document: With some people having booked trips as long as three years in advance , airline seats , rental cars and hotel reservations range from difficult to impossible to get , travel agents and others report. ; `` The closer you get to the event , the less there is '' available , said Paul Kloetzel , president of O'Brien Travel Service in San Jose . `` It 's an event , and it rarely , rarely happens . There is a certain element of traveler out there -LRB- and -RRB- there 's an awful lot of those people . '' ; The eclipse will be seen from Hawaii to central Brazil . If clouds do n't spoil the show , viewers along that path will see the moon slip slowly in front of the sun . The sky will grow darker , as if dusk has fallen , until the sun is completely blocked out for a few minutes as the moon 's shadow falls on the earth . Stars will shine. ; The length of this `` period of totality , '' as it 's known , will depend on where viewers are along the path . The eclipse will last the longest -- six minutes and 58 seconds -- at the center of the shadow in the town of Tuxpan , on Mexico 's west coast . In the Bay Area , the moon will cover about 55 percent of the sun 's surface. ; Among fans of the heavens , a solar eclipse inspires awe , fascination and grandeur . Firm estimates are n't available , but blotted-out-sun watchers are expected to number more than 100,000 -- perhaps 50,000 to 70,000 in Hawaii and an equal number in Baja. ; `` The effect of it -- the view of seeing the sun disappear little by little and then actually having the -LRB- blue -RRB- sky disappear and having the birds stop singing -- it 's miraculous , '' said Irving Hochman , a member of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers . `` It really is the most spectacular natural phenomenon possible . '' ; Bob Bruynesteyn , head of the San Mateo Astronomical Society , puts it succinctly : `` Not too many people have stood in the shadow of the moon . '' ; It 's romantic images like these that are inspiring a last-minute surge of would-be eclipse-watchers , travel agents say. ; Pamela and Daniel Dei Rossi of Campbell were among those scramblers . Learning of the eclipse only a month ago , they began calling travel agents . `` But they basically said they would n't even try -- everything was booked , '' said Pamela Dei Rossi. ; They called places where relatives had stayed in Mexico . No luck . She called a friend in Hawaii for a place to stay , but airline ticket and rental car problems still loomed . Then , good fortune struck . She called a travel agent who had taken a class with West Valley College astronomy instructor Tom Bullock . Bullock was leading a group to Hawaii , and some late cancellations came up . The Dei Rossis were in. ; `` We are so excited , '' Pamela Dei Rossi said . `` We had given up . '' ; Though travel arrangements are now tough to come by , some opportunities remain. ; One is to go by the back door. ; Hawaii and Baja are the prime spots , because -- statistically at least -- they offer the best chance of cloudless skies . But after enveloping the Big Island and then slicing across southern Baja , the moon 's shadow will cross the Gulf of California and race across the southern flank of Mexico and down the west coast of Central America . Two of Mexico 's biggest cities , Gaudalajara and Mexico City , lie in the path of totality . So does Mazatlan. ; Puerto Vallarta , a resort city , is only a short distance away . Airline ticket availability is reported spotty for the resorts but still available for other destinations. ; Another possibility is to search around for groups making the trip that have had late cancellations , as the Dei Rossis did. ; What probably wo n't work is the overland route to Baja . From the border to the northern edge of where the eclipse will be total is about a 16-hour drive , said Raul Cardenas , the Mexican consul in San Jose . Mexican authorities will have a checkpoint from July 7-15 at Guerrero Negro , about halfway down the peninsula . Travelers who ca n't produce original documents showing they have accommodations will be turned back , Cardenas said . Those staying in private homes must also produce a letter of some kind , he said. ; Even firm reservations may not be all they seem . Airlines routinely overbook seats , in expectation of no-shows . With the eclipse , there 's concern the overbooking could be particularly bad , especially on inter-island flights in Hawaii . That 's important because many eclipse-watchers have n't been able to book a flight directly to the Big Island . They 've had to get flights into somewhere else , like Honolulu , and do a short hop to where they want to be. ; `` These flights are so overbooked it 's actually a laughingstock , '' said O'Brien 's Kloetzel . `` I have a feeling this is going to be an ugly scene . '' ; IF YOU 'RE INTERESTED ; An eight-page brochure on the July 11 eclipse is available for $ 2 from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , 390 Ashton Ave. , San Francisco , CA 94112 . Special Mylar viewers for safely observing the eclipse are also available for another $ 2 .
extractive_keyphrases: solar eclipse mexico city hawaii special mylar viewers
abstractive_keyphrases: total eclipse eclipse-watchers