How to properly observe Solar Total Eclipse in 2019? I live in South America and I'm willing to travel to Chile in July 2019 to observe (in a curious way, not professional) the Solar Total Eclipse.

According to my research, one of the best cities to observe the eclipse is in the coastal city of La Serena at 3:20 PM Local Time. However, I don't know if it can be seen from "anywhere". I was thinking of observing it from the beach. Does that make sense?

I also know that I need some kind of special sunglasses for safety. I found some on Ebay but I don't know if they are authentic. I would appreciate if someone could point me to a website that sells authentic eclipse glasses for a reasonable price and international shipping.

In short, my question is, will I be able to amazingly see the eclipse by just traveling to La Serena and go to the beach on the specific day and time? Is there a better place to see it? Is it better to see it from a high ground? Any tips are welcome.

Thanks.
You can get some equipment especially designed for the eclipse.
But don't forget about a simple pinhole camera
Important to note that you shouldn't look through the pinhole. Instead, you are using the pinhole to project an image of the sun on the ground behind you.
The gaps between leaves in a tree act as natural pinholes so if there are any trees around you, you should be able to see lots of eclipse images


One of the easiest ways to safely watch a solar eclipse is to use 2 sheets of cardboard and make your own simple pinhole projector.
A partial solar eclipse projected on cardboard. Solar eclipses can look spectacular, but the Sun’s UV radiation can cause permanent eye damage or even blindness. Make your own pinhole projector to view a solar eclipse.
Projecting the Sun through a box projector, or projecting using binoculars or telescope (edit: shown below), or simply 2 pieces of card is a safe and easy way to view a solar eclipse.

Source


Light filtering through the leaves of trees during a solar eclipse creates images of the crescent sun, like the image created by a pinhole camera. (Bigstock)

Source