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.