Before we left Zunyi for a day trip in the mountains about a 1 ½ hour drive north, it was brought to our attention that there was a solar eclipse taking place. We found a good viewing spot between two buildings, but were concerned that all the Chinese were looking directly at it. I wasn’t sure Bill would ever get his sunglasses back because strangers kept asking to borrow them and passing them around. Between Bill and me, we remembered the proper viewing technique of using two sheets of paper (I just happened to have a small pad of paper in my purse). The object is to allow sunlight to pass through a tiny pinhole in the top paper that is projected on to the lower paper, about 12 inches apart. The shadow on the lower paper actually shows the progression of the eclipse. We attracted quite a crowd before we decided to get in the car and watch it from the road. While we were hiking, our guide (and Carolyn’s good friend) received a cell phone call saying that the sky in Zunyi had turned completely dark at the full eclipse. From our place on the road, we didn’t notice.
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