This #TBT post is thanks to Katie Sanderson, a student at University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a former ISA Featured Blogger. Katie interned abroad with ISA Internships in Santiago, Chile in Summer 2013.
This weekend I went to visit Pablo Neruda‘s most beautiful house on the coast of Isla Negra. Chile is unique in the sense that you can be next to the mountains and less than a couple hours later at the sea, practically crossing the whole country. The day after visiting the beach I was skiing high in the Andes!
Pablo Neruda’s shoreline house, called “La Chascona” meaning messy hair, was my favorite of his three houses. Each house had a meaning to Pablo, but it was easy to see he enjoyed this house the most. While visiting I saw some of his collections including glassware, shells, and bugs. But most uniquely of all, La Chascona had Pablo Neruda’s collection of figureheads, the figure at the front of a boat, usually a woman. The views from his land, and from nearly every room of his house, were ones I would love to wake up to and enjoy. Pablo and his last wife are buried near the sea, together forever.
After visiting the house Odi, Loes, and I spent the rest of the day on the beach. This beach was very different from a typical tropical, touristy beach as it had huge rocks in place of sand. Being the adventurer I am, I climbed all over the rocks to reach the sea, where I admired its beauty and vastness. The sunset was absolutely beautiful with the sea and rocks along the coast and it was the perfect way to end our day in Isla Negra.
I also went skiing in the Andes Mountains with some fellow ISA Chile interns. We were surprised how nice the weather was; it wasn’t snowing and many times we had to take off our coats to cool off! I have skied many times in Colorado with my family so I found it funny I was skiing on El Colorado, the name of the peak, but in a whole different country! From El Colorado we could see surrounding mountains and Santiago. In Colorado, there are many trees to dodge, while El Colorado traded trees for many large rocks that posed a new challenge for us! Our group ended up separating into two groups so we could all experience slopes at our level of difficulty.
I really enjoyed going skiing with my friends, it had been too long since I had last skied! I was nervous at first because the last time I skied I had a bad fall, but luckily I had no issues and ended up feeling completely confident in my skiing. I can also say I skied in July, which is usually summer for me!
The World Awaits…Discover it.