"Regresé de mis viajes. Navegué construyendo la alegría."

It is said that if you say el Poeta in Chile with a capital P, everyone will know that you're referring to Pablo Neruda, arguably Chile's most famous poet, (although I could make a pretty good case that the likes of many other wonderful Chilean poets are overshadowed by Neruda's overwhelming success. This is of course due to my class this semester in Latin American poetry, because otherwise, I wouldn't have had a clue!) Neruda won the Noble Prize for literature in 1971. He died just two years later of cancer, on September 23, 1973 only weeks after the military overthrew Allende, bringing Pinochet to power. His three houses, La Chascona in Santiago, La Sebastiana in Valparaíso, and Casa de Isla Negra in Isla Negra, all three of which are open to the public, stand now as tribute to the great Chilean poet.

About a week after the trip to Mendoza, I decided to finally make the trip out to Neruda's house located in la Isla Negra, where he and his wife Matilde are buried. Out of the three houses, the poet spent the majority of his time there, instead using the house in Valparaíso for various social events. Two friends and I decided to make a day trip out of it, leaving in the early afternoon and returning around 6:00. After getting off the bus, we followed signs to the house, which was incredibly easy to find. There were a lot of people milling about outside, but we had no problems, with walking in a getting a tour without notifying them previously. Although they do off a tour in enlgish, we just went ahead an took the spanish tour, which was really easy to understand, and I felt like a stud with my newfound comprehension skills! Haha.

La casa sits perched atop the hillside of Isla Negra, which incidentally is not an island at all, looking down over the rocky beach below. It wasn't a particulary sunny day, but all the better. With the foggy sky and crashing waves, I could imagine Neruda hunched over one of his desks writing his verses, or walking along the beach in search of new treasures. The house itself seems to have just grown of its own accord, one room springing forth from the other without any real plan. On the beams entering his home, he carved a few words "Regresé de mis viajes. Navegué construyendo la alegría." Which with very loose translation means, "I returned from my travels. I sailed building happiness." (Probably too literal of a translation... but you get the picture.) It's little details like this that give Nerudas home such an eclectic and wonderful personality. Photography is prohibited inside the house, which is understandable, but unfortunate because there were so many incredible sights. His love for the sea and all things nautical is aparent, as is his penchant for collecting objects. One of the first rooms you enter, is filled with the figureheads from ships. Each one of the ladies has a name, and most have a little story behind them. Every surface and every corner is filled with some delightful collection, whether it be of maps or bugs. There is a room of bottles, arranged by color and shape. And there is also a room full of shells, which was under apparent construction at the time of Neruda's death, because it was never completely finished. Being a museum, you expect to see collections of objects from the poet's life, but it's kind of an unnerving realization that this is how his home actually was. In fact, some of his clothes like sportscoats, shoes, and hats still remain in the closet of his bedroom.

After touring the house, we stopped in at the gift shop, which sells posters, t-shirts, and varying objects with Neruda's verses painted onto them, but also offers his collections of poetry. We were free to walk around and explore the grounds for as long as we liked. After a while, we left Nerudas house, and followed a path down the the rocky shoreline, exploring up and down the coast. At the base of the hill, in back of his house, a large rock sits with stone sculpture of the beloved poet's head. Of course we all climbed it, striking poses with the giant head of Pablo Neruda. On the way back to the bus, we stopped at a small tienda and ate some yummy empanadas and icecream, and enjoyed the rest of our successful afternoon exploring the home of Chile's famous poet.

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