My journey from puerto montt to santiago took 14 hours along the route 5, the panamericana high way. The view was almost the same for the duration of this trip, with red baron, mountains and dusty tracks that mountain goats and lama walk along. We climbed up high before descending again to 474m and in to santiago. There are three bus depots in the city that service the whole of chile and to the other south american countries. I arrived at terminal san borja, which is at the end of a shopping mall alongside the railway station. I walked from there to an area called Barrio Brazil where my hostel the HI hostel was.This walk was an easy 20 minuets walk along the Ave o' Higgins, which runs almost straight through the city. The area of Barrio Brazil is a nice area that was negglected for a while, but has now become a very lively and bohemian area, with many nice bars and cafes. My Hostel was large and clean, although the bed was not very comfy. There was a large garden area with seating and loungers. After a quick shower and change of clothes i walked further along the O'Higgins to centro santiago, where there are many shops, plaza's and bars. Also along here you can see street artists, street vendors selling coppied dvd's or rip of designer bags openly. But it was here that i see the strangest culture, the chilian cafe culture. These cafes are not like your normal starbucks or cafe uno's. No these cafes, that were everywhere around this area, have waitresses serving in just a bikiny, whilst they make small talk with the gents in suits. These places just sell coffee and no alcohol so i really did not see the point to them, but there you go. I walked back for an early night after some great sushi.

The next day after a breakfast at the hostel i walked to Cerro Santa lucia. Which was once just a rocky hill, but has now been transformed into a beautifull landscaped park, which offers great views over the city. After this i descended the opposite side through the jardim japones and crossed a river called Mapocho to an area called Barrrio Bellavista. This area is the liveliest in santiago, and on one side you can find a busy market, selling clothes, bags, food and all sorts of crafts. There are shops selling designer gear, and you can hear sowing machines working flatout in the apartments above, making these goods, (Who would have thought that Ralph Lauren had a factory in the back streets of santiago). There are traders screaming from their shop doorways the latest offers. This area has got a real edge to it and in some parts its very trashy and you need to keep a watch out as you strole down the narrow streets. But you can walk east through these streets and the area becomes more bohemian, with brightly painted bars, cubs and superb restaurants to just sit and watch the world go by. Which is what i did that night, joined by 6 others from the hostel we spent all night around this area.

The next day with a sore head i visited Cerro San Critobal, which is Santiago's largest open space. It is a mountain that offers great views over the city, it also is home to Santiago's Zoo, But at the top there is a 24m high statue of virgen de immaculada conception. The summit can be reached via a funicular railway or there is also a steep walk up through the woods. It was a nice clear day when i visited which i am told that is a rare thing due to the smog. I was able to obtain a 360 view of the whole city.

The next day i packed up and once again jumped onto a bus for a 8hr ride north to a town called La Serena. This town is Chile's second oldest city, with many original colonial buildings still standing. Although it has had a hard past with many battles taken place here, including a invasion by a british pirate Sharpe in 1680. I only spent the one day and night here, which i think was plenty as it was off season for the beach resort.
So the next day i headed north again for a 22hr journey to the boarder town of Arica. This town is on the boarder with Peru just 20km away. The journey to arica takes you through the Aticama desert, which is the driest in the world. There are sand dunes over 500 ft high. You climb up mountains so steep that your ears pop, and on the side of the road you see cross's placed, where many cars have overshot the bends and fallen thousands of feet. We were made to stop at several check points along the way, and asked to unload our bags from the hold so they could be searched. Our passports were also taken and inspected. It was a hard and long journey, but onr that had to be done if if wanted to get to peru, as the only other road would have taken me into Bolivia and the roads there are far worse. I arrived at Arica at around 08.00 and walked a short way to the hostel that i had picked called sunny days. This hostel is run by Ross who is from New Zealand. I managed to get a double room with private shower and toilet for the price of a dorm room, which was only 6 pounds. After a short rest i walked along the beach towards the town center. The beach is famous for its surf and warm waters, but i found it to be very dirty and smelly so there was no chance of me going in here. Towering over the city is El Morro where there used to be a fort, but is now a museum displaying artifacts from the war of the pacific of 1880. This is still a very sore issue in the area, but mainly on the peruvian side as they lost the land in this battle and 1250 soldiers were killed. This also meant that Bolivia became landlocked from then on, That night we had a BBQ at the hostel and i found three other travelers that were heading in the same direction as me the next day. So we agreed to share a collectivo, which is a taxi that takes you over the boarder. They are all very old American cars that probably should not be on the road still. So anyway we grabbed one of these early the next morning and headed for the boarder and the town of Tacna. The boarder crossing was fairly quick, and we just had to have our bags scanned going into Peru. So we arrived in Tacna after about 2.5 Hrs and were dropped at the bus depot, where we caught a bus for Ariciba where we planned on staying just for the one night before heading north further to Cusco. Ariciba is the second largest city in Peru after Lima. We arrived at night so just had time for a couple of beers and a curry before bed. The next day we walked the city and found it to be just how i pictured Peru to be, Bus's were filled so much that people were hanging out of the windows just to gain a little space. Traffic was pushing its way through the tiny colonial streets, and it seemed to be law to press your horn as much as possible, and i think that was the only law of the road. I could tell that the town had much wealth at one stage in its past as the buildings were very grand for south american standards. The area was one the center of the gold and silver rush that the Spanish bled dry. After some very cheap but fantastic lunch we headed back to the hostel to grab our bags for a night bus to Cusco.