After visiting the Human Rights Museum I’m stunned by the live footage I’ve seen of the events unfolding on September 11th1973, the day the government buildings were bombed. I saw tanks shooting at the palace, General Pinochet taking 20 of Salvador Allende’s friends out of the palace and shooting each one of them, Pinochet’s speech to the nation announcing the end of the socialist government and Salvador Allende’s speech apologising to the nation for letting them down and also announcing the end of the government whilst bombs could be heard going off in the background.Soon after the bombings started Salvador Allende took his life with a rifle whilst the palace was burning. Seeing the footage of what happened during the ten years under the dictatorship was even more disturbing, worse than anything I’d ever seen in ... read more

In the evening I got a takeaway pizza and sat on the grass in a park in my local neighbourhood where I watched many youngsters from the neighbourhood dancing swing to old American tunes on a record player which they had brought into the street with them, . It was the coolest dance I’d ever seen and I’d never seen it danced in England before. The evening was beautiful, I ate my pizza watching the kids dance in time to the swing music. The sun was setting over the mountains on one side of the park, the statue of the Virgin was lit up in the mountain and the coloured fountains were bright in the background but again I thought to myself ‘where is Kathryn when you want a drink and a dance’... read more

I then learned about the Incas. They came to Chile, taking over the areas with the best mineral resources which they could use for agriculture and mining complexes. They brought with them religion, the Quechua language, the Inca Roads and tambos (way stations) I saw many cups which the Inca used to drink Chicha from. Chicha is an Andean corn beer and a drink which is still very popular today in Chile, esecially during Andean ceremonies, important events and rituals. The nobility drank Chicha from cups, the cups used indicated their status and were buried with the people when they died. The nobility drank from silver and gold cups whereas the poor people drank from cups made of wood and ceramic or cups made from woven plant fibres. I also saw the Ceramic jug used to ... read more

Still not ready to go home and on my way back to the hostel, I stopped at a bar on the end of my street called the Elves so that if I got drunk after one glass of beer which I usually do here in South America as one sip of alcohol usually knocks me out I could get home without too many problems. Inside the bar, the walls were covered with pictures of elves and the whole Eminem and Slim Shady soundtrack was playing in the background, then Blue, and then some RnB lyrics along to the tune of the yodaling song from the Sound of Music, and I began to think of my friend Kathryn back in Leeds and The Sound of Music tour we did in Salzburg. The music and atmosphere in the ... read more

Inspired by the information I’d just read in Quinta Park I immediately went off to try the national drink of Chile, called ‘Mote con Huesillos’ – it’s a very cold, sweet drink made with ice, sweetcorn and coca cola. In my opinion this is something you try once and only once. Like my experience of scubadiving, you need to do it a few times before you really appreciate. In scuba diving you need to get used to the breathing and carrying heavy oxygen tanks. With this drink you would need to drink it every day to become both addicted and immune to the horrible taste. Then hungry, I headed off to the famous ‘Mercado Central’ fish market. There was a lot of hussle and bustle, fishmongers shouting all different types of fish at me, nearly all ... read more