Chile part 3
We were quite busy this week! Our Spanish class started at 9 am every day, which made my 25 minute walk to school much more enjoyable because the sun was not yet out in full force. We covered more grammar and vocabulary, pausing as usual to liven up the four hour class with movies! The first one we saw was a 30 minute story called Todo Es Cancha, which depicted life in marginalized sectors of Chilean society. We also watched a Sundance Film Festival award winner called La Nana, a dramedy that follows the transformation of a maid as she adjusts to new help in the house. After class, my friends and I planned and re-planned our trip to Patagonia, which starts on Friday. Due to time constraints, we had to eliminate the Lake Region part of our trip, but we are still going to hike the “W” Circuit at Torres del Paine and see an enormous colony of Magellanic penguins!
This week, we also visited La Moneda, the presidential palace that still functions today as offices for much of Chile’s executive branch, including the President and his ministers. In 1973, La Moneda was partially destroyed by the Chilean Air Force during the coup d’etat in which Salvador Allende died and General Pinochet took power. I will elaborate in the photos below!
We also toured Concha y Toro, a Chilean winery that is the largest producer of wine from Latin America. The winery’s landscape is beautiful and its cellars are mysterious, keepers of the globally-known Casillero del Diablo. We tried a very fruity Chardonnay and a very dry Cabernet, and both were quite tasty. Again, I will elaborate in the photos...
Finally, this weekend my friends and I went to all three of Pablo Neruda’s houses. On Saturday, we explored La Sebastiana in Valparaíso, a five story bungalow tucked away in the hills, with a panoramic view of the brilliantly colored houses that surround the property. From his living room, you can also see the azure ocean, punctuated by ships entering and leaving the busy port. Next, we went to La Isla Negra, his picturesque flat that embraces the view of jaw-dropping waves as they crash upon the rocks below. Completing the circuit, today we visited La Chascona, his house in Santiago dedicated to his mistress for her flowing hair.
Every single one of Neruda’s houses simply feels like a dream. He designed each one himself, and spared no effort to infuse each dwelling with every inch of his creative imagination. Neruda was absolutely obsessed with ships and the sea, though he preferred to “navigate from the land.” Each house demonstrates such love through the curved roofs, small doorways and various collections of pristine ships-in-a-bottle, beautiful figureheads, antique navigation maps and a stupendous assortment of seashells. He collected countless items from all over the world, including Chinese paintings, African masks, French furniture, an enormous narwhal tusk and a 2 feet wide oyster shell! He frequently had friends over for dinner and parties, making drinks for them at the specially-designed bar that only he could use. It is impossible to go into all of the details from the houses, but after touring all of them I felt I knew the poet much better than I had before. I highly recommend reading his poetry, but if you ever get the chance, exploring his houses further reveals his passion for beauty, the unusual and the wondrous.
Sadly, no one is allowed to take photos at his houses, but we managed to get some from the outside. I only took a few because I was taking notes for our presentation, but hopefully I can steal some from a friend’s Facebook page and put them on the blog.
Without further ado, the photos!
 |
| The giant flag in the plaza in front of La Moneda |
 |
| Some Royal Guards and a security guy having a laugh |
 |
| A magnificent painting of Pedro de Valdivia, a Spanish conquistador that governed Chile |
 |
| The big table where Chile's President, Sebastian Piñera, meets with foreign diplomats and other guests. When Obama comes to Chile in March, this is where he will sit! |
 |
| A Mapuche heritage site in the patio of La Moneda |
 |
| Me with a Mapuche staircase-person, whose body symbolizes the ascent to heaven |
 |
| The religious sanctuary inside La Moneda where Mass is held once a week. Very cool fact - because Piñera's head of intelligence is Jewish, last year they celebrated Hanukkah here for the first time in La Moneda's history! |
 |
| Damage from last year's earthquake. At first I thought it was from the coup d'etat, but our guide assured me that repairs had been made since then. |
 |
| A cannon, ornately decorated but nevetheless menacing |
 |
| I like taking pictures outside my window from my house - such great views! I took this before the storm that night, where rain accompanied thunder and lightning in Santiago for a few hours! |
 |
| Inside Concha y Toro, the winery |
 |
| Posing amidst the greenery |
 |
| The landscape was quite beautiful, removed from the smoggy city |
 |
| Very pretty |
 |
| The grapes! |
 |
| One of the workers tending to the crops |
 |
| Our first wine - the Trio. It was a very smooth white, with hints of apple and pineapple. |
 |
| Storing the wine semi-underground |
 |
| Me, Renée and Jean, after trying the Cabernet. We were smiling despite the fact that the wine puckered our lips due to its dry and sour taste. |
 |
| Underground, where the reds are stored. The barrels seem to go on forever... |
 |
| It was definitely a bit creepy down there, dimly lit and quiet... |
 |
| The lair of the devil! No, seriously, this is where the famous Casillero del Diablo is stored. |
 |
| The wine was strong |
 |
| The bus terminal in Santiago, where we went to begin our Neruda adventure! It was pretty crowded and confusing, but we eventually got on a bus to Valparaíso. |
 |
| Cool architecture in Valparaíso |
 |
| Urban art |
 |
| The Nicks, gambling! Yes, gambling is legal and extremely fun. This game is like pinball, except you get 5 balls and try to land them in the holes. Only $100 pesos (25 cents). |
 |
| The beautiful view from La Sebastiana, Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaíso |
 |
| Neruda's view of the port, where he could see the ships coming and going |
 |
| The rainbow of houses on the hills of Valparaíso. To me, the brilliant colors make it seem like someone sprinkled a bunch of Lucky Charms onto the city. |
 |
| Not a bad view, eh? |
 |
| Face to face with the legend - kinda. |
 |
| Some people hanging stuff on the clothesline during our bus ride from Valparaíso to La Isla Negra. It's amazing how different everything is from Santiago. |
 |
| A day at the beach for, I don't know, 2 million people! |
 |
| Neruda's spectacular view from Isla Negra |
 |
| The Neruda fish! |
 |
| I want to see this when I look out my bedroom window... |
 |
| Pablo Neruda's final resting place by the sea. It was spine-tingling to see this for me. |
 |
| Neruda, navigating from the land |
 |
| Neruda's green bell, which he wrote about in Esta Campana Rota. |
 |
| One of his bars at Isla Negra, which we were able to take a picture of from outside the house. Everything in the houses was so full of character, it was incredible. |
 |
| I will treasure memories of visiting his houses for a long time |
 |
| Cool graffiti on our way to La Chascona in Santiago |
 |
| La Chascona, where he snuck away with his mistress for two years before officially marrying her. |
 |
| Chile is so rich with cool graffiti, it's ridiculous |
 |
| More brilliantly colored houses, but this time in Santiago! |
 |
| Another view of La Chascona. Note the curved windows, which gave him ample amounts of vistas and sunlight, as well as the guardrail on the top floor, modeled after that of a ship. |
 |
The last stop on our busy but fun weekend!
That's all for now! I won't be able to post photos next weekend, because I won't have my computer, because I will be in Torres del Paine!!! But stay tuned for the next blog, which will pretty much knock your socks off.
I miss all of you guys at home and I thank you for keeping track of my adventures. I would not have gotten here were it not for your love and friendship, so I spend time keeping this blog to share all of my experiences with you!
Chau!
-Matt |
