As we drew nearer to Santiago, the Copper City of Chile, passing orchards, fields of vegetables and acres of vineyards all heavy with fruit,we didn't know quite what to expect of Santiago as we took the bus up from Valpo. Another Buenos Aires perhaps? Or maybe something more third world? A place that might have seen better days? Whichever way you cut it, Santiago is a very impressive place. The city lies in a bowl of the Andes mountains and even in the height of...

Valpo, as the locals know it, has long been considered to be home of Chilean culture. It is home to two of Chile's literary Nobel Prize and a home to a host of international writers like Isabel le Allende, to name but a few. But it is not these facts that make Valpo, as it is known to the locals, remarkable. But rather the art that literal leaps out at you from every wall, corner or empty boring space. But to get to Valpo from Argentina, you have to cross over...