Vina del Mar is just a few minutes north of Valparaiso but actually miles away in terms of feel. It is all flat and centres around the sea. I suppose rich people from Santiago come here to spend the summer or week-ends away from hot Santiago. The water looks beautiful, as you saw from yesterday’s pictures, but it is so damn cold and dangerous no-one in their right mind would ever swim here. In fact, they hardly play on the beach from what I can see. Vina I guess is more for sitting in your expensive summer home, eating in fancy restaurants and/or walking and taking in the beautiful scenery.The galleries were actually fabulous. 
We learned about Easter Island at the Museo de Arqueologia. What I learned was, as usual, the colonizers came and destroyed the civilization that existed there already. Inside the gallery, as I looked at the silverwork and ceramics of the Mapuche Indians, I could see they were also quite advanced before the Incas who extended their influence all the way down to Chile. When I asked a guy who seemed quite knowledgeable why the Incas died away so quickly he responded that the Spanish killed their leader and there was no leadership to take his place i.e. no middle management. Sounds like a reasonable sort of statement. Have no idea whether it is true or not.
We learned about Easter Island at the Museo de Arqueologia. What I learned was, as usual, the colonizers came and destroyed the civilization that existed there already. Inside the gallery, as I looked at the silverwork and ceramics of the Mapuche Indians, I could see they were also quite advanced before the Incas who extended their influence all the way down to Chile. When I asked a guy who seemed quite knowledgeable why the Incas died away so quickly he responded that the Spanish killed their leader and there was no leadership to take his place i.e. no middle management. Sounds like a reasonable sort of statement. Have no idea whether it is true or not.Another museum we went to was the Alvares-Vergaras mansion.
They came to Chile from Spain and created their home in neo-Gothic style. Why would they do this, I asked myself, when there was so much more they could have done to fit into the scenery of Vina and then it occured to me that we all create and value what we know. As I looked at their pictures in the home from a hundred years ago, the guy was wearing a waistcoat, smoking a cigar and generally could have been anywhere in Europe. Who would want to wear a three piece suit in 80 degree weather? I guess the answer is that if this was your idea of beauty, why not? It is all you know. Obviously one's values, opinion of beauty, and way of looking at the world are formed from your surroundings as you grow up. It is clearly difficult to break away from the mold.
They came to Chile from Spain and created their home in neo-Gothic style. Why would they do this, I asked myself, when there was so much more they could have done to fit into the scenery of Vina and then it occured to me that we all create and value what we know. As I looked at their pictures in the home from a hundred years ago, the guy was wearing a waistcoat, smoking a cigar and generally could have been anywhere in Europe. Who would want to wear a three piece suit in 80 degree weather? I guess the answer is that if this was your idea of beauty, why not? It is all you know. Obviously one's values, opinion of beauty, and way of looking at the world are formed from your surroundings as you grow up. It is clearly difficult to break away from the mold.The Museo de Bellas Artes also had a fabulous building and magnificent gardens. We had lunch at Jerusalem restaurant, believe it or not, and almost fell into this park. Tomorrow we are off to another part of Chile, but the feel I get for 
Valparaiso is the same feeling I got in Greece as we lived high in the hills surrounding one of the Greek islands as you can see form this picture. The feeling I get in Vina is a European spa town in some place in Germany, even though I have never actually visited a spa town in Germany!
Valparaiso is the same feeling I got in Greece as we lived high in the hills surrounding one of the Greek islands as you can see form this picture. The feeling I get in Vina is a European spa town in some place in Germany, even though I have never actually visited a spa town in Germany!
No comments:
Post a Comment