My non-trip in the time of coronavirus #3: Valparaiso, Chile

Well, we were supposed to go to Valpairaso yesterday. I went there last time I stayed in Santiago (see my blog post at the time) and I was disappointed then that I didn’t get to see the poet Pablo Neruda’s house, La Sebastiana, in Valparaiso because it wasn’t included on the tour I chose. I had thought of doing a pilgrimage to his three houses this time but that fell through – so I’ll do it now from beautiful Macleod.

1. La Chascona.  This is the one that I saw in the middle of Santiago. You can read my blog post about it here.
2. La Sebastiana in Valparaiso – well, here’s a video about it.  I went on those strange looking hill trolley cars too. Neruda obviously had very fixed aesthetic tastes, because the two houses are very similar.  Actually, there were big fires in Valparaiso right on Christmas last year at about the same time that the Australian east coast was burning.  You can see footage from the fires here and here.  I wonder if they’ve rebuilt – and if so, how.
3. Isla Negra – wow- he sure knew how to pick a house with a view.  This is the house I’d want to live in.  You can see the house from the outside using drone footage here and here’s a video taken inside the house (and no, I can’t follow what the guide is saying either- too fast for me!)

If you’re asking “Who’s Pablo Neruda?” here’s his Wikipedia entry.   And here’s one of his most famous poems “Tonight I can write the saddest lines”, read aloud in translation.