[Paisleychick-lj] Visiting Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso

[Beatrice M's blog]

[![][1]][2]   
[Looking at the elevator stations][3]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

On Friday afternoon (the 23rd), we visited Pablo Neruda's house in Valparaiso. We took the metro from Viña del Mar, which was wonderfully cheap and fast. From the metro, we made our way to the Ascensor Espiritu Santo and climbed 17 stories up the hillside in an almost vertical trip in a cable-car like box. That was a bit scary, but also cool. Arriving at the middle of the hill, we slowly walked up to the top arriving at _La Sebastiana_. It is a beautiful three story house with an incredible view of Valparaiso and the bay. I can only imagine what it was like to live and write there.  
  


[![][5]][6]   
[La Sebastiana][7]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

Each room was individually and elaborately decorated with old paintings, mosaics and various beautiful antiques. I would love to live in such a unique and special place. The library/study was a small room on the top floor that still held an old manual typewriter. Unfortunately, I forget the make and model. We didn't spend much time there as i would have liked as we had to be back at Viña del Mar by 3:30. We took a _collectivo_ to take us both down the hill to his stop for 400 pesos (less than U$1). We walked the rest of the way to metro and caught the next train back. We didn't have to wait long and made it back in time to pick up our luggage and take a taxi to the bus station. Buses leave for Santiago every 10 minutes. That's sometimes more prolific that various metro systems we've ridden on. Amazing.  
  


[![][8]][9]   
[Vineyards in the Andes][10]   
Originally uploaded by [blmurch][4]. 

The trip to Santiago passed without any incidents. Always a good thing. We disembarked at the first terminal in Santiago and then rode the metro to Los Leones - almost all the way at the other end of the line. Upon arrival we found our street and promptly turned the wrong way, loaded with all our bags like burros down the street. After a while we figured out that we'd messed up, turned around and slowly trudged to the right place. We arrived to Paulina's warm welcome and unloaded all our crap. Andrew showed up soon thereafter as he'd been out looking for us down the street. We had a pleasant discussion over wine and olives and then dinner. We got a tour of their apartment, which they had remodeled during the five years they have lived there. They have a fantastically large double office, which had previously been two smaller rooms. Eventually it was time to go to bed and we retired to the comfy futon in the living room.  


   [1]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/65/400773208_85b8c028b3_m.jpg
   [2]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/400773208/ (Looking at the elevator stations)
   [3]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/400773208/
   [4]: http://www.flickr.com/people/blmurch/
   [5]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/400785938_ff35cb08ef_m.jpg
   [6]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/400785938/ (La Sebastiana)
   [7]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/400785938/
   [8]: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/400795407_de67b05def_m.jpg
   [9]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/400795407/ (Vineyards in the Andes)
   [10]: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/400795407/

URL: http://paisleychick.livejournal.com/302086.html