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36 hours on a bus up to Santiago was not entirely appealing so we opted for a quick flight up from Punta Arenas instead. This was the most southerly point on our trip so far, though our experince of the town was restricted to the airport.

We didn’t have great expectations of Santiago but needed a base to visit the surrounding area. It’s certainly no Buenos Aires, however it does have its charms and was entirely redeemed due to it’s close proximity with some of the best ski resorts in the Andes. Naturally we spent a day on the slopes and had a great time ripping it up. Santiago is almost always shrouded in cloud and smog and we expected the mountains to be the same. Bluebird skies greeted us at the top however and we now both sport bright red faces, expect giant white patches where our sunnies were. This resulted in total strangers approaching us to ask with a grin and in broken English if we’d been skiing recently

We spent a day in Valpariso, Chile’s alleged culture capital. Sunday was clearly not the day for culture however so we consoled ourselves with some fantastic swordfish straight from the morning’s catch. The town is a UNESCO World Heritage site due to the many funicular lifts that whisk you up to the streets and buildings clinging to the side of the hills. Certainly beats walking up!

San Pedro de Attacama was our next destination but rather than spend another 25 hours on a bus we split the journey up by over-nighting in Caldera. Along with Bahia Inglesa these are the places to go during the Chilean summer. It was a lot sleepier when we arrived but the perfect antidote to our first hectic two weeks back on the road.