Santiago as a tourist destination doesn’t really have a great deal to offer. It’s a typical south american Spanish colonial city with the amazing backdrop of the Andes. You could probably see everything worth seeing in a couple of days, but tourism wasn’t our main reason for going there. My cousin has been living in Chile for around the last ten years and we were there to visit him and his family.

After ten months away from family and friends it was great to have some time to chat with relatives and catch up with all the mundane and extraordinary things that families get up to! We went on the school run, attended birthday parties and played with the kids. We had a wonderful time and couldn’t have asked for better hosts.

One of the highlights of our time there was undoubtedly the Eurovision party. It was attended by a mixture of European and Aussie expats with a sprinkling of very bemused Chileans!

We also visited Valparaiso on a day trip. This little port town is very colourful and quaint. It has it’s own floral clock which obviously isn’t a patch on the one in Edinburgh. It was given to Chile by the Swiss, as recognition of their hosting of the 1954 World Cup. Unfortunately the day after we visited the rain resulted in a large pine tree falling on the clock and completely destroying it!