Some street art in Valparaiso
My sketch of La Sebastiana.
The last two days have been very eventful. During the two hour bus ride to Valparaíso, Tamina and I watched Moana while everyone else slept. When we arrived, we went straight to Pablo Neruda’s house, La Sebastiana, and took an audio tour. While I initially felt apprehensive about visiting the house of a poet with whom I was unfamiliar, the eclectic design of the house and sweeping panoramic views of the city below quickly made me appreciate the romantic style of the setting and the poet’s enigmatic life. I was surprised to find that he had been an ambassador to France and was such an important figure in Chilean culture, especially considering that authors today, aside from a select view, are not nearly as celebrated as before.
I enjoyed the city tour of Valparaíso and while the street art was varied in color and style, it was not necessarily my favorite thing that I have seen in Chile. The excursion to Viña Del Mar, however was one of the greatest things that I have done here and it was made even better by the Pizza Hut Lunch accompanied by music and trip to the beach.
Today, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to the Museum of Memory and had a much greater sense of empathy for the victims of the dictatorship. Combining this experience with the Santiago Cathedral, I feel as though I had a mind opening and relatively refreshing day. The empanada I bought on the street definitely helped with that too. I am really looking forward to the free day tomorrow as I hope to go hiking in the Andes with a group.
I am excited to see that you finally go to watch Mona since you’ve been talking about it all week! I was also a little nervous going to Pable Neruda’s house as well since I didn’t know any of his work. The design of the house along with the views made it well worth it and blew me away. It is interesting to see that someone did not like all the colorful walls of Valparasio. You are the first person I have heard not love the color and it is good to see a differeing opinion. The Pizza Hut on the beach was wonderful. I am very glad we all picked something quick to eat so we could enjoy as much time as possible on the beach. The Pizza Hut here is way better than it is in the United States which is interesting as well. The empanada you bought from the older Chilean man on the street looked amazing. You seemed to be loving all the street food which made me happy. I love when people immerse themselves into the culture and you did that a lot while you have been here. All the little things you bought from the stands while you were here were super cool too. You will make a lot of people happy with all the cool presents you brought back for them! You seemed to have a lot of fun on your free day. Hiking out there was amazing and the views were breath taking. Hopefully your hike was refreshing even though it was long and tough.
Brett, at first I too was not excited about seeing the house of Pablo Neruda. Even though I have been studying Spanish language and culture for five years, I don’t remember learning about Neruda. Also, I was surprised with everything that Neruda was able to accomplish so much, not only in the writing world, as a poet. Along with being an ambassador to France, I also thought it was interesting to learn about the different love interests that he had. It was evident that the girls that he was with came into his life because of his involvements across the globe.
I’m curious, what did you not enjoy about the street art? It seems to be some people’s favorite part of the trip that day so I’m just curious what made you think differently. The Pizza Hut that day really did hit the spot and from what I hear Pizza Hut tastes much better in Chile, instead of eating it in the United States.
I also liked how in the same day we visited both the cathedral and the Museum of Memory. Recently, I haven’t been going to church or much of a religious person while in school. It was nice to visit such a beautiful cathedral and pray, such a wonderful place to do something that I haven’t had the time to get around to do. The trip to the museum also added to making the day a moment of reflection.