But it looks so close on a map.

Australian travellers have a certain amount of arrogance.  We take great pride in our deadly animals and the magnitude of the country.   You have to drive for eleven hours to get to my sister’s house.  We knew that South America was big but as Australians we looked at the maps and thought, We’re from Australia, we could walk to Buenos Aires.

We’re border hoppers.  It’s too difficult to get a one year visa for the whole family so every three months we have to cross the border to renew our tourist visas.  Our trip to Mendoza was for the benefit of our passports and we learnt just how big South America is.  It was an eye opener for budgeting and travel time.  We’re planning our next jaunt over the border and there are only a few easy places to cross into Argentina.  Peru is 26 hours by bus (or a second mortgage by air), Bolivia’s crossing is a series of goat tracks marked by landmarks.    Turn right where the Sanchez’s farm used to be.

I think that most guide books are written for single or couple travellers but we’ve since learnt that even though children are smaller they are charged the same as adults for bus seats and beds in hostels.  We are in the process of finding jobs for the kids so they can pay their own way.

We chuckle at the common sense approach to safety here.  ‘Litigation’ is a gringo term and I think it’ll be some time before it enters the Chilean dictionary.  This next photo shows a path wide enough for two to walk abreast but don’t lean on the handrail…  

Indiana + scissors + cereal boxes = a new guardian angel to watch over us.

The streets of Valparaíso are like and ever changing canvas.  We see new art work pop up all the time.