We left our epic steak days behind us in Argentina (for now) and headed back into Chile, once they finally let us in. After watching a movie twice because it wasn't turned off, we arrived at the border crossing where we remained for three tedious hours. The border was in the Andes with a stunning rocky backdrop but it seems that not enough people can be persuaded to work in such beautiful surroundings so we joined the backlog of buses and cars. Once again we had to fill in a form declaring if we were bringing in certain items. I ticked yes, handed over the form and no-one asked me any questions or searched my bag other than putting it through the scanner - what is the point of declaring food when they don't seem to care? Between various checks we sat on the bus for a bit with the same movie playing for the third time! Before we left Mendoza, we asked if there would be some lunch and we were told yes but when 3pm came, we realised that we had been misinformed however we were saved by a man boarding the bus to sell fantastic empanadas that tasted like a Cornish pasty.

Once we reached Santiago nine hours later, we successfully negotiated the metro and reached our hostel, called Ecohostel, where we cooked dinner and went to bed. It seems that all the saving the world was not making the staff very happy as they were not so friendly! We briefly chatted to a Belgian man who hobbled to our table having just been released from hospital where he'd been for eight days after falling off a stage during a theatre production; poor man.

The next morning we set off for the main square where we joined a free walking tour (for tips) with Felipe, a very enthusiastic and theatrical guide who took us around the city for four hours. We started in the Plaza de Armas where historically everyone would run to, to grab their weapons if the city was being invaded. From here we walked past several "coffee with legs" cafés. These are situated at the bottom of office blocks and are coffee shops that, mostly male, workers go to for their coffee fix to be served by attractive women wearing short white dresses and high heels. Apparently there are loads of these places. I'm not sure they'd be allowed in England! We then walked down a street modelled on Wall Street, New York then past the Air Force social club which is French-designed. We continued our walk through the streets and had a break in a cafe where we had a Pisco Sour - it was just about midday - the drink which is claimed by both the Chileans and the Peruvians as they can't agree who invented Pisco. We continued through a large park to the Bella Vista neighbourhood where there are lots of student bars and restaurants.

On our tour we were accompanied at various points by stray dogs of which there are thousands in Santiago but are looked after by the locals. So much so that apparently in the coldest month of winter they can be seen sporting jumpers given to them by kindly people. I'd definitely join the dog jumper movement if I lived there.

During the tour we also learnt a bit about the military coup and the following period of the Pinochet dictatorship. Felipe's father or father-in-law who was a musician, was shot and killed for singing anti-government songs. It was a bad time for most Chileans however Pinochet also had many supporters due to some of his policies which helped to close the rich/poor divide - something Chile currently has a big problem trying to solve. At Pinochet's funeral there were people crying with sadness and people partying with champagne. Perhaps a bit like Margaret Thatcher's funeral, a woman who aided Pinochet by not extraditing him back to Chile to face charges (due to him faking mental illness), something that is quite baffling to us. His state of legal 'illness' yo-yo-ed through the courts for so long he never stood trial as he died when he was 91. During his time in power 35,000 people were tortured and 3,000 people 'disappeared', which even included children as young as 14.

Once we finished the tour, several of us headed to the fish market and one of the peripheral restaurants to try out some Chilean seafood dishes. One was a soupy-stew stuffed with seafood and another was a rich crab pie. Afterwards we walked round the market and befriended Luis who insisted on hugging me for a photo whilst he held a big fish!

We left the others and walked a bit more round the city and then walked up a pretty hill in the centre of town. As it was very hot we made our way to a quality ice cream shop that had been pointed out on the tour. Here I tried two of the best flavours I've ever had: pineapple with ginger and lemon with mint and basil. After a long day of walking we headed back to the hostel and cooked dinner once again, the only way to keep within a reasonable budget in Chile.

The next day after a late start from Skyping, and a complex form-filling time in the post office to send a parcel home, we hopped on the metro to go to the memorial and human rights museum, a relatively new addition to the city. Here we were given an audio guide which took us a couple of hours to complete. The museum provided us with much more information about the Pinochet regime and what happened during it. It seems so shocking how people's freedom of expression was curtailed yet thinking about it more, the exact same situation is occurring right now in Northern Africa and the Middle East where people get killed in demonstrations, get arrested and taken to secret places to be tortured killed or disappeared. However Chile has recovered well and their current president is the daughter of a general killed during the regime, who seems to be popular.

By the time we had finished there it was mid-afternoon and we took the metro to Bella Vista for some lunch. Simon has Lomo al Pobre, an artery clogging plate of chips, steak, fried eggs and onions and I had a really tasty thick bean and veg stew with a huge sausage in the middle. The Chileans don't do many light meals it seems! Waddling up the road, we got in the queue for the funicular to take us to the top of another hill and one of the largest city parks in the world for some nice, if slightly smog-filled views of the city.

With some recovery time in the hostel from all the walking, we went out for our last night in Santiago to a recommended wine bar. We had originally planned to visit the nearby wine region but as it was quite hard to get to by public transport, we decided that the bar was the next best option. It was quite posh so we're glad we dressed up a bit. The menu listed many wines but also several wine flights of three tasters that they had put together. We chose one each and got going on the tasting. My favourite was a Pinot Noir, my now new favourite red wine. Accompanying our wine we had some smoked salmon and trout canapés which went down a treat. After our tasters we each ordered a full size glass and Simon felt he could manage - helped by me of course - a chocolate fondant pudding alongside. A most enjoyable evening.

We really enjoyed Santiago, in fact I wish we were able to spend an extra day or two there to explore more. The weather was hot and sunny although not quite as oppressive as Mendoza and there were a lot of beautiful parts to the city. In addition, after months of dicing with death every time we wanted to cross a road, Santiago provided us with some very welcome pedestrian crossings!

Katy