Last night I did something I will never do again as long as I live. After drinking at one of the local watering holes until about 1am, I got on my bike and pedaled home.

The problem wasn't the alcohol. I only had three beers. The problem was the darkness and the dogs.

I left the Peace Corps office and headed east towards my suburb. Almost immediately 3-4 dogs flew out of the darkness and started barking like crazy. I don't know why I thought all the dogs would sleeping at that hour, but they weren't.

It was easy to escape these canines, but as I passed by the four corner intersection down the road, all the lights in town went out. Everything was in total blackness. No street lights. No lights from houses. There was only the illumination of the occasional passing car for me to see where I was going. The headlights were actually counterproductive because they would kill whatever night vision I was able to establish.

I continued on through the pitch blackness, barely able to make out the lines in the road, completely unable to see more than a few feet around me which is damn frightening when dogs are howling bloody murder at you from only a few meters away.

I made it up past the ford, the airport and golf course. The final test of courage was the first government house in Fagali'i which has 3 viscous resident dogs. I couldn't see them. In fact, that point on the darkest with massive trees closing in on both sides of the street. The dogs were laying in wait forme and the only way I could avoid becoming a doggie meal was to get off the bike and put it between me and the animals.

I made it home, but not without having the holy shit scared out me.

The one amazing thing about the night, other than that I survived unscathed, was the incredible sky. On most cloudless nights, the profusion of stars in the Pacific sky is hard to comprehend, but last night, with no moon or lights of any kind anywhere in the city, the sky was a thing of true beauty. The Milky Way was so dense it looked like a cumulus cloud and there wasn't a spot in the sky that wasn't dotted endlessly with little specks of light. It was one of the most increible sights I have ever seen anywhere.