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Things to do in Chile
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La Chascona (Pablo Neruda's Home)
Pablo Neruda was the pen name of
Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto, a famous Chilean writer and
politician, who would eventually change his name legally to
Neruda. Pablo's works were translated in numerous languages, and
many consider him to be the best and most influential poet of
the 20th century. He picked the pen name to honor the famous
Czech poet Jan Neruda, since he himself was an accomplished poet
in many styles; that included erotic love poems, historical
epics, surrealist poems and political manifestos. In 1971, he
won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and Colombian novelist,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez considered him to be the best poet of the
20th century in any language. In July, 1945, he would read to
100,000 people in honor of the communist revolutionary leader
Luis Carlos Prestes, at Pacaembu Stadium in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
During his life, he would hold many diplomatic positions and for
a period as a senator for the Chilean Communist Party. President
Gonzalez Videla, a conservative and the president elect,
outlawed communism in Chile in 1948, Neruda had a warrant issued
for his arrest. He was hid by friends for many months in the
cellar in the port city of Valparaiso, and then escaped into a
mountain pass by Maihue Lake and then made it to Argentina. Many
years afterwards, he would become the close collaborator of the
socialist President Salvador Allende, and after accepting his
Nobel Prize, he came back to Chile, with Allende asking him to
read at the Estadio Nacional in front of 70,000 people. Pablo
was put in the hospital with cancer, when Chile had a coup by
Augusto Pinochet; and passed away three days later. Since he was
already a famous figure in the world of poetry, when he passed,
it was a death heard around the world. Pinochet said that a
public funeral would be difficult, so thousands of his fans went
into the streets and disregarded his curfew. Neftali was
born in Parral, over a 1000 miles south of Santiago, but his
mother, Rosa Basoalto passed away when he was two months old.
His father, Jose del Carmen Reyes Morales worked for the
railroad, and after Rosa died, they went to Temuco, where Jose
married Trinidad Candia Marverde, who Jose had had a child with
nine years before, named Rodolfo. Neftali was his mother's
middle name, and as he grew up, he would be with his half-sister
Laura, another woman's child that Jose had been with. Jose
didn't care for his son's writing, but he did get
encouragement
from those around him, like the future Nobel Prize winner,
Gabriela Mistral, who was the headmistress of the local girls
school. He published his first article for the local paper, La
Manana, when he was just 13, calling it, "Enthusiasm and
Perseverance". By 1920, when he was 16, Neftali changed his name
to Pablo Neruda, having by now published works in poetry, prose
and journalism. He picked the name for various reasons like it
was happening at the time, his father's dislike for the
profession and he could become anonymous. He picked Neruda from
the Czech poet and his Pablo from Paul Verlaine. In 1921, he
moved to Santiago, to study French at the Universidad de Chile,
hoping to become a teacher, like his mother, but he slowly slid
into a writer's career. In 1923, his first book of verse,
Crepusculario or Book of Twilights would be published and the
next year published Veinte poemas de maor y una cancion
desesperada, or "Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair". The
poems became controversial because of the heavy use of
eroticism, especially since he was only 19, although they would
be widely acclaimed and translated in numerous languages. Over
the decades, the poems book would sell millions of copies and be
his best work. His reputation was exploding within the country
and without, but he still was living in poverty. He took an
honorary consulship in Rangoon in 1927, which was part of Burma
and someplace he had never heard of. He later worked in Colombo
(Ceylon), Batavia (Java) and Singapore. While he was living in
Java, he met and married a tall Dutch bank worker named Maryka
Antonieta Hagenaar Vogelzang, all the time reading huge
quantities of poetry and started experimenting with his own
style. He would then write the first two volumes of Residencia
En La Tierra, that contained numerous surrealistic poems.
During his last years alive, he would be nominated for the
Presidency of Chile, in 1970, but he decided to give his support
to Salvador Allende, who won and became the first democratically
elected socialist head of state. Allende would later make Pablo
the Chilean ambassador to France, but he had to come back to
Chile two and a half years later because he was in bad health.
In 1971, Pablo was finally awarded the Nobel Prize, after
chasing it for decades, although it was a hard decision for the
judges who hadn't forgotten his past praise of Stalin and his
dictatorship. His Swedish translator, Artur Lundkvist, helped as
much as was possible to get the poet his prize.
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Plaza de Armas
The Plaza de Armas is the
main plaza in Santiago, Chile, that has many beautiful statues
and monuments that symbolize the country's cultural history, and
where the majority of the important buildings have been
constructed. These include the governor's house, the main
church, the Royal Audience and El Cabildo. The foremost
religious festivals are held here each year, along with many
national gatherings. The Correo Central, or main post office is
located along the plaza, the Portal Fernandez Concha, that has
been a major commerce center that was constructed in the 19th
century. It is where many of the city's best restaurants are
located, along with numerous boutiques, shops and other types of
stores. The Santiago town hall is on one side; but the main
attraction that can be seen over all the others is the
Metropolitan Cathedral that was built in the 18th century, with
Sagrario and the Arzobispado structures that are commercial in
nature. It has been redesigned a few times, although the park
and many benches are located for the people to sit and relax at
lunchtime or any other time just to view the people walking
around and shopping. The plaza has a few museums in between the
many sidewalk cafes, that keeps the area constantly hustling and
bustling. There is a wonderful pedestrian walkway called the
Paseo Ahumada, and some ways off is the Paseo Huerfanos that
have more restaurants and stores, but no vehicles are allowed
here, so the flow of the pedestrians is constant and steady. The
scenery is so beautiful, with the snow capped mountains behind
the city, as a backdrop, and most people come here to photograph
the magnificent architecture and the beautiful people that walk
by. The people are very friendly, and when they learn where you
are from will make an extra effort to make you feel at home in
their great country.
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