Palma remains empty during the eclipse: "We are going home. We are afraid to look at it"

PalmaA young couple is about to cross the street in Plaça d'Espanya. They are not going to watch the eclipse. "We're going home. We're afraid to look at it," she says, while her boyfriend pulls her by the hand because the traffic light is about to turn red. He leaves without even explaining why he is afraid. The sun is still shining brightly, but you can tell on the streets that it is not a normal day. For a moment, it seems like we have returned to the days of the pandemic: there are hardly any cars, you see closed shops, and the traffic is much lower compared to any summer day.

The only place where there are crowds is in the queue of people who still hope to reach the EMT buses that travel to Arenal. "We have too much work," says a worker, without stopping to give directions to passengers who need to board the vehicles. "We asked for the tickets a while ago, but now there are too many people," he adds. "They told me this bus drops you off at the coast," a young man tells a friend as they are about to board.

A good observer will have noticed a curious fact: the only shops that have closed are local businesses. Franchises and large brands have kept their usual hours, although the female workers, mostly women, had a quieter closing today thanks to the low customer turnout. Ice cream parlors have also not stopped offering their products to passers-by. "We haven't sold any ice cream for a while. But we can't close because there are cameras filming what we're doing," explains a worker.

In a well-known bookstore, almost empty, a worker shows photos of her dog to a friend, while a whole family leaves with a serious expression. Little by little it gets dark and a group of tourists discusses at the door of a well-known clothing brand store what to do. "We didn't go because we didn't have glasses. We talked about it and in the end we preferred to go shopping," explains one of them. "We came to Palma the other day and it's surprising to see it so empty. We shopped very relaxed. Now it's strange how it gets dark," adds her friend.

Inside another shop, the sales assistants are arranging the clothes. It's past 8 p.m. "There are still people here. Many of those who came said the eclipse didn't interest them, that people seemed to have gone crazy," comments one of them. Outside, the queues to catch the bus have disappeared.

Outside the Intermodal station, some workers contemplate how, now yes, it is completely dark. They explain that the trains have continued to run on their usual schedule and that "they have not passed through any dangerous areas" for the drivers' sight. In the middle of the darkness, when everyone was marveling at the sudden and ephemeral night, a pedestrian approaches. "Where do I catch bus 35?", he asks. "It depends on where you're going. Either over there in front or over there to the side," one of the workers replies while the others make a bit of fun. "This one hasn't noticed anything," one can hear.