Pablo Neruda’s House, La Sebastiana, Valparaiso, Chile

Apr 9th, 2007 | By admin | Category: Travel Journal

Yesterday was our final stop in Valparaiso, Chile. We decided to go to La Sebastiana, it used to be Pablo Neruda’s house but is now a museum. Pablo Neruda is a famous Chilean poet.

The town of Valparaiso is built on 45 separate hills that overlook the port and the sea. Cable cars (ascensores) go up and down the steep hillsides. Houses are scattered across the hillsides in a colourful jumble of wood, stone and tin. Most of the town, like much of what I have seen of Chile so far, is desperately poor. I’ve heard stories of the beauty of Valparaiso but the reality is different.

It looked very simple to get to La Sebastiana on a map, just take a cab to the ascensor Espiritu Santo, go to the top, walk to the museum….there was a shuttle for the crew outside the port terminal. The lady driver said yes, she would drop us off at the ascensor. But she took us instead to ascensor Concepción and told us to walk left at the top and that we would come to the museum.

We asked a man at the top for directions. He told us we have to go back down, walk five blocks to the next ascensor (the one we wanted in the first place) and go up there (we can’t walk from here, a different hill presumably). So, we went back down and found the correct ascensor. But the door to it wass locked and padlocked. We put this down to being Easter Sunday and headed to the next ascensor. We saw it but couldn’t find the entrance anywhere. So we decided to walk up the hill, which is very steep, and 20 sweaty minutes later we’re at the top and a few more directions later arrive at La Sebastiana.

But it was well worth the trouble, the museum was very interesting and beautiful. It appears Pablo Neruda had a talent for creating houses as well as poetry. Set on four levels with a study right at the top, a bedroom below, and underneath that a lounge with a bar and adjoining dining room and spectacular views out over the port and the Pacific Ocean. Narrow staircases twisted upwards between the floors. The orginal furniture and decorations had been preserved. Wooden floors squeaked underfoot. It was easy to imagine Pablo Neruda and his friends here, on cold stormy nights, talking, sitting, eating and drinking by the light of the fire. It was like a sanctuary, a haven for creativity and ideas.

Afterwards, we had a coffee outside, and then made our way downwards back towards the ship. After the beauty and originality of Pablo Neruda’s house we were back to the downtrodden reality of Valparaiso. I found it interesting that a creative mind could sparkle and invent in the middle of such bleakness.

The sitting room in Pablo Naruda’s house.

Sitting room window.

Bedroom

View from the dining room. I took this because next to this beautiful house that belonged to a famous person, someone was living in this narrow building made from wood, concrete and tin.

View from the bedroom over Valparaiso to the sea.

Street scenes in Valparaiso, near La Sebstiana

A fruit and vegetable market near the port.

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4 comments
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Jesse April 15th, 2007 3:10 am :
This series of photos taken in the market is great. I am not so sure what makes a simple pile of fruit so appealing, but it always seems to work for my taste.
The CT Photographer
Matt May 3rd, 2007 10:54 pm :
It’s a shame you weren’t around in Valparaiso longer. Cerros Concepcion and Alegre are the 2 main areas for visitors and house some great bars and some of chile’s best restaurants. The architecture of these 2 hills is particularly striking as all the houses were built by british or german immigrants in the 1800s. The views from Cerro Artilleria, where the Naval Museum is, are also amazing.

Valparaiso is a pretty poor city, one of the country’s poorest actually but that’s rapidly changing. The port is getting more and more use, foreign tourists are coming and chileans are waking up to what they have one their doorstep-one of the continent’s most original and spectacular cities. The change in the last few years has been remarkable.

I certainly wouldn’t say that Chile is a poor country, especially by south american standards. It’s a second world, developing country. Chile is the region’s economic star with a growing middle class and a working class getting out of extreme poverty and just being plain poor. The amount of new cars on the roads and the new construction widely available to young professionals through mortagages (unavailable in other lat am countries) are all testament to this.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed your trip through south america. Buenos Aires i’m sure you liked-i used to live there and Argentina is a great country to travel in.

Good luck,

Matt

(if you’re interested in seeing more of Valparaiso, take a look at my blog).
Anonymous July 12th, 2007 4:34 am :
Great Story, If you want to share with us, come and join our growing travelers community!

Best Regards,

Fernando.

http://www.uhave2go.com
Anonymous September 13th, 2007 11:48 am :
While I commend you on your photos of Valparaiso you totally failed to understand the essence of this city and what it means to many Chileans - its spirit, vitality and charm reflected in its ramshackled beauty. Yes, the city contains vestiges of its glorious past, reflected in the many Victorian Era public buildings and mansions constructed by the British. However, the simpler houses clinging the many hills are equally facinating - reflecting vernacular creativity and intrest to many a streetscape. In many instances they also defy gravity making them anything but boring or ugly! While I acknowledge that poverty does exist in Valparaiso, it is by no means an abject level of poverty. The housing may appear rough-and-ready when viewed through First World eyes but as the old saying goes: you should not judge a book by its cover! Did you take the time to meet a local? go into his or her house to see how in fact they actually live? You would certainly have been surprised! They may not have had a BMW tucked away around in the back yard but you would have found houses modestly but neatly kept with electricity, running water, sewerage and - more than likely - a plasma TV and the latest stereo (Chileans can’t live without their music!). Valparaiso was one of Pablo Neruda’s special places. Many of his poems were inspired by the spectacular views of Valparaiso from La Sebastiana and not in spite of them, as you suggest - Wealth has nothing to do with Creativity. Neruda also identified with and was inspired by Chile’s poor and working class and for this he is much loved throughout the country - It stands to reason that he would locate in such an area and not in Las Condes for instance!

I hope you have the opportunity to return to Valparaiso and hopefully can see it through different eyes!

Hasta luego!

Patricio