Chillin' With Pablo at Isla Negra

Pablo Neruda was kind of awesome.  I did not have the opportunity to visit his house in Valparaiso either time I was there, but it is on my list of things to do before I die.  I also have not been to his home here in Santiago (yet).  I have had the pleasure of visiting his house in Isla Negra, which is said to have been his favorite.  And it was beautiful.

The house sits on top of a hill that overlooks the ocean.  In his bedroom, the bed looks out a huge window with a remarkable view of the sea.  I couldn't imagine waking up to that view.  Unfortunately, you can't take pictures when you tour the house, so I couldn't get a picture of the view from his bedroom, but I can show you a picture from right outside of bedroom.

What a view!

Pablo (yes, I am on a first name basis with him now) was known to be a rather eclectic man, and he had collections of the most random things you can imagine.  He had a collection of antique maps and a collection of sea shells.  The most inspiring collection for Jemma and I was by far the collection of giant colored wine goblets- because wine tastes better when you drink it out of a colored goblet.  We also found the unicorn horn he had entertaining, but the guide kept trying to tell us it was a narwhal horn.  She didn't know what she was talking about.

He also bought a little boat.  He was afraid to actually go out on the sea in a boat, but he got a lot of inspiration from the ocean and liked to admire it from the safety of the land.  Sometimes, he would sit in his boat and look at the ocean.  And with this view, I think I would do the same.

I'm on a boat!

Our adventure in Isla Negra was supposed to be topped off with an adventure to some statue of a head and an old pirate's cave, but either the map lies, or we are terrible at finding giant things on a beach because we never found either.  We also did not see a penguin on a rock.

Not a Pirate's Cave

All in all, it was a really nice trip.  Despite the fact that we did not find the pirate's cave, I decided I most definately would hang out with Pablo Neruda.  And I am even more excited to visit his house here in Santiago.