Odysseus Abroad: Valparaiso, Chile

Alegre - Conception - La Sebastiana - Polanco - Ascensors of Valparaiso

House on precipice, Artilleria Valparaiso

Making our way to Valparaiso from Easter Island we stayed overnight at the Airport hotel in Santiago as we arrived late in the day; Christmas dinner was pizza for the boys in the hotel room as we stopped into the restaurant downstairs. While smoking a cigar out on the patio that evening I asked a young man sitting there also what he was doing stuck at an airport hotel on Christmas day; a sailor from Croatia, he was waiting for his next assignment on an Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) carrier which made the run from the gas rich fields of Trinidad around the southern cape of Tierra del Fuego bringing import gas to Chile. Having flown in from leave in Croatia, he now waited day by day for the call to the ship; maybe tomorrow, maybe the following day, it would depend on progress of the Ship with cargo for the terminal at Quintero. LNG carriers pay better than cargo ships due to the peculiarities and care needed to transporting liquid methane at -162C and he was on permanent salary contract to the shipping company providing more predictability; one doesn't spend one's leave looking for a new contract, but can relax instead. However, the last week before departing home for the ship was always a mess; he didn't need to describe, as I knew that feeling when I would go away for a few months, or a year or more. He described the struggle of people to make a living in Croatia and many leave for income like himself and his father who also sails; the officers and lead crew are Russian, Croatian or Polish, the working sailors are typically Philippino. After five years on the seas, he was seeking an opportunity for more land settled job, but it was difficult to leave the ships as the money was also good at around EU50k/yr having trained up through the ranks. We learned much about the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and shipping; he also seemed to appreciate a break in the monotonous waiting for the ship.

"The Phantom watches the ocean with his eyeless face;

the circle of the day, the coughing ship, a bird

in the round and lonely equation of space,

and he goes down again into the life of the ship

tripping over dead time and weathered wood,

slipping through the cabins and the black galleys,

with their heavy air and atmosphere and desolate space."

From "The Phantom of the Cargo Ship" by Pablo Naruda

In the morning we found a long line at Alamo/National rental car and were finally informed by the frazzled attendant that they had no cars available and that we could call his boss if we would like; in over two decades of renting cars this was the first time I have ever been confronted with no cars available, usually they at least have some alternate, especially as the ten or twelve people in line had prior reservations, some even having paid in full up front. The other car companies were sold out, but finally we negotiated a rental car from one of the local "off the record" vendors. The car was a little small and had a few dents, but it worked out perfectly at half the price, well insured and we were soon on our way west to the coast.

The road wound through intermittent hills and plane valleys which were hold to large fruit crops and eventually vineyards; informative road signs pointed to local activities, including dancing, drinking, partying as well as the usual camping and food signs. Onion trucks carried their load to market and reminded my of the onion fields of California. Old wooden fruit carts were displayed in large concrete frames along the way, an indication of the pride of heritage in these productive lands between the mountains and the ocean. A giant road sign for PF (Products Fernandez), a Chilean sausage producer, caught our attention a few places along the way. Diverting south from the main road to Valparaiso, we headed for the coastal village of Isla Negra where Pablo Naruda had lived. Along the country roads we came across the village around Eglise Totoral; apparently the last Spanish Governor, Casimiro Marco del Pont, came through the village while fleeing Valparaiso in 1815 and left behind a figure of the Virgin Mary upon which a new church was built. The little country church now attracts many travellers for Sunday mass followed by a craft fair across the street. We wandered the old graveyard by the church; as the breeze drifted through the grounds the sound of a Christmas tune attracted me to one of the graves covered with a little roof - there among the ornaments was a little battery operated recorder, a novel approach to getting attention from beyond the grave.

Arriving at the coast we parked near Isla Negra and walked the sand pathways to the beach with view of the compound and house of the poet and writer Pablo Naruda. We had lunch on the terrace of the restaurant there overlooking the pacific ocean before touring the house, one of three owned by the writer upon his death in 1973. Born Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto in 1904, he became known as a poet early on and his fame grew in his twenties; however, it was also his belief in communism and connections with the leaders of the socialist movement in Chile which reinforced his place in society as a diplomat in Mexico. He developed his house at Isla Negra organically from the first stone cabin he bought there in 1938 to a long winding arch of a compound with curiosities of architecture scattered throughout; rather than impose some grand structure on the compound, Naruda imposed his creativity by piecemeal which makes the result more interesting. Big windows open to the ocean side including from the master bedroom from where he could view sundown over the pacific from his bed. He called himself a land-sailor, loving everything from sea shipping except for the part of being on a rough rolling ocean; he bough small wooden sailboat, but rather than sail it he mounted it on his terrace. He collected many artifacts from the graveyards of the old sail ships, which had been replaced by the oil powered ships at the turn of the last century. Giant figureheads from old ships hand from the beams on chains decorating the house along with angels from the ceiling. Naruda collected everything; glass bottles, masks from Africa and Indonesia, shells from the sea and oddities which lined the home made bar from where he entertained guests. Naruda took the opportunity to work features from ships into the architecture of the house anywhere he could including ships rails and port holes. A stand of ships bells is centered on the main terrace and would be sounded to mark his arrival at the summer house. Spotting a wide wooden plank being washed in from the roiling ocean one day, he and his wife recovered it and modeled it into a table located at the last room of the compound. Naruda's house at Isla Negra is just the type of sprawling eclectic house I would develop myself if I had the time and place.

Naruda had been a potential presidential candidate, but threw his support behind Salvador Allende in 1970 thereafter being appointed ambassador to France and winning the Nobel prose for literature in 1971. In failing health he returned to Chile and was in the throws of terminal prostate cancer by the time Salvadore Allende was overthrown and took his life September 11th 1973. As Pinochet's Junta forces searched his home in the days following he is reported to have said "Look around, there's only one thing of danger for you here; poetry."; unlike writer Promodya Ananta Toer of Indonesia, whose books were burned when military dictator General Suharto overthrew President Suhkarno, Naruda's books were not burned, nor houses destroyed, but by then he had only days to live due to cancer over shadowed by the darkness overcoming the country.

"An odor has remained among the sugarcane:

a mixture of blood and body, a penetrating

petal that brings nausea.

Between the coconut palms the graves are full

of ruined bones, of speechless death-rattles.

The delicate dictator is talking

with top hats, gold braid, and collars.

The tiny palace gleams like a watch

and the rapid laughs with gloves on

cross the corridors at times

and join the dead voices

and the blue mouths freshly buried.

The weeping cannot be seen, like a plant

whose seeds fall endlessly on the earth,

whose large blind leaves grow even without light.

Hatred has grown scale on scale,

blow on blow, in the ghastly water of the swamp,

with a snout full of ooze and silence"

The Dictators by Pable Naruda

Century old carts on display along the highway

Eglise Totoral

West wing of Naruda's Isla Negra house

A little steam engine collected by Naruda

Rich summer pacific coast

View of the rocky beach at Isla Negra

Stine arches between east and west wings of compound

Westside living room, figureheads and cowhide chairs

Naruda's bar

The glass menagerie of Naruda's house

One of Naruda's set of Ship's bells

Naruda's immobile land boat

Isla Negra to Valparaiso was an easy 40km drive and after passing a bland hinterland of the city, the road started a stead descent through the hills opening up a view of the old city which clings to the slopes of the naturally protected bay like an amphitheater of tall houses mounted atop of each other. Even steeper are the slopes of the headland to the west of the city which provides protection from the western pacific swell, a geographic feature which likely invited Diego de Almagro's ship Santiaguillo into the bay for rest in 1536. He named left the name Valparaiso on a village of natives there and only a few houses and a church were developed in the following centuries under the Spanish. Early 1800's after independence, recognizing the geographic advantages of the bay, the Chilean navy setup at Valparaiso, after which the town grew rapidly into a city. The very geographic features which provided the anchor for the naval base as well as the wealth of the port also provided a challenge of steep slopes which dominate daily life and architecture of the old city center which has been recognized by UNESCO. I was thankful of GPS which led us through the confusing streets of the old slopes near the city center, ascending Almirante Montt, a famous Admiral and mayor of Valparaiso as well as relative of the numerous Presidents Montt. A few steep diversions and we were parked near the Hotel Casa Thomas Somerscales in the Alegre neighborhood. As the family settled into a grand room in the hotel set in a grand old mansion once occupied by the British painter Thomas Somerscales, I wandered the steep step lined streets.

A local kid came barreling down the stairs on a mountain bike built up with enormous front shock absorbers, the standard kit for brave stunt cyclists of the city who push the limits of what a bicycle can do on the three dimensional city scape, a kind of Parkour for cyclists; I get dizzy just watching the videos on You Tube. Even with a helmet, one wrong move and one could be off the bike head first and paralyzed. Serious competitors demonstrate their skills in the annual Cerro Abajo downhill bike competition and daily locals rock down the steep stairs on biked which seem to have evolved to the task. Unfortunately I wasn't fast enough to catch a picture before he turned down Calle Templeman which was clear of pedestrians. I descended the steep steps that street admiring the graffiti and 19th century houses along the way and ended up on Paso Gervasoni, an elevated promenade with view over the old city. Murals decorated many of the walls revealing the artistic nature of the Alegre district.

Ascensor Conception, a steep lift built in the heyday of 1883 brought me to the old city center below at sea level. The Valparaiso ascensors are supported by cables and run of steep rails, so neither meet the definition of a funicular or cog railway and have adopted the term "ascensor", which typically refers to the vertical elevator in a hotel. A cable hung from a giant pulley wheel above balanced the weight of the ascending and descending carriages which passed each other midway as they have done for 130 years, the old infrastructure showing a little wear, but still working well. A ancient iron turn-style marked the exit and had all of the artwork of a gate from the Paris Metro of that era. The city center consists of a flat strip of land a few blocks wide which stretched in a half moon around the bay. Buildings showed a combination of the grandeur of the 19th century wealth, the grime of a hard worked port city and the deterioration of later years of neglect. Only a few patrons sat reading the paper at the large wood paneled hall of the La Italiana cafe, whose business is probably a shadow of what it was when it was establishment in 1899. Returning to the hotel with some food we relaxed on the wide front terrace of the hotel to watch sunlight refract over the pacific illuminating the paint and red rust of houses climbing to the high hills around the city.

Front room of Casa Thomas Summerscales

Hall of Casa Thomas Summerscales

Terrace of the hotel, Casa Thomas Summerscales

Entrance from the street below to hotel

Murals of Valparaiso

View from atop ascensor conception

Turnstyle Ascensor Conception 1883

View from our grand old suite up to the hills around Valparaiso

Established 1899, an old Italian cafe still in business

1?, 2?, Pablo Naruda, Lord Cockrane, Bernardo O'Higginc, 6?

Friday 27th December 2013 we set out for the day touring Valparaiso; as we wandered the sunny morning streets of Alegre an older couple pulled up in a Subaru. Having waved to them, as they were recognisable as a couple staying at the hotel, they stopped to talk and offered us a drive to La Sebastiana, the house of Pablo Naruda in Valparaiso. We were soon winding the roads eastward up to the Florida Hills and learned that their daughter had gifted them a weekend away from Santiago to explore one of their favorite cities, Valparaiso. He had descended from Swiss immigrants, she of Spanish origin and they gave us some insights of the politics of the day in Chile, with Michell Bachelet having been re-elected and would soon take back power which was popular with the people.

Pablo Naruda is most well known for his poetry, writings and his role in international diplomacy representing Chile; however, clearly his artistic aptitude dominated his personal life and the architecture of his three main houses (La Sebastian - Valparaiso, Isla Negra - coast, La Cascona - Santiago). It took him a long time to find a house which fit his aesthetic in Valparaiso, however, in 1959 he came across a house just quirky enough which had been built by a Spaniard after whom the house is named and who died before completion. Wide open views and sprawling features attracted Pablo and the 3rd floor of La Sebastian was designed as a aviary (bird cage), which he had converted into a living room with amazing views. He sculpted the house into the artistic haven fitting of his lifestyle; a bar for entertaining, wide open living & dining room with an innovative open fireplace, a bed with view over the city, an eclectic mix of art throughout including ships artifacts and a writing room on top of the five story building. A large portrait of Walt Whitman stood in his writing room, his "father in poetry" as he mentioned to a workman who finished the house for him. He didn't need all the floors, so shared the house with others who occupied the lower floors, keeping the best views for himself. The house was looted by the military in 1973 and lay derelict for many years before being restored as a museum.

Nearby Plaza Mena provided a view across the hemispherical city from Artilleria to Placeres. There sculpted in brass were tributes to poets Pablo Naruda, Vicente Muidobro and Gabriela Mistral. We wandered down Calle Mena through the quiet streets, but for a few stray dogs and old women hanging clothes in the sun, and got a glimpse into the small houses stacked on top of each other. The Florida Ascensor was out of service, but the walk down the steep stairs by the overgrown tracks provided another view into the steep corrugated iron houses which clung to the heights, packed in at all angles. As the hills gave way to the flat city streets of Almendral and we looked for the Museo Cielo Albierto; I should have known better than to look for a building, but a I asked a tour guide who was leading a group of tourists where the museum was she explained it was the "open sky" museum, i.e. one walks around the neighborhood. I convinced the family to hike up into the hills of Bellavista to view the extensive display of murals for which the area is known, before desending upon the lively streets and the open air market around Plaza Simon Bolivar. After picking up some picnic food at the main grocery store there, we took an electric bus along Avenue Brazil across the city to the north end at Plaza Aduana, named after the customs house there which played a key role in reaping government revenues on the thriving port over the past century and half. We could have taken many buses to explore any other part of town; however, the route to Plaza Aduana is served by the old electric buses which caught our attention. The boys were free and we were whisked off on the smooth electric drive Pullman Standard Company bus powered by overhead electric lines. Painted in green, cream and with a silver aluminum roof, the original buses of 1952 have a distinctive rounded back end like that of an airstream trailer. Valparaiso boasts to be the only city with the original electric trolleys still in regular service and they have been declared a national historic monument by the Chilean government.

The Artilleria Ascensor was not in service so we walked the road up the hill to "Paseo 21 de Mayo", named in honor of the Battle of Iquique, North Chile, 1879 which Chile lost to Peru, but the won the war in time. We found an isolated terrace to picnic on the side of the Ascensor with great view of the port and city. Strewn with old steel of the ascensor and decorated with graffiti our lunch environment was full of attitude and below on a grassy knoll lovers also hid from the eyes of tourists. A grand blue nineteenth century mansion stood high on a bluff overlooking the city as if one push or an earthquake would have it come tumbling down, but it seems to have survived thus far.

Out in the bay a large floating frame carrying a ship sat high in the water allowing maintenance workers to access it's keel, drive propellers and underwater structure; pictures in the city showed a similar structure built of wood which had floated the 19th century sail ships also for maintenance. However, the rest of the port has changed more significantly. By the 1880's the tall sail ships were giving way to the steam ships in the harbor of Valparaiso. Sail ship captain Joshua Slocum would have stopped over at Valparaiso on his South American journeys; with his fortunes in question as steam ships took over the seas of the day he ultimately built a small sail boat, The Spray, which he sailed singlehandedly around the world, but bypassed Valparaiso for the Juan Fernandez islands nearby. Pictures of the harbor show the transition from sail to steam, but a greater change with the introduction of compression ignition engines fueled by the oil boom of the 20th century. High power steel container ships now dominate the port with efficient cranes for unloading, the whole operation run by a few dozen people making the large complex look empty, unlike the busy scene reflected in the loading of sail and steam ships on the late 19th century.

Liam with port Vicente Muidobro at Plaza Mena

Liam shakes hand of Pable Naruda, Plaza Mena

Conor hugs Gabriela Mistral, Plaza Mena

Murals of Valparaiso

An old American Chevy

Ascensor Florida (out of service - to be restored in coming years)

Ascensor Florida

Mozaic along Colon near Bellavista

Riding Electric buses Valparaiso

Pullman Standard Electric Bus 1952, still operating 2013

Plaza Aduana - Pullman Standard bus

Fine 19th century house on a bluff over the city

Steep alleyways cut through the city

Ascensor Artilleria

Our private terrace picnic area

Large efficient port of Valparaiso

Maintenance float in the bay, as it was in 19th century

A mid 20th century sea port city house

House at Navy Museum

Housed in a grand 19th century building, the Valparaiso Maritime Museum sits high on a bluff overlooking the harbor and worth a visit just for the views. "This battle and a hundred more are insignificant if we do not dominate the sea" reads a quotation in the first room by Bernardo O'Higgins, which reflects the importance of the sea to Chile, both for naval reasons and for merchant trade; Valparaiso has played a key role in both which is reflected in it's historical importance as a city. O'Higgins was the illegitimate son of a Spanish officer from Ireland and he only adopted the surname O'Higgins after his father passed at the age of 23. He became an independence fighter and distinguished himself at the Battle of Chacabuco where he led his own army of 1500 men in alliance with General San Martin's larger forces. Apparently O'Higgins defied an order to retreat, which he considered suicide in the steep terrain and instead charged the Spanish, forcing San Martin to order support; the result was a decimation of the Spanish and a step forward for independence for which O'Higgin's bravery was recognized. San Martin turned down the leadership of Free-Chile to pursue freedom for the rest of South America and O'Higgins was appointed Supreme Director of the country. Following rooms are dedicated to Lord Cochrane, a Scot from the British Navy who O'Higgins hired in to lead the Chilean Navy during the fight for independence from the Spanish. Cochrane was successful in driving the Spanish from Corral and Valdivia and was revered in Chile.

There were many pictures of the sail ship and steam ship days of the 1800's heyday at Valparaiso. The wealth generated in the city by the naval and merchant shipping built up grand mansions on the lower hills while the workers lived further up. A tram system was installed in the 1860's, telephone and ascensors came in the 1880's and the city was known as the Little San Francisco of the south, showing all the promise of it's California cousin. Valparaiso was at it's height in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century, however, when the Panama Canal opened in 1914 it's port lost some of it's prominence as a traffic center for the ships rounding the Cape Horn and with peace the Navy became more of a run and maintain operation . Furthermore, Santiago gathered momentum and took some focus away from Valparaiso. With more efficient port operations the second half of the 20th century brought in an era of decline as people moved for work or stayed behind with little money to invest in the old bones of the city. In many ways it is the derelict preservation of the once grand city which is most attractive aspect of the city today.

Naval Museum, Valparaiso

Statue of Bernardo O'Higgins, Naval Museum

Bernardo O'Higgins in stained glass, Naval Museum

Join Lord Cochrane lads!

19th century fishing boat

Native Canoe, probably Mapuche

Monumento a Arturo Prat y Edificio Primera, Plaza Sotomayer 19th century

Busy loading the old way

Bow motif at Naval Museum, also collected by Pablo Naruda

End of the sail ship day mid 19th century

Walking back through the city of murals and derelict buildings we also got a sense that Valparaiso is a city rejuvenating by artists and a new age who migrate into the old city center hills while the old families move away for more affordable suburbs up on the plateau, or into Santiago for more opportunity. The Rapa Nui building along one of the main streets in a reminder of the connection between Easter Island and the mainland via Valparaiso. The strong summer sun of the south seemed to always shine in the city whose steep buildings silhouetted against blue skies as their shadows cast across the streets hour by hour like clockwork. The family questioned our route as I pulled them into a small unmarked alleyway along the city center streets, but then they understood when the ancient turn style of an ascensor revealed our elevator to the hills above. We wandered around Almirante Montt street lined with restaurants and local shops picking up some food for the evening.

Murals of Valparaiso

Vertical City

Nature quickly takes back the unused parts of the city

Ascensor Artilleria

Streets of Alegre

Street side dog kennel

Murals extend to the streets along Lautaro Rosas

Saturday we would depart to Santiago, but decided to take a tour guide for a few hours in the morning to further explore the fascinating city. We had met Christian the evening prior in the hotel lobby and made arrangements to meet at 10:00AM. He was a bank clerk who was bored with his job, so resigned a few months prior to pursue his dream of running a guide service, while his wife was an engineering student. Having been brought up in an old house on the steep slopes of Alegre, the family had since moved further inland where it is more affordable. Boarding a city bus we crossed the city along Avenue Alemania, a winding hillside road to the Polanco neighborhood on the east side. We walked from the main Avenue Argentina to the entrance of the Ascensor Polanco, a unique elevator which lifts vertically rather than on a slope. The lower entrance is via an old stone tunnel which took us directly into the hillside under ground. At the elevator base we were 250ft underground. An operator welcomed us into the elevator and we made our way up two stops, the first at surface level, the second well up in the air from where a bridge leads to the upper hills above. Our guide chatted with the elevator operator and commented on how boring it is to spend 8 hours riding up and down in the dark with only a small television for entertainment. From the balcony of the upper stop we took in 360 degree view of the hills and harbor. Closer around us the rusted tin roofs of tightly packed houses revealed the Polanco area which housed the workers who traveled daily on the trams and buses across the city to the port and commerce near the center. Descending one level to wander through the streets of Polanco down to the main parkway below, we first stopped at the climbing wall at it's base where the boys played. A mural competition was held at Polanco a few months earlier and the houses were covered in impressive art, probably covering graffiti of years before. A few art studios along the way also revealed an aspect of rejuvenation in Polanco. Christian stopped to talk with a motorcyclist for a while as we wandered the streets. Soon we passed the Valparaiso Moto Club, a club of motorcyclists established in 1914 and still active. Christian had been trying to find out from the motorcyclist when the club met regularly as he was interested in joining. The club claims to be the oldest in the world which has been continuously active and will celebrate their centennial shortly.

Emerging from the narrow painted streets to the main thoroughfare of Avenue Argentina whose wide central parkland was occupied by a busy weekend street market, we stopped in at an old hardware shop El Condor still functioning in the world world ways, with quantities of raw materials cut up to customer needs rather than prepackaged. Steel horse stirrups caught my attention and were soon being purchased along with a locally made leather wallet. Christian showed us a wooden bench at front of the shore on which a traditional Chilean game was installed; a brass frog with open mouth had brass coins flung from a wheel to test the accuracy skills of the player. A brass frog was also soon in the shopping bag. In contrast the outside market was mostly selling junk, vendors items strewn on the ground and disorderly except for the vegetable market closer to the coast where beautiful produce from the hinterlands were on sale.

We departed the east side on an electric bus heading for Plaza Sotomayer across town. Along the way Christian pointed out The San Rafael Seminary where the Christian military man Augusto Pinochet went to school and nearby the Liceo Eduardo de la Barra (high school) where the upper class intellectual Salvador Allende went to school, who was later overthrown in government by the former. Christian also pointed out the main Mormon church of Valparaiso, a religion which his parents had adopted and to which he adhered in a vastly catholic country. After the boys got ice cream at Plaza Sotomeyer I wandered the port to where a giant cruise ship had arrived overnight and whose passengers kept the waterfront busy. A firehouse on the Plaza proudly displayed Fire Engine No 2 from the early 20th century when all the firehouses were staffed by volunteers and each house from a one of the many different nationalities who had immigrated to the city, this one being of German origin. Nearby the grand stone facade and over sized brass doors of the Compania Chilena de Navegacio Interoceanica, one of many shipping companies from the wealthy past, was the door to the Ascensor El Peral which would take us up to Paseo Yugoslavia. A find intricate mansion in white shone brightly overlooking the city; built by an Italian family in 1916 it was bought by a Croatian Pascal Baburuzzi in 1925 and eventually became a museum of fine arts. Christian took us through his friend's art shop to a balcony at back from where we got a wide view over old Conception neighborhood; there on the slopes Christian pointed out the small old tin clad house in which he was brought up. The arts community was now taking over and a man up the street showed me how he made photographic prints exposed on cotton with some basic techniques. We left Christian at the hotel, loaded up the car and headed for the pottery town of Pomaire for the afternoon on the way to Santiago, leaving much more to explore for a future trip to Valparaiso.