Torreón will be in totality for nearly four and a half minutes. Plans have been in the works for years.
On its surface , Torreón does n’t seem like it would be the kind of city regard one of the hottest outside tourer destinations of the yr . The largely industrial urban center , surrounded by deserts , sits in the southwestern corner of Coahuila , Mexico . The ninth largest metropolitan orbit in the country , Torreón is locate in a vast and desiccate valley of low buildings , peppered with hints of verdure . Most visitor to the city are business traveller , and the Christ of the Naos — the secondly largest statue of Jesus in the world — is often listed as its top attraction .
But on April 8 , 2024 , tens of thousands of people will flock to Torreón for thetotal solar eclipse . Torreón is ideally place onthe way of totality ; the metropolis will know one of the longest views of the 2024 eclipse in the world at four minutes and 27 second of totality and it has some of the upright odds for clean-cut sky .
“ Torreón has 360 open mean solar day in the year , ” Planetarium Torreón theater director Eduardo Hernandez told Thrillist . “ The masses here have a very intimate family relationship with the sun . ”
Murra P. Photography/Shutterstock
That intimate relationship will presently extend to an calculate 100,000 masses from every box of the major planet . More than 3,000 hotel room have been booked out for the last few years for the dates of eclipse , and camping area , Airbnbs , and other home rentals in the arena have watch similar involvement . UK - found tour agency Astro Trails told Thrillist they plan on guiding at least 700 people to an agricultural school day just north of Torreón , and they have been all reserve out since December 2023 .
The absolute best spot
Torreón ’s ideal locating was part of what attracted Exploratorium , a public learning laboratory from California , to base one of its two occultation bouncy current in the city . According to Isabel Hawkins , senior scientist at Exploratorium and a highly adorn educator and astronomer , its geography and clime were only part of the appeal for choosing Torreón .
“ Torreón is the place that anticipate the clear sky and they ’re on the center of the path of aggregate , both in width and length , just about , ” Hawkins excuse . “ And so it promise the retentive eclipse of the full four arcminute of totality . Then there are other considerations such as partnership , local financial support , collaborative opportunities , both scientifically and culturally . And Torreón had it all . ”
What really made the city a horseshoe - in as a host site was the level of preparation and preparation the city had already done for the event . Plus , Planetarium Torreón is equipped with two first-class telescopes for a livestream .
An eclipse for all
Hernandez is the mastermind behind Torreón ’s shift from a Commerce Department hub to a top destination for solar tourism in 2024 . The planetarium director ’s involvement can be decipher back to July 11 , 1991 , when a group of amateur uranologist showed Hernandez an occultation for the first clock time . “ It chart my trajectory , ” Hernandez say .
Ever since that 1991 consequence , he has seen the occultation as “ a accelerator for call down interest in scientific careers and STEM . ” But even more importantly , “ it ’s a way for us to link up with the world . ”
Planetarium Torreón ’s planning for April 8 began after the last North American occultation , in 2017 , and involved establishing more than 200 safe reflexion centers throughout the metropolis to accommodate half a million people . In the common where Planetarium Torreón is located , Hernandez and his team have prepared for 35,000 people to sate the greenspace on the mean solar day - of .
Planetarium Torreón has been preparing for the total solar eclipse since the last one, in 2017.|Courtesy of Eduardo Hernandez/Planetarium Torreón
Hernandez and other local astronomers have also trained more than 3,000 local teachers , firefighters , and health care worker to train the public about the occultation and how to safely view it . “ The programme for the public is to take the occultation for themselves , to make it approachable to them , ” Hernandez said . And for tourist and locals likewise , he hopes this will be more than just a one - time spectacle . “This is hopefully cash in one’s chips to be an impetus for citizenry to carry on to be interested in skill and astronomy in particular . ”
Of the 3,000 hoi polloi trained , half were teacher who then committed to train an additional group of instructor as half of the 200 planned viewing center in Torreón will be schools . This local army of eclipse - enthusiasts will spread the parole on what an occultation is , when to look at the partial eclipse , and how to properly use occultation chicken feed .
All of this has made for a cause for celebration in Torreón and anticipation is at an all - sentence high . “ Everything is about the eclipse right now , ” Hernandez explained . “ Everywhere you go , there are street banner . ”
Inside Planetarium Torreón.|Courtesy of Eduardo Hernandez/Planetarium Torreón
Traveling any distance
Kaitlyn Arnold , 35 , is one of many move around great distances to see the eclipse in Torreón . hop for a good deal , she waited a while to purchase tickets , but when it became clean that prices were only go up , she adjudicate she was n’t going to be priced out of this bit ; instead , she ’d have to get originative .
Arnold will fly from her menage in San Francisco to San Diego , where she ’ll take a streetcar across the boundary line to Tijuana . Once there , Arnold will hop on a flight of steps to Durango , just southwest of Torreón , where she found an Airbnb for $ 10 a night . Finally , on the day of the occultation , she hopes to hitchhike her way from Durango to Torreón .
“ I wanted to go to Mexico partly because if it does n’t lick out and it ’s not seeable — maybe there will be cloud cover across the whole path — I would rather be in a place where I can still have a slap-up travel experience , ” Arnold explained . “ I have some friends run low to Ohio , and that ’s not really gamy on my list of places to natter . ”
Even with her multi - modal method of travelling , others are trekking from even groovy length to the arid Mexican city . In the r / SolarEclipse subreddit , users shared that they were traveling to Torreón from as far as Poland and Spain . Others were come from other parts of Mexico , include Mexico City , Monterrey , and Guadalajara .
Carlos , 47 , told Thrillist he planned his trip to Torreón from Spain two years ago , “ once it was clear that the USA way of life cloud cover chances were not effective . ”
Carlos has traveled for two other solar eclipses : South Carolina in 2017 , and La Serena , Chile in 2019 . “ From my experience , being in the heart of the desert is a far more visceral experience when totality hits than other setups like being down in nature or inside a city , ” he explained . “ Torreón offers the sound chance for the day in terms of cloud cover song but also feel very desert - like . Being on gamey reason could be a slap-up experience . ”
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As many as four million Americans will make the trek to see the astronomical event.
Torreón beyond the eclipse
After the sun fill in its performance and eclipse viewing glasses become souvenir of a fleeting moment in time , Hernandez hopes its new visitors will chance that Torreón has much more to tender than just what passes from above .
Just alfresco of town , a desert haven call Cuatro Ciénegas sport crystal unclouded eubstance of water supply and flourish flora at betting odds with the balance of the desert environment you ’ll find in and around Torreón . The lucullan environment of Poza Azul — a pond within the oasis of Cuatro Cienegas — has stunning clear turquoise waters . The contrast between the water supply and the skirt desert is virtually as impressive as the contrast during the eclipse , and it ’s available to see class - round .
Beyond the natural solicitation of Torreón and the surrounding region , the built world of the urban center is also a goody . The city ’s center features an underground tunnel that ’s receptive to the public for subterranean geographic expedition . And in a nod to the multicultural chronicle of the metropolis , you may even find an elderly German - style castle with arresting views .
But Hernandez believes the best feature film of Torreón ca n’t be discover in any tourist attraction or cosmic event . “ The greatest treasure of Torreón is our people , ” he said . “ We are very hospitable , very genial , always welcoming , and the tourists can wait to be well received and well handle for . ”
