I’m writing an eclipse-inspired very short story, and I need a city in Mexico. The requirements are:
- Good view of the 1991 total eclipse (long totality and had good weather that day)
- Populous enough to have bad neighborhoods (bonus: name the neighborhood!)
- Bonus: humid enough to have lots of insects
It’s a silly little piece, but I like to get my facts straight. Currently I have it in Cabo San Lucas, but a larger city would be preferable, as long as the first two criteria above are met.
Thanks in advance!
Looks like you might get Mexico City…
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas2/SEatlas1981.GIF
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot1951/SE1991Jul11T.GIF
Don’t know about the weather, but it looks like you might get Mexico City…
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEplot/SEplot1951/SE1991Jul11T.GIF
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas2/SEatlas1981.GIF
pL
Hmm…let’s see if the third time is a charm, or if this shows up three times later…
It looks like you could use Mexico City:
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas2/SEatlas1981.GIF
Haven’t had much finding the weather that day tho…
Your first two attempts had two links, which apparently got them snagged by one of the anti-spam systems and put into a bin for me to approve. It wasn’t the normal spam bin, though, so I didn’t notice them at first. Anyway, now that I’ve approved you for these, you should have no trouble in the future.
what about Guadalajara? That city is awesome and you could work in a bit about how the bread is so perfect. Crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside, is there a better sandwich roll out there? I think not.
That does sound good, but this story is currently weighing in at 550 words, and really shouldn’t be any longer.
Does anyone know if the weather cooperated in either of those places? Dad?
I’ve now established that the weather was clear in Mexico City. Does anyone know how long the eclipse lasted there?
La Paz, on Baja. Perfect weather, reasonably large town. Centerline was just south of the city – and we were there.
The other good thing about La Paz is I already know the name of the newspaper. But Mexico City has more bugs, I imagine.
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle1951/SE1991Jul11Tgoogle.html
Zoom in on the tip of Baja and you will find the largest city of BCSur is La Paz.
Actually, we were quite a bit south of La Paz, so I can’t guarantee my statement that the weather was “perfect.”
Thanks everyone for your help! I’m submitting this story to a paying site (token payment but still) but if they reject it I’ll post it here or submit it to Piker Press (though Piker doesn’t usually deal with stories that short).
Duration in Mexico City 6 m 35 s
Duration at La Paz, 6m 30s (not “exactly” on centerline)
Thanks! That map you linked to is really cool.
Pat brings up the issue that, while Mexico City may have had “clear” weather, the air there is seldom clear, as it is in close competition with Beijing for having the world’s most polluted air.
Recently, I’ve heard that emissions rules have helped the air to become clearer, but in 1991 it was about at its worst. I don’t know how good a view of the eclipse your story needs, but Mexico City’s air was pretty darn opaque back then.
I have read first-hand accounts of good eclipse-viewing in Mexico City, and that’s enough for this little thing.
The Federal District would have a huge advantage in bug tonnage and numbers of slums. I don’t think poor people can afford Cabo and neither Cabo nor La Paz are particularly huge or especially humid in spite of being adjacent to the sea.
That’s what I figured, too. Bat-friendliness was more important than optimal viewing, as long as totality lasted long enough. Yep, bats. I’m assuming they would come out. If they don’t, I don’t want to hear about it.
The good thing about such short stories is that they don’t demand a lot of time or rewriting. Either they work or they don’t. The story is now submitted to a Flash-fiction daily that pays enough to buy me a beer (plus an extra dollar if they put it into an anthology). I should hear back within 60 days.
Yep, 60 days.
Go, bats, go, bats, yeeaaaah baaats!
My guess is that for an eclipse, bat colonies that live on the underside of bridges and that sort of situation would mobilize, but those in caves wouldn’t, because they wouldn’t know it was getting dark out.