La Chascona

Photo from Google - You are not allowed to take photos in La Chascona

 The famous Chilean poet Pablo Neruda had three houses in his native country- in Valparaiso, Santiago, and Isla Negra. Dedicated readers will recall that we visited his home in Valparaiso (named La Sebastiana) soon after arriving in Chile. Recently, we visited his home in Santiago, which he named "La Chascona," a Quechua word meaning "wild-haired woman".

Photo from Google

 Both houses are strange, whimsical constructions that reflect Neruda's eclectic tastes and quirky tendencies. La Chascona is built to make you feel like you are inside of a boat, with small doors, low ceilings, and long passageway-shaped rooms. In this regard, it is successful. Neruda apparently insisted on rotating the entire design 180 degrees so it would have a view of the Andes. In this regard, it is less successful, since nowadays the Andes are barely visible through the smog 90% of the time.

Photo from Google

 La Chascona is named in honor of Matilde Urrutia, his final wife. In fact, he built it specifically for her to live in while their relationship was still in the "clandestine affair" stage. Like the "view" of the Andes, this is another fact that dates the house, since nowadays we can't think of anything that would draw MORE attention to an affair than constructing a house for someone. The tour in La Sebastiana did not go into much detail about Neruda's love life, but in La Chascona it's hard to avoid, because the entire house was built for his mistress whom he later married. Yet the tour kind of tiptoed around the topic, describing the various women in Neruda's life in pretty much the same terms as the countries he visited: "After that he visited France. In this time, he met Lucy and married her. After 5 years serving as ambassador to France, he moved to Mexico and reconnected with Matilde, who he married. He spent the rest of his life in Chile, married to Matilde."

Photo from Google

 The tour also focused on Matilde in unexpected ways. We had the opportunity to peer into her bathroom, where we were informed that EVEN when she was sick, she NEVER stopped looking after her appearance.

Photo from Google - a long, narrow hallway meant to evoke the feeling of being on a ship. Not pictured: salt and pepper shakers labeled "marijuana" and "morphine"

Photo from Google