"Woooow..." and night fell

Prades"Wow". Almost in unison. Never before had a galactic orgasm of this magnitude been experienced in Prades. About 4,000 people looked at the sky with super-approved glasses until the Moon completely covered the Sun. "Woooow". And many shouts. Some cries. Lots of applause and a lot of emotion. In Prades, which has one of the best skies in Catalonia, the eclipse could be seen perfectly, both from the esplanades set up by the City Council and from those prepared by the Prades Mountains Astronomical Park. People came from all over Catalonia, from the rest of Spain, from Japan, from the United States, and many French people.

Hours before the eclipse, the esplanade set up by the City Council, with a capacity for 6,000 people, had been filling up. The first to take a spot was Iván Sánchez, a young astronomical influencer from Toledo who started preparing at seven in the morning. “We hope the clouds behave,” he said nervously. It wasn't until after six in the evening that the esplanade began to fill up.

The public could not have been more varied: from authentic professional picnickers, armed with coolers, chairs, tables, and noisy children, to professionals of the stars and photography. One of them, Alberto Ortiz, an astrophysicist engineer from Rubí, couldn't stop looking at his watch. “Ten minutes left,” he kept saying. “I'm going to start recording now. I'll wait a bit longer,” he said, moving nervously, trying not to use too much battery. Suddenly he shouted: “It's started, it's started!” And little by little everyone put on their glasses to check. First applause. “But you can't see the Moon,” said someone confused, and Alberto said in a low voice: “But how do they expect to see the Moon if it's in front of the Sun?”

While he had been preparing the camera with the tripod and telescope, Alberto had not stopped answering questions: “Is it an SV555?” or “Do you believe in extraterrestrial life?” He answered everything. A few meters further on, Ramon and Rosa Maria were amazed by so many people. “I was born in Prades and I couldn't even imagine so many people would come,” he said. The Moon continued to eat away at the Sun, and suddenly, applause could be heard again.

To bring order to such a diverse audience, there was José Antonio, possibly one of the kindest people in Prades, who handed out dozens and dozens of stools to visitors who didn't know where to sit. "In the end, I'll charge," he said jokingly.

"Golden Days"

For Aleix Roig, director of the Prades Mountains Astronomical Park, it was also an incredible experience, but not only for the 48 seconds during which the Sun hid behind the Moon, but also for the hard work involved in organizing a four-day festival. After more than a year and a half working closely with the Prades City Council, his assessment is very positive. "They are golden days," says Roig. Scientific outreach is a complicated job, but this eclipse has given wings to interest in astronomy.

The light was fading, the temperature was dropping, and the applause continued. At 8:29 PM it became night. The beauty of the spectacle blurred the variety of profiles, as if in reality we were not so different, as if we were all a bit the same, equally small.