Regresé de mis viajes, navigué construyendo la alegría

I love Pablo Neruda's idea of traveling as navigating happiness, especially after two of the greatest days in Chile.  They started off with the presentation at a Symposium of Cooperative Learning.  It was really neat to use my experience and an area of interest to present to 100 eager undergrads. Ahead of time, I was hyperventilating and nauseous from nerves but pulled it off well.

                                  Straight after Anton and I headed to Viña del Mar, 1,5 hrs from Stgo. to visit with Cathy, a Fulbright Scholar living there.  She introduced us to her super nice friends Natalia from Chile and her boyfriend Nabil from France.  I had it in my mind that Viña was a snobby resort town but I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was a lovely seaside city. It was so nice to walk along the water and dine out with great company.

The next day we rode down to Isla Negra, the crown jewel of Neruda's three houses and it did not disappoint.  The house itself, like the other two, are heavily influenced by Neruda's love for the sea, good company, food and drink, and his writing.  It is also full of handpicked collections and objects from childhood and world travels.  Every item has a reason or a story. Like shelves of colored glasses in the bar room because Neruda though wine tasted best from a tinted glass.  Or the table made from the door of a boat that washed up from a shipwreck.  None of the houses allow photographs inside which in a way is too bad but on the other hand it makes it more special to rely on memory.  It is quite magical to walk the rooms and the grounds with the stunning views of the sea.  While there, one feels fortunate to be in such a special place.

Nabil, Natalia, Cathy, Me & Anton.  New friends at Neruda's.

After visiting Isla Negra, on a tip, we took a micro about 10km and walked for about 20 minutes to get to a seaside restaurant in the small town of Las Cruces.  Totally worth the trip.  A fantastic meal off the beaten path in the open air with spray from the sea.

Doesn't look like anything special but the house special was awesome.  Corvina (a white fish) covered with spicy shrimp and mussel sauce.

                                       

 On the jacket cover of a book I still plan to read, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, it says something like the best things in life are novelty and challenge.  Even though these can sometimes be the same thing and they exclude the comfort of the familiar, I whole heartedly agree that these are essential for happiness.  On the sign for Las Cruces was the motto "Paz y Encanto" (Peace and Enchantment).  I think these can also be great words to live by which allow for one's own interpretation.  To me, peace can be satisfaction with one's place in life in terms of their relationships and work, and acceptance of themselves without fighting any inner battles, basically overall contentment from tranquility.  Enchantment can come in many forms such as seeing new places, meeting new people and learning new things, and being curious about and in awe of the world.  If not words to live by, they were great words to reflect on as I returned to Santiago with a full belly and an full heart.