The day that Playa de Palma stopped looking at the sand and raised its eyes to the Sun

Palma“Ohhhh!” The exclamation echoed across the Platja de Palma as the moon finished covering the sun. And then the applause arrived. For a moment, alcohol and revelry disappeared from this enclave of binge tourism. For little more than a minute, more than 60,000 people (most of them foreigners) stopped looking at the sea, the sand, the terraces, and the screens of their mobile phones to focus all their attention on a single point in the sky: the sun. These people emerged from under the stones, because just half an hour earlier the Palma City Council had put their number at 30,000. Above the horizon of s'Arenal, the sun disappeared behind the black disc of the moon and was reduced to a ring of white light, a corona that illuminated a coast that, suddenly, seemed like another. Darkness arrived in the middle of the afternoon and the beach reacted with shouts, applause, and hugs, as if they had just witnessed a spectacle that could never be repeated. In fact, it will happen again, but the people who were here will not see it again.

The image was especially extraordinary for the place where it happened. The Playa de Palma, accustomed to the summer crowds, the noise of the terraces, the bathers going in and out of the sea, and the constant movement of the promenade, has been transformed for a few moments into an immense open-air observatory. The special glasses have disappeared from faces because during the totality they were no longer necessary, mobile phones have been raised to try to capture the ring of light, and telescopes have pointed towards the sky. Those who had arrived hours before to secure a good spot and those who had discovered the eclipse almost by chance ended up doing exactly the same thing: looking up.

A long and hellish day

To reach that moment, however, some have had to do much more work than others. The Machaca family has arrived at s’Arenal prepared to endure a long wait under the sun. They brought camping chairs, food, and buckets full of ice and, before thinking about the eclipse, they had to solve a much more immediate problem: finding shade. They located one of the few trees remaining near the sand and there they set up the chairs, left their provisions, and prepared to spend the afternoon. They knew that the heat would be intense and that there were still hours to go, but they also knew that leaving that spot could mean losing the position they had achieved. “We won’t move from here until this heat subsides,” they explained under the tree. For them, the wait was part of the experience: it was the first total eclipse they would see live and they were not willing to let it slip away for a few hours of heat.

A few meters away, the situation was completely different. Lukas, Niklas, and Maximilian, three German friends aged 27, 23, and 30, had arrived at the beach without any special preparation and with a much simpler plan: sunbathing, swimming, and drinking beer. They hadn't brought approved glasses, cameras, or telescopes, and, above all, they hadn't brought any special expectations. In fact, they didn't even know there was an eclipse that afternoon. “We just found out from you, but the truth is, we don't really care; we came here to disconnect, to swim, and to enjoy a nice cold beer,” Lukas explained, laughing, as he gave a thumbs-up. The Machacas had made the eclipse the objective of the entire afternoon; the three young Germans had arrived in Mallorca without knowing that the Sun was about to disappear.

Between these two ways of experiencing the day, s’Arenal has been filling up and transforming. Families laden with chairs and portable coolers have shared the sand with bathers who have continued their normal lives, while astronomy enthusiasts have set up telescopes and cameras in spots from which to get a good view of the phenomenon. The authorities' forecast was that up to 70,000 people could gather in the area, and the magnitude of the influx has become visible as the afternoon progressed. The beach, the promenade, and the surrounding streets have been receiving people looking for a place from which to contemplate the sky, in an extraordinary concentration in one of the most touristy areas of Mallorca.

The crowd has also forced the space to be reorganized on the fly. Several Mallorcan couples who had already found a spot on the beach had to move, very angry, at the indication of Civil Protection, which was placing barriers and delimiting spaces so that the tent reserved for the authorities could maintain visibility over the horizon. Those who had arrived in time to secure a good spot found that that piece of sand they had chosen was no longer exactly theirs: they had to step back, move a few meters, and look again for the best possible angle to see the eclipse. Between the fences, the volunteers' instructions, and the constant movement of people, the logistics of the event became as visible as the anticipation for the astronomical phenomenon.

Maximum expression of capitalism

Massification has also generated business. On the front line, restaurants have tried to take advantage of the concentration of people with refreshing drinks and all sorts of offers, while street vendors have spread their wares on the sand. Amidst the usual merchandise, even pots and kitchen utensils have appeared, but there has been one product that has had a special prominence: glasses for observing the eclipse. Those who had not bought them in advance had to look for them at the last minute and, in some cases, pay more for them. If they cost around three euros in pharmacies, they have been sold for double in informal sales. The sun and the moon have done their thing and helped create a small market on the beach, with vendors trying to take advantage of every minute before the most anticipated moment arrived. However, even so, at 7:40 PM there were still some stragglers desperately seeking protection and asking Civil Protection where they could find them.

And the moment arrived after a wait that, for some, felt long under an implacable sun. First it was almost imperceptible: the light began to change, the heat lessened, and the shadows took on a strange appearance. Then, people's attention became increasingly focused on the sky. The glasses came out of bags, mobile phones began to point upwards, and telescopes were fixed in the direction of the Sun. Conversations about vacations, food, or the sea gradually disappeared. Even those who, like the three German friends, had not come to see the eclipse ended up getting caught up in the crowd's dynamic. Platja de Palma was no longer waiting for anything in particular: it was waiting for the moon to finish covering the Sun.

When totality arrived, the transformation was complete. The moon's disc covered the sun and, around it, the ring of light that had been the focus of all eyes for months appeared. The light disappeared almost suddenly and the coast was plunged into an unexpected darkness, a kind of brief night that arrived before dusk. During that minute and a half, the hotels, the promenade, the sea, and the crowd were under a strange light. The shouts gave way to applause and many people hugged each other while trying to capture with their phones an image that they probably knew no photograph could reproduce exactly. Some laughed, some shouted, and some simply remained silent, looking at that white crown that surrounded the moon.

For a few seconds, it seemed as if everything had stopped. People looked up, shouted, applauded, and hugged. Some were trying to photograph the ring of light, and others had given up on their phones because they knew no screen could accurately reproduce what they saw before their eyes. The eclipse lasted just over a minute, but the wait all afternoon culminated in a unique moment.

But the eclipse was as brief as it was intense. As the moon began to move away from the Sun, the light gradually returned and, with it, the Platja de Palma regained its usual rhythm. Mobile phones were put away, glasses returned to backpacks, and telescopes began to be dismantled, while people reviewed photos and still commented with surprise on what they had just seen. Internet connection also returned little by little, which had been collapsed by the avalanche of people concentrated in the area. Terraces regained their usual noise, bathers looked back towards the sea, and the beach began to empty slowly, undoing that enormous human concentration that, for a few minutes, had stopped looking at the sand to look towards the Sun.

The Machaca finally had their reward after enduring the heat and waiting for hours. Between one and the other, between those who had planned every detail and those who had simply gone to the beach, s'Arenal shared for a few moments an experience that made the usual differences between residents and tourists disappear. Everyone looked at the same sky, saw the same ring of light, and applauded the same moment.

Return to alcohol

Afterwards, Playa de Palma has returned to its usual self. The terraces have resumed their conversations, alcohol has gained prominence, and the drunk foreigners have emerged from their 'caves' or entered the Megapark. A minute and a half of history in the middle of August and in front of a captivated crowd. For the first time in at least 121 years, s'Arenal has stopped looking at the sea and sand to fix its gaze directly at the sun.