May 13, 2008

No company visits today, strictly fun. There was an early get up though, around 9 in the morning. We were to travel to "Isla Negro," a place on the coast where the famous Chilean writer Pablo Neruda once lived. While we waited for the tour to begin, we had a chance to view some of the artwork of the time of the Chilean coup. A lot of it was war oriented with Chilean flags and images of armed forces and destruction. Many people were disturbed by the artwork, but I rather liked that it was different and controversial. It made you think about things and really gave you a feel for what the people of that time period felt and were going through. Luckily for me, there was one tour guide available that spoke English and also luckily for me, I got in that group. She grew up in the United States and married a Chilean man who wanted to move back to Chile. She was always interested in Pablo Neruda so she took a shot at becoming a tour guide and got the job. The house itself was pretty remarkable. The man knew what he wanted and liked and designed his house that way. Every room was full of different collectables and pieces from all over the world. I found it particularly interesting that he collected the figure heads off the front of ships. They were dispersed all throughout his house. The layout of the house was also very interesting. It was built over his lifetime, so every time he got some money or a reason to build a room he would add on to the side of another room. This created a linear layout to the house making it necessary to visit every room on your way to another. Mr. Neruda seems like he was a genuinely unique person and someone who would be very interesting to talk to. After the conclusion of the tour, we went out to lunch close to Isla Negro at a restaurant I didn't get the name of. This was the first time on this trip that I ordered something because I thought it sounded good from the name. I ordered Salmon Salsa Margarita thinking it sounded like salmon with a nice tangy sauce or something, something light which was good because I was not very hungry. Turns out it was a slab of salmon covered in a thick creamy sauce with all the different kinds of shellfish you could ever desire on top. I ate it regardless, but learned my lesson about not clarifying things on menus in foreign countries. The rest of our day was ours and we took advantage by staying in the hotel.