I had heard that Valparaiso was a must see see place, a beautiful town on the hillside sweeping down to the sea.

As I got off the bus and had a wander I could not really see what all the fuss was about. I guess I had over imagined it as usual.

More dogs and dogs mess than ever before and a big port up one end. It was hardly Montreux.

One thing that is for sure though is that it is on a steep hill and my hostel was at the top of it. Every time I arrived back puffing and panting I wondered if I was going to have a heart attack.

It is a bit of an edgy place with graffiti everywhere, I guess a bit like Buenos Aires by the sea. There were areas you needed to avoid, especially at night.

The hostel was really nice. A small place run by a German couple who were really nice, plus I had a great bunch of people in my room so it was a complete transformation from Santiago.

I did a tour and was amazed to know that it used to be one of the richest places in South America until they built the Panama canal.

Plus They do a really famous downhill mountain bike through the town every year, and apparantly the way to ask an office colleague if they fancy a quicky in a motel is to ask if they want to share a chicken on the sideboard.......

Well something like that anyway.

Who says I never submerge myself in the culture.

A couple of us decided to go out for a drink in a restaurant that has a really nice view of the bay, so I decided it was time to introduce myself to the famous local drink, a Pisco Sour. If you don't know its a bit like a lemony capairinha.

Well it went down like a shot.

We had a few and then went back to the hostel and met some Americans so went out and had some more. Then I found the wine that the American guy had shown me. It was only £1.50 a bottle so we got some on the way home.

All I can rememeber after that is being shouted at by the night manager to go to bed as we carried on drinking apparently a little noisily in the main area.

A little further up the coast is a really popular resort called Vina Del Mar, so a few of us decided to go there for the day and get a bit of a tan on the beach.

It had been really hot, so we dressed for swimming and sun bathing as we set off on the bus. All I had was shorts t shirt and flip flops on as we got off the bus and the clouds and wind rolled in.

It was freezing.

We thought we may as well soldier on so walked in to the town centre much to the amusement of the locals who were wearing winter coats.

We stuck it for as long as we could then headed back and decided to go via a famous area that has alot of street art.

It's in one of the poorer areas where people still live, so you have to be on your guard as many muggings and robberies take place.

I was the only bloke so was pretending not to look scared as the girls were clicking away on their cameras.

We went down to a more run down area and there was just one guy on a corner smoking And playing loud music.

I realised we were the only people there.

I wanted to keep going down the main street but the girls wanted to see some pictures up the alley next to him.

Then I saw him look to another street and nod.

Here we go I thought, it's about to be mugging central.

I was expecting loads of them to come out from nowhere, but then realised he was just nodding to the music.

Another lucky escape. I was glad when we got out of there.

I was heading north afterwards and was able to get a bus without having to go back to Santiago which I was pleased about.

Next stop, San Pedro De Atacama........