Mapimi Desert
April 5 - April 16, 2024
The Total Solar Eclipse of April 8 was, without exaggeration, the most intense event I have witnessed in my 30 years of life. It has taken me over a month to make a post about this experience and I wasn’t sure how to begin talking about this journey, but for part one, I’ll cover the basics.
For the 2024 Eclipse, we traveled to La Zona del Silencio (Zone of Silence) an area surrounded by mysterious occurrences. Getting to this region from Chicago took a bit of preplanning months prior. The zone is in the Mapimi Biosphere Reserve, a protected United Nations desert since 1977, and spans the Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Durango states of Mexico.
I heard about this region growing up through my mom whose hometown resides in the mountains of one of the states. So when I saw that the path of totality would cross this area I figured this would be the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience this cosmic event in this enigmatic place.
The zone became more widely known in 1969 when the Allende meteorite, mysteriously diverted its predicted course and landed in this area. A year later, in 1970, due to a loss in radio communication signals, a NASA ship carrying Cobalt 57 crashed in the same area. The United States was granted permission by the Mexican government to enter the region and clean the biohazardous crash.Which resulted in a vast amount of precious meteorite-rich soil shipped out of Mexico to the States via a temporary railway system. There is much local skepticism on this event and the US’ intentions and interest in excavating the land.
The crash sparked interest in the area and in the mid 70’s urban legends of odd occurrences and UFO sightings began to spread. Movies and books have since been produced revolving the stories of the region and comparisons over the years have been made to the Bermuda Triangle and the Devil’s Sea near Japan.
What we do know for certain is that the area does have an unusual magnetic field that shifts and results in a frequency of meteors falling, traditional compasses spinning aimlessly, and radio signals failing. The magnetic fields are also said to have a strange effect on the behaviors and characteristics of the flora and fauna of the region. These odd occurrences have drawn scientists and researchers to this desert from all over the globe. Within the zone, there is also an area that researchers have named “Cementerio de las Reses” because animals who have reached the end of their lifetime have inexplicably traveled to that area to reach their final resting point and die. Because it is miles away from light-polluted areas it also produces some of the best viewing opportunities for night sky watching, attracting many astronomy enthusiasts.
This is where we traveled to see the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse.
