If truth be told we'd known for a while that we wouldn't have enough time to make the most of Chile. In classic Briony Doubleday (Moffat) tradition, eg. not rushing for the last 3 1/2 months, our time in Santiago had ended up feeling a bit rushed. We were determined to give the capital a good go though and after our walking tour in Valparaiso we did the same thing in Santiago. The city itself was vast and you could see evidence of the various earthquakes that...

Valparaiso was a definite highlight of our time in Chile. It was only a 2 hour additional bus ride from Santiago. It offered the perfect mix of old and new. On the one hand you had the crumbling old buildings that were then covered in vibrant new street art. The city is broken up into a number of neighbourhoods most of which are high up in the hill tops surrounding the port. These are connected by a series of 'ascensors' or 'funicular railways' some of which...

We always planned on visiting San Perdro de Atacama on our way down through Chile. We'd been promised more Sandboarding fun in this small little desert down but as it turned out it was coming to towards winter and the town was winding down. There were still things to do like going out into the desert for a freezing but very informative look at the stars. Once our eyes had adjusted to the darkness the stars, planets and satellites all came sharply into focus. ...