2017 was the “Great American Eclipse”. I was living and working in Boise at the time and didn’t see the complete eclipse as I was working and couldn’t drive north to get within the path. What I did experience was a weird experience of 99.6% complet eclipse, but I didn’t get the full experience. Just two years later, I was given quite the opportunity by my wonderful bride’s parents. The Eclipses are somewhat of a family tradition that they go seeking and they wanted to travel way south of the border to see their next eclipse…in Chile.
We left Boise, Idaho the end of June 2019 and flew first to Dallas, Texas and then onto Santiago, Chile on the overnight flight. I have never flown on one of those Boeing 777’s before and I can tell you they are NOT meant for a man of my size. I really need to start earning a boat load of cash so I can get business class or first class and sit in an actual seat and not a sardine can. Because of my being so uncomfortable, I didn’t sleep on the overnight flight and wouldn’t sleep until we drove 400 km north of Santiago to the little seaside town of Tongoy, where we were staying for our 10 days in Chile. I’ll tell you, that nap I finally took was amazing.
We were staying in the Coquimbo region of North/Central Chile where we could witness the Solar Eclipse in totality. This was a very foreign place and culture for us. I don’t speak spanish and don’t understand any spanish, but that doesn’t stop me from attempting to communicate and do things on my own. Some of my attempts at buying food was surprisingly good. I went to a local Panaderia and bought some baked goods that turned out to be really delicious. Another time was when we were at the beach and my bride asked me to go to a nearby restaurant to buy some empanandas for the kids. I ordered 3 empanadas and had no idea what type they were because I don’t know what I’m saying or what the owner was saying. Turned out these were crab and cheese empanadas and were really delicious. While driving back into town from going to church on a sunday, we had to stop at a police checkpoint and the officer was asking me questions and I couldn’t communicate with him. After a 5 minute stalemate where neither of us could talk to each other, he decided to waive me on down the road and be on my way. Victory to me!
Some of the interesting things we saw and did were as follows. We hung out at the beach a lot and hung out with all the beach dogs that just hang around and play with the citizens of Tongoy. We would walk the street markets and eat street food and try the fresh fish from fish market. We drove up into the mountains where we took a back road home instead of the established highway. This was a mistake as my two boys ended up vomiting twice in the back seat of the car. These roads were so ridiculous that we had hairpin turns with no guardrails and steep cliffs off the edge of the road. Other times we had a one lane road where we had to pull up onto a driveway to allow a bus to pass. Scary is a light way to describe this road. We also went to a national park one day that is a rain forest in the middle of the desert. Such an interesting place that is soaked in clouds rolling in over the mountains from the ocean. This was the place where we saw the local alpacas running over the hills.
The Solar Eclipse was so weird and otherworldly to see, feel and experience. We had a wide path of area to choose from as the eclipse was passing over a the large city of Coquimbo. We decided to head out onto a peninsula off the main highway a couple miles south of Coquimbo, so that we could avoid the large crowds of people. We got there early and set up shop where we would watch from. We had the kids play around on the rock outcroppings and had lunch before we had the eclipse come into full totality. It’s really hard to explain the build up of energy from the family and those around us and the expectation of what was about the happen. I didn’t get it in 2017 as I wasn’t going to have a full eclipse experience, but I started to get it this day. We were almost giddy with excitement. I can’t imagine what our ancestors thought of solar events like this, before they had any context as to what was happening and their excitement or fear rolling through their minds. I guess I’ll never know what that is like, but I do know that when the sun got blocked out and we could take off our solar glasses, that was simply amazing to be able to look at the sun and not squint. To see that dark ball in the sky with just a ring of light was awe inspiring. This was one of those moments where you really feel how small you are, but how grateful you are to be alive and witness this solar event.
The sun gives us all life and sustains us, and it was the first time I understood why ancient cultures worshipped the sun. Choose to seek those things that sustain you and give you life. Happy Adventuring.
Outdoor DadVentures 