Pablo Neruda

la Sebastiana

bedroom

living room

Karen took me to the house museum of Chile’s most famous poet, Pablo Neruda. He owned three houses, and one of them is located in Valpo. They call it la Sebastiana. Neruda was pretty picky when purchasing. He wanted one that had good windows that looked out over the city AND the ocean. I guess Nobel Prize winning poets eventually get what they want.

His house was pretty simple, not huge. He definitely had some interesting tastes in art. There were a couple things I liked that I don’t want to forget.
One: he had in mind that the roof would be turned into a giant bird cage. (That never happened.)
Two: he had a merry-go-round horse brought over from France and put it right in the middle of his living room. There was a quote that said some kind of warning against letting your inner child die.
Three: On his table were green colored drinking goblets. Neruda believed that water tasted better when you drink it from a colored glass. Part of me thinks he could be right.

The view from his windows is spectacular. I don’t know how you can get up on the wrong side of the bed when you get to see the ocean AND the city. He was one fortunate soul.