The Brake at San Rafael

The Letter in the Drawer

A carta na gaveta

The funicular of San Rafael was a hundred and twelve years old, thirty-one metres high, and the shortest link between the harbour of Valparaíso and the neighbourhood on the hill. Two wooden cabins hung from a single cable; one went up while the other slid down, and halfway along the track, at the passing place, they greeted each other with a squeak that every child in the neighbourhood could imitate.

O funicular de San Rafael tinha cento e doze anos, trinta e um metros de altura e era a ligação mais curta entre o porto de Valparaíso e o bairro no morro. Duas cabines de madeira pendiam de um único cabo; uma subia enquanto a outra descia deslizando, e no meio do trajeto, no desvio, elas se cumprimentavam com um rangido que qualquer criança do bairro conseguia imitar.

It had been built by a Swiss engineer who had never been to Chile and had sent his plans on paper with the remark that Valparaíso was “a city for goats and optimists”. Since then the railway had survived two earthquakes, a fire and, as people in the neighbourhood said, seven mayors, which had been far more difficult.

Ele tinha sido construído por um engenheiro suíço que nunca tinha ido ao Chile e que mandara seus projetos em papel, com a observação de que Valparaíso era “uma cidade para cabras e otimistas”. Desde então, o funicular tinha sobrevivido a dois terremotos, a um incêndio e, como as pessoas do bairro diziam, a sete prefeitos, o que tinha sido muito mais difícil.