Chile
Situated south of Peru and west of Bolivia and Argentina, Chile fills a narrow 2,880-mi (4,506 km) strip between the Andes and the Pacific. One-third of Chile is covered by the towering ranges of the Andes. In the north is the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert. Population 17,363,894, Capital city is Santiago.
Punta Arenas is a very nice town, we stayed in a very interesting small home, it was amazing how compact it was and had everything we needed. We booked it through Airbnb. It really shows how little space you can live in. We whet to the Nao Victoria ship replicate museum, it had replicates of the Magallanes Ship, the HMS Beagle and the James Caird. This may seem strange but we went to visit a cemetery, I have never seen a cemetery where the tombs of the dead people seemed nicer than the house that they once lived in. Some of them were bigger than most of the homes in the area. It was also very well maintained. Definitely worth a visit. A great place to eat was a wood fire pizza restaurants, it is called Mesita Grande. It has great pasta’s and pizza’s. It is also in Puerto Natales, which we are off to next so no doubt we will visit.
HMS Beagle 
Magallanes Ship
James Caird 
These are the tombs
We took a 3-hour bus journey to Puerto Natales as we wanted to visit Torres del Paine. It is a very hip town with a very nice harbour that has stunning mountain views. Torres del Paine was amazing, it was a tough climb to Mirador base de las Torres, but worth every step, it started raining just before the toughest part of the climb but at least it cleared for a few minutes while we took some photos and admire the view. Down on the harbour of the Town is a great art gallery it is an old wooden factory that has converted into an art gallery, I loved some of the art work, especially one picture of the old harbour, if I was not travelling I am sure I would have bought it.
The morning we left for Torres del Paine 
When we arrived at Torres del Paine
Finally the skies cleared
Great camp sites
Art Gallery
The harbour in the painting above
The Town Puerto Natales 
We flew to Santiago Chile, my first impressions of Santiago was not good I thought it all looked very grotty, and because of all the reasoned bush fires there was a heavy smog in the city. As the days went on I thought I may have been a bit harsh as there are area’s of Santiago that are quite nice. We had not done any wine tours on our travels yet so decided to go to Undurraga Winery, it was established in 1885. We picked this winery as we had not seen this wine been sold in Ireland or Australia and it had some good reviews. We were not disappointed, the Savoingu Blanc was light fresh and a bit on the sweet side but would be lovely to drink on a nice sunny day in Australia. We both also like the Carmenere, (this grape is local to chile) we had never tasted a Carmenere, it is a red wine, not as heavy as a Cab Sav but not as light as a merlot, similar to an Australian Shiraz. I imagine it would go with most red meats. It was a great day at the winery. We went to a wonderful restaurant called Bocanariz Vinobar, the food was great and the sommelier was very good.
The Art museum was closed for renovations, so that was a bit disappointing. We took the local bus to Valparaiso to have a look at the colourful barrios (neighbourhoods) and to visit Pablo Neruda (famous Chilean poet) home.
Santiago city
Valparaiso
Pablo Neruda (famous Chilean poet) home
We flew to Calama from Santiago and then bused it to San Pedro De Atacama, what a great little place, it is an oasis in the desert, it is alternative with a very relaxed atmosphere. Food is of high standards, and so is the wine. We are surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains, it is cold and refreshing in the morning and evening but very hot during the day. This was our first time to stay in a hostel, it worked out very well as it was in the centre of town, it was very clean and the people we met were very nice.
My favourite animals are horses, and one of my bucket list items was to gallop through a canyon on horseback. As a kid my family would watch the old western movies on a Sunday afternoon, I always thought that the cowboys galloping though the canyons looked amazing. So, we booked in a day trip on horseback though Valley de le Muerte and Cordillera de Sol, the horses where old race horses so were very keen to gallop any chance they got. It was a perfect day, the weather was great the horses wonderful and the views outstanding, this bucket list item has been ticked off for sure Yahoo. The Star gazing was also amazing out at the valley of the moon, no photos can do these skies justice.
We had a wonderful time in Chile.