September 15, 2007
"A supposed meteorite crashed in southern Peru over the weekend and has caused up to 200 people to suffer from headaches, nausea, dizziness, and breathing problems. Local farmers have given eyewitness accounts to Peruvian media, which depict a ball of fire falling from the sky and slamming into the nearly uninhabited region of Andean plains near the Bolivian border on Saturday morning. Officials have now confirmed that it was, in fact, a meteorite. Jorge Perez, head of the department of health in Puno, told The Allied Press that 'toxic' fumes emanating from the liquid-filled crater left by the meteorite, which is approximately 66 feet wide by 16 feet deep, briefly sickened hundreds of people immediately following the crash. Perez said that this phenomenon was likely 'caused by the gas they inhaled resulting from the crash.' But American meteor expert Marvin Ursa disputed this explanation, saying that it's more plausible that 'Dust kicked up by the meteorite, rather than the meteorite itself, caused the kinds of sicknesses being reported.' He continued, 'It's also extremely likely that these symptoms are merely a psychosomatic reaction evoked by a completely normal astronomical event witnessed by a primitive and superstitious people.' Similar cases were reported in 2002 and 2004 in the same region of southern Peru but never confirmed as meteorites."
For anyone who might be interested, here's what made the front page headline that day: "BUSH: IRAQ SURGE IS A SUCCESS…the increased level of troops in Iraq have allowed us to neutralize the growing number of Al-Queda cells entering the country from Iran."
"Russian Military Intelligence Analysts are reporting today that one of the United States' most top secret military spy satellites, the KH-13 targeting Iran, was 'destroyed in its orbit' on Saturday. Furthermore, Russia reports that a large piece of the satellite survived reentry into the Earth's atmosphere before crashing in a remote region of southern Peru, where hundreds of mostly indigenous farmers are reported to be ill from radiation poisoning. The satellite's main power generator ran on the radioactive isotope Plutonium-238. Western media reports are giving little attention to whatever did, in fact, crash in Peru on Saturday, but the scant coverage that does exist attributes the 30-meter wide crater there to a 'completely normal astronomical event', namely a meteorite. Russian scientists refute this claim by saying, 'Any meteorite large enough to leave a crater in the ground this size would have struck the Earth with the force of a 1 kiloton nuclear warhead and would hardly qualify as a typical occurrence.' Most astonishing about these reports, however, is the fact that they claim that it was the United States Air Force's 30th Space Wing, located at Vanderburg Air Force Base in California, which destroyed their country's own spy satellite. If these reports prove to be true it would also lend credibility to Iranian military intelligence reports, which tell us that the United States government is currently facing a military coup, being ignited by high-ranking U.S. military leaders who disagree with President George W. Bush's plans to engulf the entire Middle East in 'Total War'."
Just out of curiosity, I checked to see what made the thirteenth page of the Action News: "AMERICAN BEE COLONIES COLLAPSE – Mysterious phenomenon causes U.S. bees to abandon their hives, leaving no trace of their whereabouts. Experts say that the increasing barrage of electromagnetic waves produced by American cell phones may be disorienting worker bees from finding their way home."
I happen to be in Peru on vacation as I write the proceeding story, the words of a Peruvian shaman who described for me his experience of the meteorite / U.S. spy satellite / dying, cosmic bee crash and the prophetic events that led up to it. I was careful to note that his story only included one word in Quechua, the language of the Inca, so I asked him to spell it for me: Y-a-c-h-a-p-a-y. I have since looked up this word and here is what it means: The Echo. But as with many other Quechua words, it has several meanings and metaphoric interpretations attached to it. It can mean "he or it that imitates, reproduces, responds, learns, teaches, also smart, clever, wit, agreeable, gets along, doesn't argue, informs, advises, mocks, or jokes". A related word, "yachay", simply means knowledge or information. Yachapay itself is not a deity or an object of worship. It is an instrument of magic.
Being intrigued (to say the least) by these events, as well as being an amateur journalist (i.e.- a "blogger"), I decided to catch a bus down to Puno yesterday in order to see firsthand what was going on here. From the moment that I arrived I knew that there was more to this situation than either the western or eastern media were reporting. I couldn't even get to the crash site because of a ten-foot-high, chain-link fence that had been erected immediately around the site. I could barely see the crater itself from this boundary, but what I could see of it at first glance definitely made it appear quite a bit larger than media photos had depicted it. Then I thought again about the dimensions that reports had given: "…roughly 66 feet wide…". Actually that seems about right now that I think about it, but seeing this dent in the Earth in person definitely added to its magnitude somehow. I remember thinking at that moment about how I hand experienced the same feeling with regards to what I'll call "the picture versus presence of sublimity" the very first time that I stood in awe of the redwoods back at home in California. There just simply was no way to capture in a picture what I experienced in the presence of those trees. It was like that here in Peru as well: something of a mudhole on film became an alien crater when I first beheld it up close.
There were trailers with satellite dishes on their tops set up all around the crater, and large black SUVs with tented windows parked immediately behind them. No license plates on any of them. What were, I can only assume, scientists without any marks to identify their nationality strolled causally about in hazmat suits, carrying strange-looking pieces of electronic equipment around with them. Because of their masks and my distance from them I was unable to determine what language they were speaking to each other.
After about an hour of observing this suspicious scene, I decided to go to the closest village, Carancas, where I met Pablo, the shaman who told me the story I have recounted above. He started off his tale by modestly saying, "It all happened exactly as in my vision dream the night before." I can only hope that I have echoed the gist of what was recounted to me here because I have since become convinced that Pablo's story is somehow the truest version I've heard of the
events that took place here yesterday when the sky itself seems to have fallen. You can just call me Chicken Little, I guess.
The Official View (US):
On page thirteen of America Today, yesterday there was a story – which might seem notable to anyone still possessed with an imagination – concerning an object that apparently fell from the sky over Puno, Peru on Saturday. Here's what the article said:"A supposed meteorite crashed in southern Peru over the weekend and has caused up to 200 people to suffer from headaches, nausea, dizziness, and breathing problems. Local farmers have given eyewitness accounts to Peruvian media, which depict a ball of fire falling from the sky and slamming into the nearly uninhabited region of Andean plains near the Bolivian border on Saturday morning. Officials have now confirmed that it was, in fact, a meteorite. Jorge Perez, head of the department of health in Puno, told The Allied Press that 'toxic' fumes emanating from the liquid-filled crater left by the meteorite, which is approximately 66 feet wide by 16 feet deep, briefly sickened hundreds of people immediately following the crash. Perez said that this phenomenon was likely 'caused by the gas they inhaled resulting from the crash.' But American meteor expert Marvin Ursa disputed this explanation, saying that it's more plausible that 'Dust kicked up by the meteorite, rather than the meteorite itself, caused the kinds of sicknesses being reported.' He continued, 'It's also extremely likely that these symptoms are merely a psychosomatic reaction evoked by a completely normal astronomical event witnessed by a primitive and superstitious people.' Similar cases were reported in 2002 and 2004 in the same region of southern Peru but never confirmed as meteorites."
For anyone who might be interested, here's what made the front page headline that day: "BUSH: IRAQ SURGE IS A SUCCESS…the increased level of troops in Iraq have allowed us to neutralize the growing number of Al-Queda cells entering the country from Iran."
The Skeptic's View (Iran):
The Islamic Republic's Action News (IRAN) reported a somewhat different version of the strange events in Peru yesterday. It's interesting to note that this was the top story in Iran following the meteorite crash. Compare this – if you care to take the time – to the brief appearance the story made in the American news on page 13:"Russian Military Intelligence Analysts are reporting today that one of the United States' most top secret military spy satellites, the KH-13 targeting Iran, was 'destroyed in its orbit' on Saturday. Furthermore, Russia reports that a large piece of the satellite survived reentry into the Earth's atmosphere before crashing in a remote region of southern Peru, where hundreds of mostly indigenous farmers are reported to be ill from radiation poisoning. The satellite's main power generator ran on the radioactive isotope Plutonium-238. Western media reports are giving little attention to whatever did, in fact, crash in Peru on Saturday, but the scant coverage that does exist attributes the 30-meter wide crater there to a 'completely normal astronomical event', namely a meteorite. Russian scientists refute this claim by saying, 'Any meteorite large enough to leave a crater in the ground this size would have struck the Earth with the force of a 1 kiloton nuclear warhead and would hardly qualify as a typical occurrence.' Most astonishing about these reports, however, is the fact that they claim that it was the United States Air Force's 30th Space Wing, located at Vanderburg Air Force Base in California, which destroyed their country's own spy satellite. If these reports prove to be true it would also lend credibility to Iranian military intelligence reports, which tell us that the United States government is currently facing a military coup, being ignited by high-ranking U.S. military leaders who disagree with President George W. Bush's plans to engulf the entire Middle East in 'Total War'."
Just out of curiosity, I checked to see what made the thirteenth page of the Action News: "AMERICAN BEE COLONIES COLLAPSE – Mysterious phenomenon causes U.S. bees to abandon their hives, leaving no trace of their whereabouts. Experts say that the increasing barrage of electromagnetic waves produced by American cell phones may be disorienting worker bees from finding their way home."
The View from the Ground (Puno, Peru):
"The night before these signs were made evident by this plague, I had a vision in the form of a dream, in which I looked up into the heavens, and I saw that the Great River in the Sky [the Milky Way] flowed with honey and that each star in the night sky was a cosmic bee fixated upon his work in the great universal colony. Suddenly there was the crashing of thunder though the night was clear and no storm appeared imminent. It was the voice of Illapa, the god of thunder and lightning, and he spoke with the voice of yachapay, which resounded from every mountain. Then the night turned immediately thereafter to day, and a great bee warrior from the world above crashed to the Earth in flames. And all the beasts of the land, and all the fowl of the air, and fishes of the sea withered like flowers because there were no bees left in the world to pollinate them anymore."
I happen to be in Peru on vacation as I write the proceeding story, the words of a Peruvian shaman who described for me his experience of the meteorite / U.S. spy satellite / dying, cosmic bee crash and the prophetic events that led up to it. I was careful to note that his story only included one word in Quechua, the language of the Inca, so I asked him to spell it for me: Y-a-c-h-a-p-a-y. I have since looked up this word and here is what it means: The Echo. But as with many other Quechua words, it has several meanings and metaphoric interpretations attached to it. It can mean "he or it that imitates, reproduces, responds, learns, teaches, also smart, clever, wit, agreeable, gets along, doesn't argue, informs, advises, mocks, or jokes". A related word, "yachay", simply means knowledge or information. Yachapay itself is not a deity or an object of worship. It is an instrument of magic.
Being intrigued (to say the least) by these events, as well as being an amateur journalist (i.e.- a "blogger"), I decided to catch a bus down to Puno yesterday in order to see firsthand what was going on here. From the moment that I arrived I knew that there was more to this situation than either the western or eastern media were reporting. I couldn't even get to the crash site because of a ten-foot-high, chain-link fence that had been erected immediately around the site. I could barely see the crater itself from this boundary, but what I could see of it at first glance definitely made it appear quite a bit larger than media photos had depicted it. Then I thought again about the dimensions that reports had given: "…roughly 66 feet wide…". Actually that seems about right now that I think about it, but seeing this dent in the Earth in person definitely added to its magnitude somehow. I remember thinking at that moment about how I hand experienced the same feeling with regards to what I'll call "the picture versus presence of sublimity" the very first time that I stood in awe of the redwoods back at home in California. There just simply was no way to capture in a picture what I experienced in the presence of those trees. It was like that here in Peru as well: something of a mudhole on film became an alien crater when I first beheld it up close.
There were trailers with satellite dishes on their tops set up all around the crater, and large black SUVs with tented windows parked immediately behind them. No license plates on any of them. What were, I can only assume, scientists without any marks to identify their nationality strolled causally about in hazmat suits, carrying strange-looking pieces of electronic equipment around with them. Because of their masks and my distance from them I was unable to determine what language they were speaking to each other.
After about an hour of observing this suspicious scene, I decided to go to the closest village, Carancas, where I met Pablo, the shaman who told me the story I have recounted above. He started off his tale by modestly saying, "It all happened exactly as in my vision dream the night before." I can only hope that I have echoed the gist of what was recounted to me here because I have since become convinced that Pablo's story is somehow the truest version I've heard of the
events that took place here yesterday when the sky itself seems to have fallen. You can just call me Chicken Little, I guess.
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