San Antonio

Our tour guide was Sebastian
We went to visit the Museum Pablo Neruda and the Marin Winery

First, the museum and all about Pablo Neruda:

Interestingly, the 393 of us that are going ATW (the cool abbreviation for Around the World) toured the area today, while the 200 got off and 200 new people got on for this next segment. We had a private tour today, booked with 9 other friends from the ship in a spacious van to tour the countryside. Although we decided not to visit Santiago since it was “just a city” and over 2 hours from the ship, we made two interesting stops.

First, we went to Pablo Neruda’s (1904-1973) house at Isla Negra, which is now a museum. He was a famous, yet very controversial Chilean poet and politician (was nominated for Chilean President but didn’t pursue) that we admit we had not heard of before. He received the Nobel prize for literature and has many published works which have been translated into English (subsequently we have read some of his work). As you prepare for Valentine’s Day, you will want to read some of his love poems. The museum is made up of many small uniquely quirky built houses that are connected together to form the shape of a ship. It includes an eclectic collection of possessions over Neruda’s life (unfortunately we have few photos because photos were not allowed inside the house). This included artwork, sculptures, ship memorabilia, glass collections (bottles and piano leg rests), many ship models and photos/paintings which I loved, a life-sized stuffed horse, a bathroom decorated in risqué photos and a separate exposition of incredible seashells he collected.

"My shells are my Iife's best collection. They have pleased me with
their prodigious structure, their lunar purity of mysterious porce-
lain, and their multiplicity of form, tactile, gothic, functional." - Pablo Neruda

I Do Not Love You Except Because I Love You
by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you except because I love you;
I go from loving to not loving you,
From waiting to not waiting for you
My heart moves from cold to fire.

I love you only because it's you the one I love;
I hate you deeply, and hating you
Bend to you, and the measure of my changing love for you
Is that I do not see you but love you blindly.

Maybe January light will consume
My heart with its cruel
Ray, stealing my key to true calm.

In this part of the story I am the one who
Dies, the only one, and I will die of love because I love you,
Because I love you, Love, in fire and blood.

This is the desk where he wrote some of his famous works while being mesmerized by the Pacific.Read more