UPDATE: Argentina #3

Rule No. 1 for Eclipsomaniacs: “Never expect the weather to cooperate.” This rule will not disappoint. Clouds are the enemy, and there was a solid sheet of cumulus over Chivilcoy and Gorostiaga, the towns southwest of Buenos Aires where we chased the path of totality. The partial eclipse peeked out a few times, but faith and optimism are an astronomer’s unlikely friends. At 5:42:28 pm, the sun and moon, aligned perfectly, dipped below the hazy veil, and perched atop the tree line, to reveal their ring of fire for two minutes and seven seconds of impossible, incredible, cosmic eye candy. How can the moon be just big enough, and just far enough, in precise alignment, to obscure the sun’s disk, but not the corona, to create a sight few humans have seen? Mission Accomplished!

For lunch finally had a beef sirloin, with mushrooms and onions in a cream sauce. Then a celebratory dinner of lamb ravioli in a red wine reduction and penne puttanesca with anchovy umami, paired with a sparkling Argentine rosé. Mmm.

Photo of the Day