As Monty Python sings " Always look on the bright side of life, de dum, de dum"

We say goodbye to Peru and approach the border where Lake Titikaka joins the shores of Bolivia. We survive a bus rise of approx 2 hours - we felt like we were in India. Why you ask? The road was pretty rough in places, with pot holes and mud on the road and our bus driver who loves weaving in and out of cars coming the other way, dodging pot holes as he went.

Along the way we saw farm villages and an extraordinary sight of a mini bus carrying about 15 people with what looked like half a dozen live sheep tied down on the top of the roof.

The best was yet to come though. As we said farewell to our bus driver, our administrative tour guide ushered us to a line which would be as long as the Tasman Bridge. We quickly found that a sense of humour was the best medicine or the alternative was to bribe a few authorities to jump the queue. As many of my family and friends know, this option was certainly out of ethical bounds for us, so the four of us, in pouring rain and intermittent sunshine, made the best of a bad situation with our passports ready.

When you know there's nothing much you can do, you just bear it. And, yes Poppy Ted and lil Chockie had to wait in line as well. In fact, Poppy Ted poked his head amongst some fellow travellers while they were sheltering under a plastic poncho and gave them a bit of a scare before they realised he wasn't going to harm them.

We shared stories in the line, watched beggars in the streets, took in the cooking smells - food which we couldn't possibly eat safety and as traditional aussies, got to laugh about our circumstances. Then we sobered our frivolity up when we considered we were the lucky ones to be where we were, travelling and experiencing things and also thought about the poor victims of Haiti and the utter trauma and loss of life they were experiencing.

All in all, it took about 3 hours in line until we got to the office where our passport had to be stamped and our Peruvian paperwork passed by the authorities. Then it was off to meet our tour guide who would host his city La Paz and what a sight we were in for.