Santiago

We got the bus from Valparaíso to Santiago on Monday morning. After a bit of a struggle to find a hotel that wasn't full, we checked in to Residencial Tabita and headed out to explore Chile's capital city.

Our first stop was the offices of Navimag, where we bought two tickets onboard the M/N Magallanes, which will take us on a cruise from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales next Monday. You can read all about the exciting journey through narrow straits and past huge glaciers at the website - it sounds fantastic, and we can't wait!

We went for a pizza in an exclusive Italian restaurant, wining and dining with high-powered Chilean executives.

Next up was our attempts to buy a Lonely Planet (or indeed any) guide book to Argentina. Sadly we failed, and after visiting about five different bookshops we gave up. We might come across one later on, if not we'll just have to rely on the trimmed-down version in South America on a Shoestring.

Whilst zooming back and forth on Santiago's very swish Metro system, we noticed lots of adverts for something called the Third International Jazz Festival. We decided to go along and have a look (or listen). Entry was free, the concert was held outdoors in a park in downtown Santiago. As it happened, Monday was the opening night - the acts were 3 X Luka from Chile and an American and a Canadian musician, neither of whose names we can remember. It was pretty fun, and the setting was great. The North Americans were better than the Southern Americans - I guess the United States is the home of jazz, so that figures.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we went to visit the Museo de la Solidaridad Salvador Allende. Originally started as an art collection to support Allende's socialist government in Chile, it soon turned into a underground organisation, all the paintings kept under lock and key by the military junta. It's back in action now - most of it is 70's art donated in support of Allende, but there were a couple of exhibits on the 11th September coup and international reaction to it. The whole episode makes my blood boil, so it was well worth the walk out. Not sure about the artwork, but the contemporary photographs and political posters were very interesting.

After that we walked out to the bus terminal, where we purchased some cheap and cheerful tickets from Santiago to Valdivia, about 12 hours south. We grabbed some bread and cheese for lunch, and then started on the long and tortuous journey towards Viña Concha y Toro.