Ep#20 - Eclipse España - Tania Uhlig - Part 1

In this episode we have part 1 of a  2 parter focusing on Spain 2026.   Part one is our interview with Tania Uhlig from Comboi Spain travel. She joins from Spain to chat all things eclipse España!  Time is getting short before the next event... book your travel before things start getting strange!

Part 2 is with Nacho Pérez of Galactica (Spain) with Tania as translator... publishing very soon!

https://www.instagram.com/comboispain/

Leticia Ferrer's site: 

https://texassolareclipses.com/

Host Chris Chotas Alexander's Site
https://www.chotachrome.com/
IG: @chotachrome

Totality Talks is created by Leticia Ferrer and Chris Chotas Alexander.  

Totality Talks is produced by Chris Chotas Alexander.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:15

I'm Letitia Ferrare. And I'm Chris Alexander. And this is Totality Talk. The Solar Eclipse podcast.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Really cool. Literally took a breath away.

SPEAKER_04 0:41

Welcome back to Totality Talks. In this episode, we have part one of the two parts focusing on Spain 2026. Part one is our interview with Tanya Ulig from Comboy Spain Travel. She joins us from Spain and we chat all things eclipse Espania.

SPEAKER_03 1:02

Well, welcome everyone. This is Letitia Ferrer with Totality Talks, and we're really happy to have Tanya Ulig with Comboy Spain. She is a part of a tour group or leads a tour group out of Spain. And I know her from what she does a lot of the yoga tours that one of my fellow yoga teachers does several times a year in Spain. So Tanya, share with us about your company and how much you know about Spain and why we should call why we should call you about Spain.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me here on the podcast. Um my name is Tanya Ulik. I live here in Spain. I live in an area that's maybe not so known. It's in the Valencia region, so it's between Barcelona and um and the south of Spain, Seville. And we're about also about five hours in the car from Madrid. And from here, I have a travel agency where I do tailored group travel all through Spain. So I've been doing this now for the past 25 years. I've been also living in Norway and I've been sending people like all around Europe, a lot of groups, a lot of companies, a lot of uh passionate people about wine, about olive oil, about and now I'm so excited to do this eclipse tour with you, Leticia. I've had the pleasure of traveling with you as well for a few days because I could just feel your passion and all how much you love the eclipse and how important it is for you really to enjoy the eclipse and also not only you and your group, but also like um teach other people about such unique events. And and we're so privileged here in Spain to have it in that it will be so well seen, right? We've been checking all the apps, haven't we? We've been checking all the the Google Maps, uh everything that we could learn. I've learned so much, and I'm still learning now all these weeks uh beforehand, uh also preparing so that we can make sure that you and your group really enjoys and has a wonderful eclipse. That's what it's all about. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Thank you. And she was a great tour guide. And there's the the key things that I think everyone does know about, and not up um Spain is going to be great for the eclipse, except that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane. And what happens? And what happens as the nights cool down, the clouds from the mountains start to rise. So a lot of times you get a block sunset. So you have to be very, very careful of where your your location is in Spain. And that's where Tanya was a really great help for me last year when I was doing it during August, and we did a tour all through the path, not all the way up to Burgos, but I was trying I was trying to keep it somewhere near but between Madrid and Barcelona. And I ended up near Saragoza, Spain. We kind of started from Saragoza. The great thing about Spain, and I don't know if you want to share anything about you guys have got a great train system. You can go anywhere.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Yeah, we have a very good train system. Um you can go from Barcelona, for example, you can take the fast train to Valencia, you can get to Madrid, and then from Madrid as well, you can get to all the different cities, Seville, you can get as well to Alicante, you can get to the north of Spain, to Galicia. So yeah, we have a very good, we have some trains that are like very quick train trains that you can get even faster, and then we have also the regional trains that even get to smaller villages. So the train system is is very good in Spain.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

And that's what we're planning. Uh after working with Tanya, we basically planned we're gonna my tour group is meeting in Cergo, so everybody has to get to Cergo, so she's picking us up there, and we're going to a small town. And now I can say it Toroka because we locked down our rooms before we put the deposit on the rooms. I've locked down the rooms. There's some more open. There are a couple more as of today, which is May 3rd. There were a few more open. Um but anyway, we like the rooms, but it's very much between Saragossa and Terrell. And Tanya and I went through all through the area. We didn't quite get to Sangusa, Chris, where you're gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 5:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 5:21

But we did Siguenza.

SPEAKER_04 5:25

All right.

SPEAKER_03 5:25

Yeah, and Chris, you you've got a great tour group. You're gonna be seeing it from a castle or something there.

SPEAKER_04 5:30

I think there's a castle there. Segwenza Castle. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

Yeah. And Sigüenza has a castle.

SPEAKER_04 5:36

Yeah, there's a big groups getting together and meeting there. So I imagine it's pretty pretty fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

I'd I would hope it's gonna be great. A big event in the bigger cities, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:51

So anyway, we ended up where we ended up, uh, Tanya. I don't I'm horrible, I don't know any Spanish. Tanya was a great tour guy. She took me all over the way. She even got me interviews with Paco out of the observ the the observatory at Halabandra.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah, I'll have to. Yes, yes. Don't worry, the the names are difficult, and and so it's my pleasure to have it's called Java Alambre. And we were in we were invited there with Paco. He gave us a private tour just for us, right? He was telling us who's gonna go in their area and see the um see the clips from there because Java Alambre is one of the darkest spots of Europe, right? As we learned, and they have a beautiful center as well. So if anybody can Google it or just like check it out, there's a center, it's called Galactica, and it's all about the universe and the stars. And I really think they'd made such a good job, and they're doing so lovely event events also in the evenings and the summer nights to see the uh see the different um things happening in the sky. So it it's a great area there as well.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

I hadn't seen I realized when I stayed over to see that to do the see the she show that he does there, how long it's been since I've seen The Milky Way. Right. And it was beautiful. It was amazing. It was amazing, it was just amazing. So the other thing I wanted to point out to all of the listeners is that when you're looking at going to these small towns and and sewing to some of the events, make sure you can see the sunset. A lot, for instance, Saragosa has a beautiful plaza, but it's surrounded by six-foot buildings that you're not gonna see a sunrise or sunset ever. So I would highly recommend you have to a lot of the towns like Saragossa, Terrell, and a bunch of the little towns, even the smaller towns in in all these areas are built with multi-story houses and apartments. So to actually get to the sunset, you have to be outside of the town and be able to see it, find a park or something like that. It's really interesting. I was in Saragossa, and there's a park in Saragossa. I was able to get an over by the river that I was able to get a pretty good view of the sunset several nights.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Very good. Yeah, we've been uh driving around a lot, haven't we? So we have been see also it was very important that there was least um light pollution. And of course, if you're closer to the bigger cities, then the light might pollute as well, as far as I've learned with you. So it's important also to get the spots that are not polluted by light than in the evenings. But what is very good, um, and that's why I think as well, Spain is on the map, it's and it's gonna be one of well, it's a very positive place to see the eclipse as far as everybody's writing the newspapers and the and the news and everything. So it's because Spain, we always say it's like a donut, okay? So if you imagine a donut, like in the hole of the donut, it's dark, right? There's nothing. And that's what that's what it is, where the eclipse line that is going through Spain, especially inland, it's very it's not so populated. So there's very, very good areas to see the eclipse because they don't have this light pollution. Whereas if you're next to Barcelona, Madrid, and of course, all the other cities that are all around Spain, there's a lot of light pollution, and it will be more challenging probably to get a dark space to see the eclipse.

SPEAKER_04 9:30

Well, that's the good thing about eclipses, is it happens in the daytime. So you really don't have to worry too much about I don't do much, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:39

You still have to you still have to talk to the people. If you're seeing it from like a park or something, you're gonna have to try to talk to everybody and say, Don't let the lights come on when it gets dark. Because here in the States we have automated automated lights that when it gets to a certain tech certain light, it automatically turned on. I don't know if that's the case in Spain, whether somebody goes and pulls puts pulls a switch or not.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, yeah, it it's automatic. So the lights the the city lights, let's say the city lights, yeah, those kind of lights, they go always automatic off and on.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Yeah, so that so that you as one right in front of you. Yeah, as you as we're traveling around, I'm gonna be back there a little early. And as I'm traveling around, I need to put that in my script as when I talk to people. It's like, oh and by the way, don't have turn off your automatic lights. Yeah. What else is what else do we want to share about going through Spain? For one thing, uh, the only thing I want to say to the listeners, Spain was just wonderful. The people are so friendly, the food was so good. I always just drank the house red and was happy with it. I never had a bad glass of wine, it was just wonderful. And um, I of course I do like the tapas type of meals anywhere where I get a little bit of everything. Yeah, yeah. But what else can we say about Spain? Oh, and and there's coffee everywhere. The truck shops have a full machine. Yeah. It's not it's not.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

We'll make sure to have coffee for you guys there as well.

SPEAKER_03 11:03

Yeah, lots of coffee. Coffee con leche was my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Yeah, cortado, espresso. Then you have the coffees, and you have a little bit something good inside, as we say. A little bit of brandy, a little bit of rum, so there's loads of coffee to keep us happy.

SPEAKER_03 11:21

Anyway, what else are you finding out? Um, you brought you mentioned to me the other day that you're finding that a lot of these little towns, as you're going through checking on things and where we can have a site, that they're not really prepared for the eclipse.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

No, that we've we've spoken like we've spoken like even with the people in Teruel from the how do you say it, how do you call the town hall? And from the tourist, uh, from the tourist um sorry, I just was getting a phone in from the tourist information, and they were saying that it's going quite slow, uh like like it goes in Spain. So there is a map of sites that the government of Aragon, right, because we're going to be in the Aragon region, right, and they put some sighting points on the map and we visited them. The challenge was that, for example, it was exactly as you say, and what I learned with you, because I'm learning so much about this eclipse and the sightings. It was that there was too many buildings in front, right? So uh what when it's happening, uh it probably they'll have, of course, music there and they're gonna have food trucks and different kind of things. But I'm not 100% sure that really people that are there to really see the eclipse more than like eating a burger, if they're gonna enjoy it as much. So really to be um I I would recommend for people that are going uh to go first and see where this uh official point is of the sighting, to not be kind of let down, you know, the day of the eclipse.

SPEAKER_03 12:58

Well, it'll still get dark. Sorry? It'll still get dark. If you're in like an area like that and you find yourself in an area like that, you will still get it'll still be eerie, the light'll get darker, darker, darker, and you'll be like going, what's going on? And then all of a sudden it'll get just dark. Although if you're in a plaza or someplace like that, all the automatic lights are gonna come on.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so but I mean because of the buildings as well, and kind of like where those spots are. I think they were they were a little like there was too many houses around because you could maybe be on a rooftop if you can. That would be a good idea. There are rooftops in Spain, although that's more kind of more in the south because the temperature is is different. But if there's any rooftop, I would recommend to see it like from a rooftop or more an elevated area. Well, the important thing go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 13:48

I was just saying yes, it's it's you want to get up as high as possible. Uh, you know, the the lights, whereas they are a little bit annoying, uh it all goes away if you can get up high and see the horizon. Yeah, it's you know, you want to see as much of the horizon as possible. If you do have nice clear skies, you get a sunset that goes all the way around. So it's like you know, normal sunset that you can see 360 degrees all the way around. And that's you just want to try to be up as high as possible. And that's you know, it seems like it could be doable in some of these cities where people you know aren't planning on going out into the countryside.

SPEAKER_03 14:32

Yeah. And you mentioned Valencia where your area is. Valencia is getting it, but you're a la Alacante and it's not, you're right on the edge.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Right, we're on the edge, so Valencia is getting it, and then another city that's called Castellón. Yeah, in between Valencia and Castellón, they're getting it as well. But we've really seen that kind of like on the information that we had of the apps that they have here in Spain, like really the epicenter is around between Teruel, La Roca, and then a bit further up.

unknown 15:01

A little bit further up.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

So it's looking quite good.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Well, the only reason I'm really mentioning it is that if you're if you're gonna be in Barcelona or any place like that, Barcelona is out of the path. You won't get it. It's like at 98, 99, or 98%, so you won't get the effect. However, if you just grab the train, go straight down toward Valencia, just about two or three stops, you'll be in the path. So don't let don't let you the fact that you don't have a room reservation or anything like that, just hop the train. It's a great train. Just hop the train, get a ticket, get probably need to buy the ticket up front. But grab the ticket and just go toward Valencia, go to Castellan. Castellon's a really good spot. It's like about halfway between Valencia and Barcelona, and you be able should be able to see get off the train, try to get to where you can see the horizon. You might have to get up, you know, sit find a bar with a roof, find a place with a rooftop bar and a view of the sunset, and you should be good. Yep. And you've you should be able to see it. You should be able to see it. Yep, sounds like a good plan. Well, what I wanted to do is share uh for those visitors that are seeing us on the YouTube, I'm gonna go ahead and share my screen and just kind of give a map of where Tanya took me to Tanya share took me to and where I ended up choosing. I can share my window. I'm gonna just share the entire screen because that's how I think I can share.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Yeah, there should be a screen share button at the bottom.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

There you guys, you guys are seeing the map that I threw up. So what I wanted to share with everyone is that you do see this here. Virgo's is very nice in the spot, although I heard from one of my um one of my friendly tour other tour providers that he was clouded out on August 12th when he was trying to see it. I did see the I did see sunset August 12th of 2025 when I did my pre-tour in this area here, which is why I've decided to go to this area. Where it's actually it was actually along this path. It was actually near there's a truck stop crossing in this area that I stopped at and it I got the I got sunset. That's what I was going for was sunset. I wanted to see sunset, and I videoed it at in fact I'll put the video up and send you the link to put in there of that that sunset last year that I saw. Um the avatar the astrophysical observatory of Havalambre is here, that's near Terrell, it's on the other side of Terrell. Um, there is a beautiful straight freeway with a farm to market road running right alongside it that just offers a lot of opportunities to just pull over to the side of the road and see it. If you want to try and have mobility. That's one of the reasons I've I've done this tour, is that I wanted to have mobility to move. I think it's about 200 kilometers, maybe 250 kilometers between the two, so that both of us so that'll have some running room to try to get if there's cloud moves in, I can try to move to a little bit. And Tanya's got us a van. Yeah. So we can move, we'll have some mobility. But we are trying to target in this area up here. Yeah. And then uh, but as you know, the further south you get, the lower and lower the sky it goes. A lot of the cruises are going here, and I understand there's a few crozes here. Chris is seeing it in this green spot from what's the name of the place again, Chris?

SPEAKER_04 18:35

Segwenza Castle.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

Segwenza Castle. So Chris is seeing it from this spot. There's lots of it's gonna be a great eclipse, it but just like any eclipse, look out for the weather. All right, I'm gonna stop sharing now. I think I get back to here. I just wanted to share that with everybody, and I'll be in Toroka. My goal is to um from what Tanya has been sharing with me with these little small towns, they may not have enough glasses. I'm taking all my leftover glasses from 2024 and just you know, Johnny apple seeding glasses all through the area. I've actually have plans to do, I'll be up in northern Spain touring with one of my friends, and I'll be I'll have some glasses with me to hopefully share with people as as I go through Spain.

SPEAKER_05 19:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

In fact, I need to ship you some. I need to start ship shipping you some. I'll ship you some. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Right. Um I was there not long ago in the area again just to double check things, right? To to and then in the village that we've kind of like decided on where we're gonna be, the mayor is gonna come and see the clips with us. So it's such a small little village. I think it's only about is it like a hundred people that live there? Yes and no. But they have a little store, they have two little bars, so we're gonna get them doing the catering, and then everybody in the village also they're so they're so excited and they're so honored that you're coming. So I think it's gonna be really nice.

SPEAKER_03 20:11

Good. Well, I'm hoping I'm looking forward to meeting them and having you translate. I have yeah, yeah. So let's see. Two of my fellow travelers, my brother and my nephew, speak Spanish, so that'll be good.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Good, very good.

SPEAKER_03 20:25

But I tell you what.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

There's this uh photographer coming from Los Angeles, and and he's gonna be on one of the higher points making the making the pictures and the videos from there as well. So that'll be a nice interchange as well when he's coming. That'll be nice. That'll be nice.

SPEAKER_03 20:44

That'll be nice. And if you can find me an English-speaking audience, I'm happy to give a talk.

SPEAKER_05 20:49

But we're gonna do a muscle.

SPEAKER_03 20:52

That would be popular if I was if I spoke Spanish, but sadly I don't.

SPEAKER_01 20:57

Don't worry, I can translate. I'm translate. Okay, you could translate for me. Yeah, yeah. That wouldn't be a problem.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

Well, we're I'm so looking forward to this trip. The the reason I decided to do Spain, I'd originally planned for Greenland. And as you know, the price for the Greenland cruises is very pricey, and for the amount of money I would have spent on a Greenland cruise, I decided to do it in Spain and invite my friends and family. So I'll have my sister, my brother, my nephew, a couple of other friends, and join me. I'll have two, well, I'll have sister, my brother, yeah, my nephew will be joining me, and I'm looking forward to spending time with them. We're gonna be doing tours of Barcelona, of course, the La Salgada Familia, and it's actually two sisters gonna be with me. And one of them is just I'm paying for everything for her. She's the one that's taking on, taking care of my parents in Florida, and I'm paying for her trip. She so deserves it. She's just wonderful.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

That's lovely. So it'll be a unique experience.

SPEAKER_03 22:05

It'll be a unique experience.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Doesn't happen every year, nor every lifetime.

SPEAKER_03 22:11

Well you guys are getting uh what is it a an annual an annular soon and then parts of Spain and then parts of Spain are going to get the very southern part of Spain is going to get the 2027.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

The Cadiz exactly Cadiz area.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

So you guys are getting who knows I hope you're coming back now that we've learned so much.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

So we'll actually uh I'm going to Luxor for 2027 I'm going to Luxor. I'm going to Luxor Egypt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

We're going to Asia oh you're going to Lexor? Okay, okay. Well anybody else if you want to come to Cadiz please contact us. You're very welcome. Yeah. We'll take good care of you. Yeah. So we still have three rooms in case anybody is is on the podcast now and would like to join us. Right? We have three rooms. We still can keep them for two weeks and then we have to let them go. And it is true that everything is getting fully booked where we're hearing it even in the little villages like where here there's many rural houses in the villages. So there's no hotels but there's like little houses that they rent out for holidays. They're all booked that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 23:20

And for those of you um those listeners I do want to let you remind you that it is August in Spain and most of those little rural houses do not have air conditioning.

SPEAKER_05 23:30

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 23:31

Tanya and I had a real struggle finding the hotel that we found in Daroka that has air conditioning in it. And all of my family are from America and we're used to climate control. So um we had I I was very insistent on that before my well for my husband especially my husband is just you know it's too hot I was fine. I'm heat tolerant but he was just like no so um find a um if you do stay in one of these rural houses or things like that they're very at least I could have booked some things a lot more inexpensively when last year when I was going through Spain and and there were beautiful places wonderful courtyards everything else everything I would have wanted for a nice eclipse spot except no air conditioning. And I just can't do that. Yeah I just couldn't I could just couldn't do that with the with my guest my family and husband so yeah the place we are I think it's one of the only ones in the city almost that has air conditioning. So we got the rooms we got the rooms we're really happy about air conditioning and air conditioning yes toilets not that everybody cares but after after the tour I'm actually going to be staying at barn barns uh in Barcelona with um some yogi friends of mine and I'm renting a room from them but it is a mattress on the floor share a bathroom she has air conditioning but she really doesn't like to turn it on because the prep the electricity is too expensive so we keep it around 85 in the house.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

Okay. So you can buy these little fans at the well we have so many Chinese shops here that you can buy them with the fan and with the little bit of water so you can keep cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:23

Well she does that she has that there she she keeps it comfortable anyway for her cats but she also has it's up on the floor up higher so she's got a pretty good bleeze blowing through oh that's good it'll it'll be it'll be nice it'll be a nice day for me but it wouldn't for other people it may not be what you would want.

SPEAKER_04 25:39

Yeah yeah so you're going from air cool to the yogi you'll have both I have both so do you have um a a Spanish speaking um lecturer or expert that will help people in your group do you have anything lined up like that or um and and what kind of groups are you organizing? Are there multiple groups or are you just doing one tour or are you just helping people find life?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

So I from the eclipse tour this is um this is my first eclipse tour that I'm organizing and uh right now uh we don't have like a lecture as uh we we don't really have a lecturer but we have the opportunity to visit the Javalambre and the galactica the center and where there's uh where there's many specialists and and we could could do do a tour there as well after the eclipse but I would say that right now for this tour specialist number one is Leticia yeah it's and it's my tour it's a small tour it's a small personal tour so I'm I'm gonna be the eclipse person.

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah I wasn't um I'm still looking for if you um I could use your help uh trust trying to get a hold of but Paco again he hasn't responded to me I'd like to get him on the podcast right maybe good so if you could if you have a number for I I don't have his number you think you had his I have his number I contact him okay if you'll contact him see if I can get him on the podcast I want to do that. Right. And then his boss too I do have his number I'll text him again but we're trying to get them on there because they need to I want them to start promoting Aragon because they're they're the ones that were going to do the big play the big one in Terrell at the Torrell Airport. Yeah yeah yeah which by the way looked like a fantastic place when we were actually traveling around and everything else I went airport airports are usually pretty good to see horizon on the eclipse so we went over there and it was beautiful that's actually where it was very near there uh just a little bit north of Terrell was where I saw the first the first time I saw sunset doing the doing this tour doing this scouting place. And Terrell was just amazing Terrell's beautiful flat farmland. The mountains aren't too there you have mountains on the horizon but they're low from that because it's kind of up a on a plateau I think and I we we watched the sun go down yeah from near there.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

And it's very flat as you say between Teruel and Calamocha which is a city uh is like a straight line and it's very flat especially in the area of the Teruel airport. It's not an airport like where you can fly into as private as with the airlines but it's an industrial airport but that area is very good and as um they're gonna have an event there as well for the for the eclipse.

SPEAKER_03 28:44

Yeah and that that thank you for that point. Yeah it's not a commercial it's not a commercial hub yeah there are no flights into Terrell you the best the only place you can fly into Saragoza yeah you can fly into Saragosa or Valencia or Valencia to get into that area. Again it's the donut yeah it's the donut it's the hub the hub yeah but Saragosa is like the fifth largest city in Spain it's pretty respectable it's it's not bad.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Yeah it's it's it has always been a very important city in Spain so yeah it it still is and it still is there's a lot there's industry there's a lot of things and then it's closest between then up north it's like in the middle between Barcelona and up north yeah so yeah then just another little tip that um they told us now when we were lit visiting a few weeks ago is that if you come with your private car or you come with the caravan or you want to stop and see use you find a spot on your own and you say hey I want to see the eclipse here I think this is a good area then just as farmland especially around the epicenter of the eclipse they say please don't drive on the farmers uh land if you see that there's something growing okay if you see like if there's a piece of land and it's full of stones and it's it's not really taken care of that's one thing but we should really respect the farmers as well in their land not to just stop anywhere and do camp there. So it's it's good to ask a little bit beforehand as well if if it's okay. Or if as long as you stop on a caramel site or you stop on a parking site or a parking lot that's okay but just not just to stop wherever with the van.

SPEAKER_03 30:37

Yeah yeah be respectful be respectful of the farmer's land it is their living it is their living so there's a please be respectful we found some great spots though we found some great spots and you found you found that other spot which I still want to see sunset from there. I want a picture of sunset before we commit to that one.

SPEAKER_01 30:56

Yeah you will you will get okay further in okay when the time is coming and then oh go ahead I'm sorry we were laughing with Leticia because sometimes we found a spot that was just amazing and then at its farmland and it was like in between all these piggy farms so then you might need to take a clothespin along for your nose.

SPEAKER_03 31:21

No there were there were several sites that were beautiful that I found except that they were way too close to the pig farm.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

Yeah yeah and then you can have a bit of challenges with flies and things like that. So there's a few things to keep in mind.

SPEAKER_03 31:36

Yeah you have to kind of keep in mind some of that stuff that that spot in Terrell was that spot near Terrell was pretty good. It didn't have that but there was a couple of a little more toward a little more toward calamocha was where I got it yeah a little bit more toward calamocha I ran into that problem. I was like oh this is a great spot and I went oh no it didn't but it's a great place to study animal behavior. Yes it would be yes yes you know if it if you have the stomach for it definitely go to one of these facilities and see how they react that would be actually that would be a really cool thing to do yeah but he does that let us know we would want to we would want to interview about how your experience was doing that and how the pigs responded and everything.

SPEAKER_01 32:18

Right we'll we should put a uh like a camera on and see how they're what how they're gonna react but if you another thing that's very good to experience this as uh there's a negative thing that the piggies they they kind of have a smell of their own but in Calamocha you will find one of uh delicious the Spanish ham you know the typical jam serrano there's so many places where you can go and they have it's just all grown and made there so grown dried and bred and everything there so it's very very good.

SPEAKER_03 32:52

The food's amazing all the food's amazing all the food's amazing like I said I I'm I'm actually on the horizon is learning Spanish and possibly retiring to Spain.

SPEAKER_01 33:03

Right yeah everybody starts normally Spain is very nice to visit because at the end the gastronomy is very important as well and people are very hospitable. Very very they're very and also now that this is happening like it's like the different villages they're finally having like a little dot on the map whereas before it uh I mean Teruel for example it's uh such an amazing area here in Spain but we say Teruel existed and this means Teruel exists so now that the eclipse will go and like the epicenter of the eclipse is passing through as well Teruel now we really can say that Teruel existe in a very positive way and I think people are really happy and proud of that so let's hope that it's gonna be amazing.

SPEAKER_03 33:59

I think it will be and then also for our listeners there are there are leading up to the August 12th there are actually a lot of little local festivals that do the running of the bull I saw I went through like three towns or four towns where I just missed the running of the bulls and I think they do them in s in cycle you're like one town does it one weekend one town does it another weekend all in that area.

SPEAKER_01 34:25

Yeah normally the running of the bulls and the bullfighting is is um it always has to do like with the we call it matanza which is when they used to slaughter the animals to you know for to make meat and some of that meat and those kind of things. So yeah August September October are very important months and always have been in not only harvesting vegetables and fruit and nuts and everything and olives but also harvesting well the animals that's where the different sorry the most important part the meat the meat yeah the we're from Texas we're from Texas good good okay so we're allowed to talk about meat because this world is changing so yeah but good you're from Texas good because I like I like my meat as well that's true we do too we do but it's true in the village we were in August uh which village was it it was close to um it was that one where they had the really nice apartment up high that I just liked but it just it just didn't have no sunset.

SPEAKER_03 35:33

It had no sunset. We were close to Tudela I have to remember the village name but I I know which one you mean and there they just had the they just they were still having the festival they were still having it we watched it from the balcony yeah yeah and all the kids were involved it was everybody was singing and dancing in the streets so if you're if you're looking at doing a road trip through Spain and you want to stay in these little towns leading up to or even after the eclipse look for these little towns with the little festivals and everything get a real case of the culture.

SPEAKER_01 36:03

Yeah and the lovely thing as well is of doing really road trips through Spain but through the interior of Spain is it's very safe. The interior of Spain is very safe. It it really is and people are hospitable and the restaurants and the bars and the and the you still have the bakeries you still have the butcher you don't have these big Walmarts sorry you don't have Trader Joe or I don't know I'm not so good in all of the stores but here in Spain for example we have a Mercadon and those things but in the smaller villages well you have your butcher and then you have your uh man that is making the bread the family that's has made it already since centuries so you just go to those little places and then you say who makes wine or where can I have local wine and you get that as well so it's very nice.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

It's nice that's nice yeah yeah so I'm curious how many uh how many tours are you running is it just the one and how many days is is your program right so now I'm running this one in August which is with Leticia but I run a lot of other tours like throughout Spain uh wine tours gastronomic tours uh golf tours uh longer stays for people and families birthdays uh weddings all kind of different things but this one with Leticia is now we're gonna be there from the 10th to the 14th it's like four days we're doing like four days three nights yeah yeah because all of all of my guests are then going different places some are going off to going back to France some are going um some of my my my direct family's coming with me to Barcelona and then others are going on to Madrid or France. So it's it's my I'm only just doing the three days I didn't want to overcommit my time honestly I just wanted to get everybody to see the eclipse get us a spot have us all comfortable the hotel has a very nice dinner every night we have breakfast and dinner included and then everybody's on their own for lunch but we're just gonna be hanging out not like yours not like in this episode we have part one of a two parter welcome welcome back to totality talks in this episode we have part one of a two-parter focusing on Spain 2026 part one is our interview with Tanya Ulig from Comboy Spain travel she joins us from Spain and we chat all things eclipse españa here's where you're going to the beaches and what else are you doing your beaches and then going to the castle for the eclipse and then doing three days in Madrid after the tour on Astros bare bones the shortest trip they have zip is the shortest weakest one very good shortest cheapest trip.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

Yeah but um I question um given that you do all these other tours have you had an aha moment with this eclipse tour as has anything jumped out at you as different about eclipse tour planning than your other tours well the nice thing is how life always humbles you and and and I've done I've been organizing groups and organizing tours now for more than 20 years.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

But this with Eclipse where it's like that you really get connected with the universe and you get connected with nature and just the moment and then that those like how how long is it going to be one minute forty yeah it's short. Yeah it's so it's like so important and it's such a privilege that we're just standing here in this place together and I say we're planning it since so since a year now and then we're gonna be together and enjoy like this moment this one minute and 42 seconds I hope that it's gonna be as long and that we can do this and this only happens like every 150 years. I think that's just magical and amazing and how our paths like cross to it that's just yeah that's it's just lovely. It's beautiful we'll ask you again after the eclipse yeah because you sound like you've already seen 10 you sound like a pro that's already seen 10 eclipses wait till you see the first one you'll be trying to join me and you'll probably be trying to probably put together a tour for for um caddies yeah but I even even like let's say uh let's say it will be challenging because I don't like to use the word problems or things like that. Let's say it'll be challenging anyway we did our best right I think at the end of the day that's the most important and that we also lifted our heads up to the sky because often we just look like what's in front of us, what's beside us but that we just let something be bigger than us and and I don't know somehow feel that we're human and then it's just I I think it it will I think it will be magic. It's magic it will be it will be yeah Chris do I have other questions um well uh do you have uh primarily international clients or do you have uh a good mix of Spanish and international clients right so primarily I do have international clients because as I was living in Norway as well and I was uh in the in the travel business and I've been organizing groups from Norway in Norway in Germany in Croatia in um in England as well so I have many groups that come from Norway and then I this is now my second group from Texas so yeah because uh my yogis they're uh they're they're also a group that come from said Texas some from New Orleans and even some from New York as well and then I have Danish groups I have some German groups so my groups mainly are uh international groups that's neat yeah I was very happy to find Tanya to help her help me do this planning and everything else and I think it's still gonna be a fantastic it's gonna be a fantastic trick even if we get clouded out but still um I've I've got everything set the only thing I can do is uh the only thing I can do is ask my parents to pray because they're the ones that have the direct line yeah and and as we're gonna do all the scouting before the day before and even for D-Day can we call it D-Day yeah yeah even even for D-Day we have like in a radius of about 100 kilometers we have three spots so we're gonna be moving because we've got a van that can you yeah well you're gonna have to find a uh Spanish speaking lecturer or or Letia will be like Como se dice that's all right my all my tour the thing is the English is pretty preval well I'll take that back it's pretty prevalent in the in like Barcelona and Madrid and the bigger towns a lot of people speak English

SPEAKER_03 44:00

But definitely That's true.

SPEAKER_01 44:02

In the bigger towns, a lot of people speak English. And also the younger generation also is better in English. The challenge is that the English teachers in the Spanish schools they have quite a strong accent. So when pupils are learning uh English, they probably will have it with the same accent than the teachers. But they try, they try. But I it's not always uh so easy for every person like to learn English. Also because uh Robert De Niro, he doesn't speak English, he speaks Spanish in Spain on our movies, and Al Pacino and all the actors, Meryl Streep, you name it, and then uh all the cartoons as well, the cartoon, uh the cartoon characters, they speak Spanish as well, so they're dubbed they're dubbed, everything's dubbed, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:52

They do such a great job of it. Sorry, it's a little sidetracked, but they do a great job of it.

SPEAKER_05 44:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:00

Um so do you have a plan for eclipse day? Like sunrise or sunset, because you have a full day. So what's your what are you guys dreaming up for eclipse day?

SPEAKER_03 45:15

Well, it as you know, it doesn't matter what time eclipse day is, the uh you start planning for it all day. But I think we're gonna arrive at the site probably around 5 p.m. And Tanya's uh bring has a full spread for us, uh merch facilities if needed, and we're all gonna be setting out there um one, two, three three of my guests are including my husband, are serious on the photography. So they'll have the telescopes or the big camera and really trying to get lined up and everything. Everyone else is probably gonna be visiting the town and everything else, and then we'll come out to the site a little bit later. But I I expect everybody will be set up by seven o'clock, and then we'll just be chilling that day. Get up, have breakfast. We'll have breakfast at the hotel, probably lunch in town, and then probably head out wherever we, you know, keep looking at the weather and just head out to whichever of the three spots we think is gonna work, and keep an eye on the weather and see, you know, be ready to shift at six or seven. I think the eclipse is at 820-ish. It's pretty late in the day.

SPEAKER_04 46:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:31

Do you remember? Yeah, it's pretty late in the day. And the and it is low on the horizon.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

It's just yeah, 11 degrees or something.

SPEAKER_03 46:39

Yeah, it's like 11 degrees or something like that.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Yeah, pretty low.

SPEAKER_01 46:43

Yeah, but I'm not so good in with the feet, but here in meters, the space that we now found to see the eclipse, we're about 1,100 meters high. That's which is quite good. That's good. Because that oka lays a little bit in a valley, but next to that, there's two mountains. So from there up, but we're going a little bit, we're we're gonna be about 20 minutes from Daroka, in an area that is very flat. There's no mar mountains on the or woods or houses on the horizon. And um, and yeah, that's that's the plan to see the eclips from there. So we're gonna be about thousand one hundred meters high.

SPEAKER_03 47:26

Then I've I've actually planned either uh a either a free day or a setup night for the day before. For for the you know, you you know how it is, Chris. You're the you're the big camera guy too. The day before you like to set up and see how it's all going. So I've got I've got it scheduled for a practice run. Yeah, I've got a scheduled for a practice run. So we're gonna have snacks, snacks and everything for the practice run, snacks and everything for the for the real thing. And then everybody eats late in Spain. Just be aware of that. Everybody leaves late so after that, after sunset, we'll go back to the hotel and eat dinner. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

And it's also the possibility after the eclipse, uh, because it would um they say it will be such an amazing night as is in August, and when it gets dark, we can see that I don't know the weird number, but it's the Pitceves.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

It's the Pallades.

SPEAKER_01 48:21

There's the stars, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:22

No, not the Pallades, I'm sorry. I'm saying the wrong thing.

SPEAKER_04 48:26

Oh, meteor shower.

SPEAKER_03 48:27

The meteor shower. Yeah, I forget the name of it. I wanted to say it's Palladi's, but I'm not sure now. Anyway, the the meteor shower is in August. In fact, the first place we looked at was with the Spanish Astronomical Society. And they he had this beautiful spot. I loved it. It was high up, clear view of the horizon, everything except that the horizon had a mountain in it, that that's where the clouds would form. And right during total, literally right during totality, there was a cloud that blocked would have blocked all the totality, and you would have seen the you would have seen the sun going setting in in partial eclipse, but you would have missed totality completely. But I know that they're planning on meeting there, and um, and then they're turning around. Basically, they're gonna face the west for the eclipse and then turn around and face the other direction for the meteor shower.

SPEAKER_04 49:24

It's the uh per said.

SPEAKER_03 49:26

Perseds, thank you. The perceds.

SPEAKER_05 49:28

Yep, thank you.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

That meteor shower is gonna be there at the same time. So I'm looking forward to seeing that too. We'll probably stay late. And that will be dark sky specific.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

We have total dark sky, yeah. So very dark sky. That's a short. So maybe you can yeah, maybe you can come over to us to have the midnight snacks and see the bits Davids. You're welcome.

SPEAKER_03 49:51

I'm pretty sure they'll be up that night looking at it too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They will.

SPEAKER_04 49:55

There'll be an excursion to darker skies.

SPEAKER_01 49:58

Oh, very good. The darker sky is amazing. See? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:02

That's good. That's very good. You got anything else, Letitia?

SPEAKER_03 50:06

What uh No, I think that's it. That's all I've got. I hope everybody has a great eclipse wherever you're seeing it. Um, whether it's uh Greenland, Iceland, Spain, or the Mediterranean. Yeah I hope we get clear skies for everyone.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

Yeah. Well, just another little nice story that we found out now when we were there a few weeks ago at the Tourist Information. The lady that works at the Tourist Information, her husband, by the way, is also American, and she loves history, of course, and culture, all of this. So she was reading through the history books of Daroka, and I send you a little clip of it, right, Leticia. The thing is that there was an American kind of scout group in the early 1900s that came with their ship to Valencia and there and then went inland and they marked outside of Daroka, they really marked and they set up camp and they said that this area for the future uh for uh will be one of the best areas to see uh to see eclipses and things like that. So I thought that was really, really interesting. So we're kind of like this little group from Texas shouting, and who would have known if we could tell them, huh? Because they probably all passed away and saying, Hey you guys, we're here and we heard about you. So we're gonna we're gonna try to see the eclipse uh nearby where they marked as well. Good, good. So I thought that was a nice story, yeah. It was a very nice story. So yeah. Thank you for your time, Tanya. Yeah, no, thank you. Thank you very much for having me, and I hope that you have a wonderful eclipse uh there in Sigüenza.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Maybe we'll be in touch on the phone or whatever, sure with Leticia. I will be. I'll I'll be texting him the whole time.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

We'll be exchanging and playing.

SPEAKER_01 52:04

Very good. Welcome to Spain, and I hope you have an amazing time down here. Thank you. And that you take along with memories and a wonderful eclipse, okay?

SPEAKER_04 52:13

Luchas Garasia.

SPEAKER_01 52:15

Great, lovely.

SPEAKER_03 52:16

Thanks again, Tanya.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Bye.

SPEAKER_03 52:19

Bye.

SPEAKER_04 52:33

Well, that's it for this episode of Totality Talks. Keep an eye out for part two, where Tanya is joined by Nacho Peret, head of scientific outreach at Galactica, one of the largest astronomical dissemination centers in Europe. As always, clear sky.