Life is always on the move.
I can’t stop it. I can’t change it. I can only go with it.
Sometimes, it’s easy to get caught up in today’s fast-paced society. I always have somewhere to go, someone to meet, something to do.
On Saturday and Sunday, I grew to appreciate the idea of “stopping to smell the roses” after a visit to Valparaíso, Chile, home to another person who appreciated the small things in life.
Pablo Neruda is one of Chile’s most famous poets. He has written poems about everything from love and happiness to sadness and strife.
Neruda captured so much beauty in his poetry, winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971, and only on Saturday did I truly understand “Ode to Common Things,” a poem I’ve always enjoyed.
As my program coordinator Patricio Varas Guerrero said, it’s hard to understand poetry until you know where the author is coming from.
While the nemesis of some, poetry can be the heart song of others.
Valparaíso can only be described as pure poetry.
Colorful barcos bob along the wharves. Houses of every shade rise along the hillsides. Long laundry lines boast white sheets, baby clothing and long-sleeved shirts. Dogs run along the cobblestoned streets winding between graffiti-covered walls. Pure poetry.
An existential beauty exists amidst the countless stairways of Valparaíso, and just as I found myself caught up in the whirlwind of colorful houses, dancing children and playful dogs, we biked along the beach.
The blue ocean called my name as I stood looking out at the seemingly endless stretch of water, only to meet its boundary in the far-off distance, the sky.
A perfect blue sky meeting an even more perfect blue ocean created a peaceful picture complementing and explaining the inspiration for several of Neruda’s poems.
I live in a world of things every day, but watching Chileans carefully create small arts and crafts to sell in the Valparaíso markets, watching huge smiles come over children’s faces while flying kites at the parks, playing fetch with a street dog’s favorite chew toy and seeing people stop and stare out at the ocean made me realize how big a part every single object plays in life, no matter how big or small it may be.
As Neruda said of things, “they were so close, that they were a part of my being.”
Both the walking and bike tour my program took me and my fellow group members on allowed us a brief glimpse into how Chileans in Valparaíso live and how they appreciate everything in their lives, whether it be a small kite or a beloved family pet.
It was hard to leave that evening, but as two days of walking and biking will do, a tired contentedness enveloped us on the bus, and I slept the whole ride back to Santiago, dreaming about the beautiful things I had just been given the opportunity to see.
Perhaps the next time I visit, it will be warm enough to stretch out on the beach and fully appreciate the blue Pacific Ocean.
makholla@indiana.edu
