Isla Negra

Saturday we toured el Litoral de los Poetas (Poet's Coast) and visited Cartagena and Isla Negra. Cartagena is a small and dreary beach destination that has seen its prime. Part of my opinion probably stems from lack of sleep and rainy weather but it was deserted and bleak. In the 30s and 40s Cartagena was a destination for the wealthy Santiaguinos who had beach houses. With the onset of public transportation came a socio-economic transformation and Cartagenta became a popular destination for working class day trippers.

After Cartagena we went to Isla Negra, one of Pablo Neruda's houses. Pablo Neruda was a Chilean poet, politician, and icon. I have studied Neruda's love poems, odes, and political work in many of my Spanish classes at SGS and Tufts. I particularly like his Odes to socks, bikes, artichokes, and eels. Neruda won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971; an event that sparked controversy because of his overtly communist writings. He was a senator for the Chilean community party and supported Socialist President Allende. As a consequence he spent time in exile in Argentina.

Neruda's house is now a museum and is full of the poet's eclectic collections. The living room was full of life-size wooden mast figures, his study has wooden stirrups, butterflies and beetles, miniature boats, and masks from around the world, and the sitting room had a life-size horse with 3 tails. As strange as the house was I felt somewhat at home, as several of his chosen collections also belong in my house.