Our journey to Chile to see the 2019 total solar eclipse started in La Paz, Bolivia, and took us through an amazing landscape. Perhaps the most otherworldly place was the Uyuni Salt Flats, in the high (and I do mean high!) desert along the eastern border of the Andes. The plain of salt stretches for miles and miles in all directions — about the size of the country of Belgium, our guides told us. This picture was made when we stopped for a picnic lunch somewhere in the middle of the flats. While our drivers prepared the meal and set the table (tablecloth and everything), we all got a chance to wander around this remarkable place. That night we stayed in a hotel literally constructed from salt blocks, and in the coming days we continued our trip over the Andes and into Chile. We saw the eclipse from the middle of an old stone corral in a tiny desert town that was swarming with people for the event. I was lucky enough to capture the “diamond ring” effect at the moment that the sun appeared from behind the moon: the end of totality.

Dillard Boland
Bolivia & Chile | Solar Eclipse 2019