Ocean and Literature – Museum House of Pablo Neruda Isla Negra

This day can be one of the most interesting for you in Chile, you will not only expand your knowledge of Chilean and South American literature by visiting the most beautiful and interesting house-museum of Pablo Neruda, but also visit the ocean and the beach, buy clay souvenirs, taste typical rustic Chilean dishes in the town of Pomaira and drive through the picturesque Maipo Valley, where many fruits and vegetables of the central zone of Chile are grown.

After driving about 1.5 hours along the Road of the Sun, you will find yourself in the Pacific Ocean, and seeing several resort towns, you will find yourself in a very cozy small village of Isla Negra, who in the early twentieth century chose the poet to write one of the main poetic works of his life.

Pablo Neruda, one of the 2 Nobel Prize winners in Chile, is the most respected and famous poet not only in the country, but in all of Latin America.

He was born into a poor family of railway workers, but by the age of 24 he had become a consul in Burma, a diplomat, a senator and a candidate for the presidency of Chile. He was in the Soviet Union 2 times. Among his friends are famous poets, writers and artists - Federico Garcia Lorca, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Semyon Kirsanov, Bella Akhmadullin, Ilya Ehrenburg, Salvador Dali and many others, and in his house hang photos of Sergei Yesenin and other Russian poets, which in some sense became the basis of his creative path. He loved the ocean, women and big companies, loved traveling and loved collecting.

At the same time, he is one of the most talented and fruitful poets in the history of Latin American poetry, received the prize for "poetry that with supernatural force embodied the soul and destiny of the entire continent."

Today we will visit the most interesting of his houses - in the town of Isla Negra, standing on the Pacific Ocean, where all his many numerical and diverse collections are located.

After leaving the hotel, we head west to the ocean along the Sun Road along the Maipo Valley, where Chileans grow peaches, apricots, walnuts and almonds, olives, apples, pears, plums, corn and avocados. After driving about 30 km, we stop in the town of Pomaira, it is famous for clay souvenirs, dishes and typical Chilean village cuisine, you can safely walk along the main street and have lunch in one of the cozy restaurants. Local dishes are the famous corn porridge - pastel de choclo, empanadas, meat dishes and vegetable salads, among others, drinks - delicious juices from strawberries, raspberries, mangoes, pineapple or cherimoya, Chilean wine or drinks from wine and fruit of Borgonia and pony.

Continuing the journey and reaching the ocean, we will see several coastal resort towns until we reach the town of Isla Negra.

It was originally called Las Gaviotas, the Seagull, but the poet renamed it. After his return to Chile in 1937, he sought a place to be alone to write The Universal Song, a monumental collection of poems about the history and nature of the continent.

Having started living in the house in 1939, construction was completed only in 1945, but Pablo Neruda constantly improved it, even after 1965 he added another pipe, a bar overlooking the ocean, arches, put an old locomotive car in the yard, numerous sculptures, made a room for bow figures of ships and a bedroom with the best view of the ocean.

This house contains all its amazing collections – bow figures of ships, bottles with ships inside, amazing seashells, African masks, collections of butterflies and beetles. There are priceless paintings donated by his most famous friends and objects of his life.

After his death in 1973 for political reasons, the house was closed until 1992 and later turned into a museum. Here are the remains of him and his wife and faithful companion Matilda Urrutia.

On this tour you will learn many interesting facts about the life and work of the poet - for example, why he renamed the place where he lived, stories from his childhood or an interesting mystical legend associated with the history of the house after his death.

After visiting the museum, you will return to the hotel, or you will spend some more time on the beach or on the terrace at home in a cafe where you can enjoy coffee or a light snack.