Collector's Item

Not to strip Pablo Neruda of any poetic ability, but anyone with a bedroom situated in front of the Chilean Pacific would find inspiration. (probably not true)

I think I would have liked Pablo Neruda because he seemed to have some intriguing idiosyncrasies. I used to think I was a pack rat with an affinity for collecting items. Mr. Neruda puts my stone, shell, coin, and ceramics collections to shame.

He imported glossy exotic shells from all over the world that once belonged to obscure sea creatures and an entire wall of one room in his ship-themed house is a textured mural of precious stones, complements of one of his artist friends. He collected masks from indigenous tribes, tobacco pipes, many most likely carved of ivory, glass bottles with small ships inside, globes, instruments, piano leg holders that deceivingly resemble ashtrays, and most magnificently, ship figureheads. Tall and wide as he was, Neruda had some sort of fixation with ships, so he designed his house to resemble one, narrow staircases and all. He served cocktails and tea in a boat that never made it to sea because the poet was terrified of the vast ocean. Ironic much?

We watched an Italian movie, Il Postino, that makes you wonder what Pablo Neruda meant to stand for, if anything at all. The protagonist, Mario, spends half the movie calling him a love poet, while his boss calls him a poet of the people. Neruda was a communist but in this movie, he abandons his compatriot, and does not return to see him until it's too late and Mario is dead, killed at a Communist demonstration. Neruda sadly contemplates Mario's death while walking alongside his object of affection and terror, the ocean. Maybe the movie was trying to say something about Neruda's ideals.

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Chile has 3 national futbol teams: Universidad de Chile, Universidad Catolica, and Colo Colo. They're supported by the middle class, the upper class, and the lower class, respectively. We watched a documentary about Colo Colo fans, who find family and community in their feelings of fanaticism. Unfortunately, much like gangs, the futbol fan group cultivates a scene of pandemonium, often associated with drugs and violence. During a Classic, a match between national teams, the stands get hectic. The documentary was about a ColoColo fan who got in a middle of a fight in an attempt to pacify it and instead got pummeled into a state of paraplegia.

Fortunately, we didn't go see a Classic, though we did get to see Universidad Catolica play, and win, at that. But the game was fun, and the stands were tame. In fact, our section was crawling with little boys, wreaking small amounts of harmless havoc. Pretty cute actually.