Cole Porter and Isla Negra

Thursday night we had a special event paid for by the Bings (major donors to Stanford Overseas Studies). We saw a performance of Cole Porter songs by a group of singers and musicians from New Zealand at the Ritz Carlton hotel. The event was very classy—we all felt a little out of place, but enjoyed the high quality food, wine, and entertainment. The performers were very talented and hilarious. They ranged in age from 50 to about 80 (the saxophone player was the oldest—he was the funniest of them all). They joked around and interacted with the audience throughout the entire show. I had heard a few of the songs from musicals and Frank Sinatra covers which made it fun when they asked us to join in (I Get a Kick out of You, Don’t Fence Me In, Anything Goes, etc). Being an old-timer at heart, I really enjoyed the show and the chance to do something different. After the show we headed out to the bars and clubs. We first enjoyed some drinks at a bar that had lots of art and large wooden tables. Later we went to El Tunel, a dance club. We enjoyed the (mostly 80s and early 90s rap) music and danced on the lit dance floor—just like Saturday Night Fever, ha!


On Friday we had a Bing-sponsored trip to Isla Negra, a small coastal town (two hours from Santiago) where Pablo Neruda built his biggest and most famous house in Chile. Isla Negra is a very calm, peaceful town and it was such a great opportunity to visit. The locals we met were selling art and trinkets; I bought a piece of homemade chocolate from an elderly lady for about 30 cents. I really enjoyed the tour of the house, although it was way too short—there were so many things to look at and I couldn’t take it all in! As I mentioned before, from when I visited his Valparaiso house, Neruda liked to collect maritime items, and this house was absolutely filled with his collections. He built his house like a ship as well, with narrow passageways and doorways. The living room had about a dozen different figures taken from the bows of ships. Apparently he named all of them. In the dining room, all the placemats had different ships on them and the places were set with colored glasses. I learned at la Sebastiana that Neruda always bought colored glasses because he believed they made the water taste better. I saw so many collections—to name just a few he collected ships in bottles, masks from all over the world, seashells, pipes, exotic insects, and old-fashioned stirrups. Every room was intricately decorated, including the bathrooms. Neruda’s bed directly faced the ocean via two large windows. He had such an incredible view every morning when he woke up. One of the last things I remember seeing was Neruda’s writing desk—he had it made out of a piece of driftwood he spotted floating in the ocean. As you can tell, I was incredibly enchanted with the house and did not want the tour to end. In the afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious, large lunch paid for by the Bings in a restaurant facing the ocean—part of the Neruda museum. After lunch, we listened to a recording of Neruda reading some of his most famous poems and then recited some poetry to each other. I have always enjoyed a good poem now and then, but listening to Neruda’s words while looking out at the very beachfront that inspired him was truly a magical moment. I passed the rest of the afternoon sitting on the rocks watching the waves and relaxing. I realized that this was a perfect day; one of the best I’d had in a long time.