"When I was a kid I had one of those atlas globes that you almost never see in children’s playrooms anymore. Mine was the blow-up kind, and before it became a soccer ball, got punctured and thrown away, I’d sit and set it to spin, jabbing down with my  finger and wondering if I’d ever visit that country or another one distant day. Chile was hard to put a finger on. Perhaps that’s why it intrigued me the most. I’d spin and jab, and end up in the Pacific. Spin again and again until eventually I’d skewer Santiago, and thus somehow make it certain that one day I’d see it for myself.

It took almost 30 years, but last spring I finally made it..."

Extract from A taste of Chile, Getaway magazine, April 2016. —