Over the course of 2 days in Santiago we took a red bus tour of the city like proper tourists, wandered round barrio Bellavista, took a very bumpy and slightly worrying cable car up to the top of Cerro San Cristobal and saw the huge white statue of the Virgin at the top, explored the old town centre, Plaza de Armas, frescoed Catedral, National Congress Building and the Mercado Central where we had lunch at one of the many fish restaurants (squid in garlic butter).

We walked off lunch by climbing the many steps to the castle at the top of Cerro Santa Lucia where Santiago was officially founded in 1541 and were rewarded with fantastic views over Santiago and the Andes beyond.

We visited the Museo de Arte Precolumbino which was full of art and sculpture from before the Spanish conquest of the Americas and saw the Palacio de la Moneda where Salvador Allende (author Isabel Allende's grandfather) committed suicide in 1973 rather than surrender to the military forces who were attacking the building and would take over the government headed by General Pinochet.Allende was offered safe passage out of Chile but was found dead after the coup clutching a sub machine gun in the ruins of the Palace. Pinochet's secret police went on to torture and execute over 3,000 people, mostly journalists, trades unionists and socialists. Chile only became a democratic country again 17 years later in 1988. The same year Pinochet was arrested in a London hospital for human rights abuses and was placed under house arrest before Jack Straw (Home Secretary at the time) released him on medical grounds in 2000. He returned triumphant to Chile to the dismay of many and over the next few years was indicted for various human rights abuses but died before standing trial for any of them.

After a couple of days in Santiago we caught a night bus to Pucon, a resort town on the shores of Lago Villarrica with the imposing Volcan Villarrica as a stunning backdrop. Like Argentina, European immigration to Chile has left it's mark and Pucon has a German heritage with many German tourists visiting. The active volcano heats the water of many hot springs in the region so I spent an evening under the stars soaking away the annoyances of trying to book an internal flight with Aerolineas Argentinas.