We left Santiago to hit the coast, specifically a city called Valparaiso, or Valpo if you're a local. Although a city, many tourists don't venture far away from the port area. Its a place well known for it's hills and steep staircases. One of the cities oldest feature are it's ascensores, some built over a hundred years ago, which are a type of elavator that sits on rails and moves on a pulley system. It's a naval city too, with plenty of gunships populating the harbour - you're also not supposed to take photos of them although no one says what happens if you do.

We stuck mostly to the two areas recommended by our hostel in Santiago, Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion, which have highly decorated, colourful streets and buildings. We did our own walking tour of the areas too: we visited the Museo del Mar Lord Cochrane, which housed Chile's first observatory and gives great views of the port and bay; took a ride up Ascensor El Peral; and saw Reloj Turri, the landmark clock tower. Not all the ascensors are still functioning, as we discovered when trying to use Ascensor Cordillera - that meant walking a few hundred steps instead.

By Wednesday we felt like it was time to go, having spent three days in Valpo. We arranged another night in Santiago before getting on a tour bus called Pachamama By Bus, which is a hop on, hop off service that covers the lake district. We were going south anyway so we figured why not take a bus that will show us some sights too.

Not every stop was brilliant and most of the days were spent sitting on the bus. The first day saw us visit the town of Pomaire, for some traditional clay handicrafts, followed by the Rapel Dam, which is not much to look at after seeing Itaipu. We stopped for the night in Pichilemu, historically the site of Chile's first casino but currently more known as a surfing hotspot. A few kilometres up the coast is Punta de Lobos, known as one of Chile's best surf spots, where we went to take in the sunset overlooking the rocky peninsula, with some beers.

Day two was tough. We drove for over seven hundred kilometres down the Panamericana Highway. With nothing but service stations we were stuck feeding ourselves on hot dogs and, in a desperate attempt at being healthy, Quaker cereal biscuits.

Our only stop was in Santa Cruz, to visit the Museo de Colchagua, which is the country's biggest private museum. It was built in 1995 by a Chilean arms dealer who sold weapons to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war and now can't leave the country for fear of being imprisoned. It's full of exhibits documenting Chile's history, including prehistoric fossils; artefacts from indigenous tribes like the Mapuche and Inca; the war of independence; the Chile-Argentina war; a car museum, which includes a Back to the Future Delorean; a weapons museum, with samurai and Nazi items; a carriage museum (as in horse and carriage); and an exhibit about the miners rescue of 2010.

It's impressive as museums go, and I generally don't bother with museums - if anything we didn't stop there for long enough. But we had to push on, further south, to the town of Pucon.