Far from the Madding Crowd

Known more as a summer destination for Santiguinos seeking sun and sand, Viña del Mar is a busy place even in the dead of winter when the beaches are largely empty. Even though it is Chile's fourth largest city, with around 300,000 residents, Viña feels smaller than that, probably because it is geographically compact and densely populated.  Our apartment is in a somewhat newer part of town along some darn-nice beach and equidistance from the 1930s-era casino and the 2012 cluster of mid-rise malls--ten-minutes walk either way.   Here's the view from the apartment:

The Marca Marca creek separates the more tourist-oriented side of Viña from the old Centro.  Avenida Valparaiso is the main drag through the Centro, and it has a mix of shops and restaurants that stretch away from the coast to Plaza Vergara.  I imagine that before the new commercial developments to the south, this was the principal shopping district, but tucked away just north of this node of activity is the biggest surprise that Viña has so far revealed: Parque Quinta Vergara--a quiet escape from the Manhattan-like pedestrian and vehicle traffic of the Centro.

The Italianate mansion was the home of one of the rich Vergaras who eventually ceded it to the city for an arts facility.  It is under renovation now but that doesn't diminish the grand architecture situated in a mature, manicured garden.  Around an adjacent topiary garden, there are poems by Latin American poets engraved on marble slabs including, por supuesto, a good sampling of Gabriela Mistral and Pablo Neruda.   Here's one that includes a fragment of Miguel Luis Rocuant's "The Tree's Dream":

And here is my tortured attempt to translate just the first stanza.  This is should be pretty funny to any Spanish-speaking readers.  I tried to put these four lines into a little more harmonious English than my initial literal translation. Anybody out there is more than welcome to correct my butchering of what I'm sure is a beautiful image.  Here goes:

The Spring Tree, stiff and light

Shimmering with Autumn's frost,

Awakes and stirs,

Believing is some flowering return.

I'm not going to tell you how long it took me come up with that!

Off in the trees were swarms of these squeaky hummingbirds with blazes of red on their heads.  As I watched a creek tumble over some rocks, they would swoop in and hover to drink and dart away again.   Going to Parque Quinta Vergara after the whirlwind of this week in Viña provided me with a little respite to remind myself how damn fortunate I am to be here and to have this opportunity.  

Santiago and Vina del Mar

You ever have the experience of a place really growing on you?  Santiago is like that for me.  The more I explored it, the more I appreciated its distinct neighborhoods.  By no means did I see even most of it, but the areas that I did explore were surprisingly different and changed characters instantly.  Bella Vista, Bellas Artes, and Santa Lucia were my favorites.  The area around San Cristobal is worthy of even greater exploration, and I hope to be back in Santiago to visit Pablo Neruda's house before too long.  The Improving University Teaching Conference, which was the reason for my early arrival in Chile before the Fulbright starts, was at the Pontificia Universidad Catholica Casa Central right next to Santa Lucia where I was staying.

Casa Central is a massive building that takes a whole block of the Av. Alameda.  At the very center is this statue of Christ with arms wide open.    Over the main lintels are the Spanish for "Religion and Science" and "Letters and Arts."  It's a fortress and inside it is composed of a series of beautiful courtyards.  

The conference was entirely in the Casa Central, with plenaries in a massive room with three stories of bookshelves.  There were plenty of modern additions, but--as usual--is was the purely architectural elements that drew my eye. 

Before I left Santiago, I visited the incredible Museum of Memory--a new museum that documents the 1973 coup d'etat that ushered in the dictatorship of Pinochet, the oppression of Pinochet's regime, the referendum that brought back a return to democracy, but that also is dedicated to human rights worldwide.  My hope had been to visit both it and the Pablo Neruda house before meeting with my hosts at the Fulbright Chile offices, but the Museum of Memory stopped me in my tracks.  It is an amazing space in itself but is also rich in documenting what happened in Chile between 1973 and 1990.  

After a warm welcome by the good Fulbright folks, I was off to Vina del Mar, my hometown for the next five months.  I took the subway to the bus terminal where I bought a ticket on a very comfortable double-decker bus to Vina.  Ninety minutes later, the bus pulled into the Vina bus terminal and I was met by Fernanda Rejas and her husband David Letelier.  They drove me to my apartment building on San Martin across the street from the Pacific Ocean.

Since moving in on Tuesday night, I've been familiarizing myself with what Vina has to offer.  Everything is walkable, and I've enjoyed discovering grocery stores and markets in my attempt to forage for food.  The highlight, though, is the sea.

I think I'm going to like it here.  But I'll like it better when Erica and Zachary join me a week from Sunday. 

El primer dia del resto de mi vida o Un Estadounidense en Santiago

I promised folks that I would blog once I got to Chile, and I find myself making good on that promise.  It's not hard when you have the experience of traveling to a new place (which this essentially is despite my ten-day sojourn in 2011) and when you have the marvelous good fortune of crossing the street from your hotel and entering the most vertically inclined urban park I've ever encountered.

This is el Torre Mirador ("Lookout Tower"?) atop Cerro Santa Lucia, which Charles Darwin said "certainly [had] the most striking view" of the city and the towering Andean mountains in the background (thank goodness for Lonely Planet travel books!). 

Today was a "feria" or national holiday for a saint, so there were families and youngens of all types mounting an array of incredibly uneven, slippery, ill-placed and wonderfully non-code steps.  As happens every time I leave the States, I'm struck by the thought places like this that simply would not be allowed for liability reasons back home.  While the staircases at Cerro Santa Lucia aren't as ridiculously unsafe as the completely unimpeded waters of the Nile as they crash down Murchison Falls in Uganda, I could not help but cringe in fear as a leashed dog pulled its owner down a precipice. Still, what a wonderful, organic, civic space for people to enjoy.

It was peaceful in the park despite the topography, and everybody was genuinely enjoying themselves. Little kiosks were on the different levels selling mostly ice cream-like confections.  People strolled with dogs, many off leash and well behaved--the dogs and the people.  One couple hung out by a fountain; the young man noodled around on his guitar as his novia drew in sketch book.

Honestly, this was the best possible way for my entry into Chile for what's going to be a five and a half month adventure.   Despite the fact that the famous Santiago smog clouded the Andes Mountains from Torre Mirador,  it was great to be able to wander without worrying what street I was on or where I needed to turn.  And I didn't feel the pressure to "accomplish" anything today because I'm not here for a only week, so I don't feel the need to make sure I make it to this museum or that plaza.

All in all, a very good day. And it ain't over.