Back in Santiago

After a bit of a crazy night out with people from my hostel and a few too many pisco sours I made my way back to Santiago for my last 3 nights in Chile. 

First thing I did when I got back was go and crash the Elemental office - it was Friday afternoon aka the last working day before I left Chile and I was hoping to be able to interview one of the architects about their projects I'd visited and informal housing in general. The office is on the 25th floor of a building about 15min from my hostel in Barrio Bellavista. I hadnt really expected there to be security but I got past them with no worries. The 25th floor has an office with a glass door and the names of businesses to the left, and then a timer door that looks like a fire escape with no name or description of any kind. Go through the nondescript timber door to find Elemental. 

The receptionist spoke enough English to understand what I wanted a was very accommodating; ushering me to sit in the board room while she fetched me someone to talk to. That someone was Cristián Martínez: Architect, Chief Project Coordinator. I recorded an interview with him for about 15min with some questions I'd prepared earlier. No one from the office had visited the Antofogasta project since its completion so he asked me to email him some of my photos. Go team Amiee. 

I visited another of Pablo Neruda's houses which was just around the corner from where I was staying. He built this one for his secret mistress who later became his wife until his death. The steel grates on the windows have a logo with their initials entwined together. It  was great but not as spectacular as his Valparaiso residence. More Pablo Neruda quirky facts: he would always write in green ink, he would buy playing cards in every place he traveled, as a joke for his guests the salt and pepper shakers were labeled with 'morphine' and 'marijuana', and there is a secret passage with a spiral staircase next to his dining room, meaning that Pablo would often appear through a cupboard, surprising his guests.

The rest of my time I spent wandering around and in artisan markets. I also met with Matias, a Venezualan architect friend of one of my lecturers who lives in Santiago with his Chilean wife and children and had some interesting conversation about architecture. 

Anyway, off to Brazil now!

Amiee x

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