![\"\"](\"http:\/\/zoa.com\/2019a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/40.jpg\")
<\/a>Chile will always be one of my favorite countries<\/a>. When I learned that there would be a total solar eclipse here, I made my plans to come to South America to see it. In all honesty, my recent journeys through Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay were just the means to the end to get to La Serena, Chile, on the afternoon of July 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About 250,000 other folks, mostly Chileans, decided to join me. Conveniently, La Serena has a huge beach, 10 kilometers long. The eclipse coincided with a very low tide that afternoon, so there was plenty of room for children, dogs, picnics and musical instruments. The weather could not have been more perfect, with cool, dry air, no breeze and not a cloud in the sky. I was impressed by how many people came to see this eclipse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire eclipse process takes a couple of hours. The sun starts to darken. Shadows become sharper. Little crescents appear where sunlight peaks through palm trees. Refraction lines ripple across the ground. Birds aren’t sure what they should do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, totality happens. If there are no clouds and you’ve got a clear view to the horizon, you get a strange effect that looks like sunset in all directions. This is because, outside of the moon’s shadow, the sun is still shining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the total eclipse happened (which lasted for a little more than 2 minutes), the whooping of a quarter million happy people was something to remember. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After that “peak experience” in La Serena, I had to find a respectable follow-up. So, I flew 3700 kilometers west to one of the most remote islands in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is someplace I’ve always wanted to see. I never quite believed the photos I saw and the theories I’d heard of this place. As we all know, there’s nothing quite like going someplace to see for yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The island itself is about the size of Washington DC, which makes the island very bike-able. I loved cruising along the tops of cliffs with moai on one side of me and surf crashing on the other side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I spent four nights and three full days on Rapa Nui. That’s about enough time to visit the museum and tour all the archaeological sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One thing I was especially pleased to learn was how these huge and heavy statues were moved. Legend says that they walked to their final resting places. A clever group of archaeologists figured out how to make a moai “walk”. Click here<\/a> to see their video. (This makes a lot more sense than putting the statues on rollers, which would have damaged the carvings on their back sides.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>