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Eclipse Day!

July 2, 2019 (Night)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
I'm staying with my family in the Elqui Valley in Chile to see the world turn to night. Today this happened twice--once when we were standing atop of a mountain with a bunch of telescopes, binoculars, and cameras on tripods, and again a few hours later when I decided that climbing a mountain hadn't been enough exercise. The eclipse was fantastic, awesome in the medieval sense of the word, and I feel so privileged and lucky to have parents and a sister whose idea of a fun family vacation involves trekking halfway around the world to see it. On the run that evening, I got see the sky go dark again, and also to admire the thousands of a lights down below me, not from stars but from cars! The valley lies along the middle of the path of totality, so tens of thousands of Chileans and foreigners and had poured into the area along the one local highway, fittingly known as "Ruta de las Estrellas" (route of the stars) to see it. Our party didn't depart the valley until 3am, so we avoided the worst of the exiting traffic, but it still took out hours. I ran basically the same route as yesterday with a few embellishments now that I knew the way...and also, the name of the place where we were staying, the Mamalluca Lodge.