2010 – Patagonia

This postcard was designed by Eclipse-City one week prior to totality

- at the tail of the Andean Mountain Range -
Total Solar Eclipse of 2010 July 11, El Calafate, Patagonia (Argentina)

“I arrived to Buenos Aires on Sunday 12th June; just at the time of the first game of the Soccer World Championship. It was a rainy morning and no one was on the street. Of course not as they were all home in front of their TVs cheering for Argentina.

On Monday, Karla and I opened the Eclipse City liaison office in the centre of Buenos Aires. The following weeks were full of preparation work for InterSoles 3, the Eclipse City observation flight, our Eclipse City camp on a 1000m height just outside the town El Calafate and PR-work with Argentine and international media.

Shortly before the arrival of our Eclipse City travellers we had to face quite bad news: Due to technical problems our special eclipse observation flight over the Southern Pacific Ocean was cancelled. We all knew about the forecasts for El Calafate and began to hope for the best…

Right upon arrival, our guests started exploring the vibrating city of Buenos Aires and all had a wonderful time sightseeing, shopping, having Argentinean beef and Empanadas and, not to forget, the Argentinean Tango.

On July 10^th we headed 3000km south to El Calafate, a little town that was host of InterSoles 3 and the TSE 2010.
InterSoles 3 was a complete success, thanks to the great support of the local government of El Calafate, Jean-Luc Dighaye from EurAstro and Anita Winter as well as Maria Fürmetz from the Max-Planck-Institute, Charles Fulco and Allyson Sklar. Especially the children showed lively interested in the Children´s Astronomy Workshop.

In the morning of Eclipse Day we got up early to visit the famous Perito Moreno Glacier outside El Calafate. After observing a space shuttle circling the earth slowly the sun started to come out along the way to the glacier. It was a lovely morning and the glacier and absolute highlight: huge, blue and powerful.

But to be honest, it was especially the weather that made us all more than happy! There was pure sunshine with no cloud at all!

Hours later we were arriving with unimogs to Eclipse City. The drive there was most adventurous as there was a lot of snow, no road and a huge difference in altitude we had to climb.

At Eclipse City everybody was look after: We had hot food, cold and hot beverages, heated tents, a breathtaking look-out, perfect weather and even a screen with the final soccer world championship game on.

And then the sun went dark…”

Melanie Gaggl (Eclipse-City Ltd.)

Observing the total eclipse 2010 at Eclipse City was the overwhelming highlight of a journey full of fun, breathtaking landscapes and unforgettable experiences together with a lovely group!

Eclipse City's Managing Director, Federico Avellán Borgmeyer, with head of the local government of El Calafate Ana Ianni. Eclipse City sponsored 10 telescopes for local schools.

Some of the pictures on this page are a courtesy of EurAstro, Anita Winter and Charles Fulco. Many thanks.

Some Testimonials:

The EurAstro 2010/Patagonia total solar eclipse mission

Several groups of EurAstro eclipse chasers had again chosen our official partner Eclipse-City (hereafter: E-C) to bring us to the Total Solar Eclipse of July 11th, 2010.

The cheapest, safest option appeared to be the Patagonian one, comprising an eclipse intercept flight from El Calafate in austral Patagonia. Alas, shortly before we departed from Europe, a row of bad news hit us. The eclipse aircraft had to undergo a complete maintenance, so it would definitely be unavailable on time. There could have been a substitute plane provided by the military, but it was stationed in the wrong place at the wrong time; bringing it to El Calafate would have been prohibitively expensive. The air traffic controllers went on industrial action. The Buenos Aires planetarium, which was expected to house the usual E-C symposium called InterSoles, threatened to charge E-C another prohibitive amount to do so. Eventually, the local authorities in El Calafate friendly organised an alternate venue for InterSoles, now at the eclipse location and some 24 hours before the eclipse.

The last unknown was the weather. The eclipse would occur very near to the horizon, hence completely clear and cloud-free skies would be mandatory. Weather prospects were not bad, which added to the suspense, since we needed much better than 'not bad' weather.

Never short of resources, E-C had implemented a most comfortable camp on top of the Balcon of Calafate, a mountain range culminating at about 1000 m, comprising heated tents, meals (Argentinian beef of course), a satellite dish and wide screen for the soccer fans to know real-time who would win the World Cup, vuvuzelas to blow into, shuttle service, eclipse survival kit, multilingual assistance - E-C at its best!

You already know E-C's team, led by Federico ("Rico") Avellán Borgmeyer, from previous EurAstro missions. A new recruit, Melanie Gaggl, will be E-C's rising star. So much energy and so much gentleness at the same time are rarely found in a single person.

But back to the weather. We had overcast skies till InterSoles, where astrophysicist Dr Anita Winter, partly on EurAstro grant, captivated the audience, along with Maria Fürmetz another rising star. Maria was just beginning her career as a speaker, and never saw the southern sky nor a total solar eclipse. She was in for the most eventful day of her life! Clearings came in the evening, and I could show the predawn skies to E-C's customers before going to a magnificent glacier called Perito Moreno. The rest of the day was exceptionally clear, with only traces of orographic clouds over the Andes peaks in the distance. The eclipse itself brought a show beyond imagination. The images taken cannot bring justice to that otherwordly golden corona, and lunar shadow swift but majestic progression. The Centaurus and Southern Cross shining overhead added to the spectators' awe. Just after the eclipse, more clouds came at dusk, announcing a storm. The party left the tents ready to collapse under apocalyptic whirlwinds of snow in the dark. What a day!

As ever, eclipses bring people closer together. My thanks go to the E-C organisers, to all those I met - again or for the first time - under the Moon's shadow, and especially to Dr. Michael Smith - an eclipse chaser and a gentleman. We are surely to meet again. EurAstro has a project of annular solar eclipse and astro-ethnology travel in 2012. More to come soon...

Mike Smith (USA): Melanie, you were right about the weather, right about the tour and right about the baggage!! I really think I will probably get Rosetta Stone and start learning Deutsch!...

David Makepiece (USA) on SML: I still haven´t seen a TSE from the air - but can´t imagine it could be any better than this. Stunning view of the eclipse hovering above the Andes at 1 degree. A dream image! The day started very grim but ended beautifully. Most colouful corona yet. Congratulations to all on successful observations across the whole path!

Antonio Carlos Barbosa de Oliveira (Brasil): Federico, we really enjoyed seeing the eclipse at Eclipse City in Calafate. Your organization was superb. I hope to see other eclipses with you.

Christiaan Klein Lebbin (Netherlands): Late, maybe, but thanks for the good cares and well organized trip in Argentina. It's highly appreciated, and, yes, I still think this solar eclipse was the most beautiful one I have seen in my life.

Juan Pedro Gómez Sánchez (España): Hola Federico, Soy Juan Pedro Gomez, resido en Cartagena España, y este verano, estuve en Polinesia viendo el eclipse con Xavier (la redacción: en Eclipse-City), y la verdad fue magnifico, la verdad inolvidable, que puedo decir, si es mi decimo eclipse y ademas mi amigos dicen siempre lo mismo, pero cual te gusta mas,,,,,, y yo siempre les digo el ultimo, es el que mantengo en mi retina, hasta el siguiente.

Bueno felicitarte a ti, por la profesionalidad de tu Agencia (Eclipse-City), así como a Xavier, y sobre todo de Bru and Bru, y en especial el nombre de Africa, una persona al igual que Xavier que en todo momento se preocupo por nosotros, se que ella sufrio por la perdida de las maletas, pensando ademas que una era la del telescopio.

Maria Fürmetz (Deutschland): Hallo Federico, inzwischen ist der Alltag wieder eingekehrt, leider :). Aber diese Reise, speziell der 11.07., hat mein Leben verändert und ich bin immer noch unglaublich dankbar für die ganzen Eindrücke und den einmaligen Anblick der Totalität. Daher noch einmal ein dickes Dankeschön an Dich und den Rest des Eclipse-City-Teams! Speziell auch für Eure ganzen Mühen, mich rechtzeitig zur Konferenz nach El Calafate zu bringen.

Tinka Ross (USA): Hi Frederico, I assume you had a good post eclipse trip and are now back at work. Thanks for all the hard work on the part of you and your staff to organize the observing camp for the eclipse. The setting was spectacular and with the fantastic weather we were better off on the ground instead of looking through thick glass airplane windows. What a wonderful happenstance we experienced!

Mike Halper (USA): First of all, let me say it was a pleasure to finally meet you in Argentina. And what an eclipse adventure we shared together! Absolutely amazing! We're still buzzing from it more than a month later. Of course, I can't wait to experience the next one---though I definitely don't want to rush the time away. I look forward to seeing what you're planning for 2012. Obviously, keep me informed.

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