First we met up with Nichola and Cassie at Plaza de Armas, Mitch. It was a cold and foggy morning, so we decided to not climb up anything because it would be pointless. Instead we started out at Pablo Neruda's home. I love places where you are able to almost feel the presence of history or a persons life. This house is called La Chascona after his wife and mistress Matilde Urrutia and her wild frizzy hair. She was quite beautiful and was his first wife. Below is a picture of a painting by Diego Rivera of his wife. There is also a Salvador Dali painting that was a gift in his home. It is so cool to think of all these great artists hanging out being friends in the 60's 70's supporting communism and fighting against government control.
The home is split into three separate homes. The first was where Matilde lived it was at the bottom of the three. It had a room with curved ceilings like a boat and originally overlooked water. In this home there was a secret passage way from the dining room to the upstairs. Now that I think about it, I don't remember seeing a kitchen. I must have overlooked it somehow. From the living area you took a small spiral staircase to the upstairs. Then you have to climb exterior stone steps to get to the main house. It was truly beautiful even on a cold cloudy day. In the main house and around the outside there are eyes, strange circular white eyes hanging. When you go to the second floor you almost run into them as you take the stairs. The main home is also designed like a ship and has modern style decorations. The third building is the Library which was probably my favorite because it had the warmest heater and a huge fireplace, big windows and a porch overlooking the other homes. Here we learned about how Pablo Neruda wrote the history of his life, but due to his involvment and open support of communism, he was unable to publish it so his friend and Matilde published it under a false name and title. However as soon as you turned to the first page you instantly knew the true author and title. I found that fascinating. The guide was a lovely woman who spoke beautiful spanish that was so easy to understand. I was happy that I was able to follow the tour so easily. After this we headed to eat at el mercado central. On the way we saw a protest, we actually followed it all the way to the market where they held up traffic. There were dogs parking, cars honking, people yelling. It was quite the scene.
The central market was strange because you walked through this VERY fishy room then go into this beautiful eating area.
- food--I think it was pig wrapped in fat with bread, spicy salsa and bread. Did I mention there were no menus and there was chanting in the bar area. Good times
- history museo- Salvador Allende's glasses
- Really cold, that's why we went into the museum, then on the way to the market I bought some tea with milk and a cookie that was filled with a sweeten condensed milk caramel that is supposedly popular here
- stores- Santa Lucia Mercado- I bought a cardigan...yes...it's made of alpaca
- Went to a friends house party with Chilean, French, and Australian people. There where Cheetos, chis pops (aka giant cereal pieces that are fruity flavored) chips and smashed avocado.
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