Around the world: A Scotsman traveller's blog continues

With our flight to Auckland looming we made our way back to Santiago, Chile. Instead of waiting out our final South American moments in Santiago, we decided to escape the big city for a different experience in Valparaiso.

Referred to as the cultural capital of Chile, Valparaiso is a seaport with serious charisma. Valpo (as it is known) is built upon sheer hillsides overlooking the Pacific ocean. Like Edinburgh, Valparaiso is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site; beautiful, quirky and a mere hour from Chile's capital, it made the perfect location for a swift jaunt.

The bars and restaurants in the area have a strong sense of history about them. Black and white photographs litter many of the walls, alluding to Valparaiso's significant naval past. It was once a major stop-over for ships travelling from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean and as a result attracted many European immigrants. We ducked into one of the many smoky jazz bars to find a room full of artistic types. In their smartly cut suits they could have stepped straight out of the 1920s.

The city's elevated areas are not only accessed by walking up the sharply inclined streets. Aged funiculars punctuate the hillsides bringing passengers up and down Valparaiso for a few pesos. The rickety, wooden cliff railways are an experience in themselves, offering fabulous vistas of the area. The hillsides are home to one of the city's favorite attractions. Cerro Bellavista, the open air museum of abstract murals awaits those who venture upwards. We expected to find an exhibition of pieces gathered together, but much to our delight we were lead through the winding streets which were home to a plethora of murals and elaborate works of graffiti. These artworks, coupled with the brighly painted houses, help to make Valpariaso look like the bohemian epicentre that it is reputed to be.

After our few enchanting days spent in the city we returned to Santiago to await our outbound flight. South America represented a land of unfamiliar magic that I was sorry to be leaving. However, I looked forward with excitement at my arrival in New Zealand, the 'land of the long white cloud'.