipse, such an event has deep spiritual significance to me and my Judaic beliefs.
As such, I would welcome your advice. RSVP
KryssTal Reply: Thank you for your kind comments. As far as I know, transport will be tricky on the actual day of the eclipse. Some people I know are travelling from London to the coast and taking the ferry to France. The eclipse will be total in Dieppe.
If you fly to Paris, the path of totality is about 40km north of the city. Try the towns of Compiegne or Amiens.
Wherever you go, good luck and clear skies.