Crossing over a South American border in a white Cadillac sounds like a bit of a dream right? Well, not quite. We did it from Chile to Peru and it was preceded by two hours of quiet panic.

In the Northern Chilean town of Arica we were standing in a bus station trying to figure out how to get to Peru. A man approached us in a rush to get us into his nearby office. My first thought was that he looked exactly like a stereotypical used car salesman.

As we followed him like confused sheep the bus driver who had brought us to Arica approached us, talking under his breath so the salesman couldn't hear him. It seemed like he was trying to warn us but he was speaking fast Spanish and we didn't catch a word.

Inside the salesman's office I noticed none of the posters on the walls had anything to do with crossing the border. He said to us straight away: "Passport numbers?" I said: "No, un momento por favor. Cuanto cuesta? (How much?)" Dodgy looking men stood at the counter, their purpose was fairly unclear and they made me nervous. Somehow we ignored all the signs and bought a border crossing off him, and a ticket on to Cusco in Peru.

I then spent the two hour wait fretting. I was sure we were part of a scam. I grew so paranoid about getting dumped in the middle of the desert that I put all my valuables in my small pack and clung to it. They would have to fight me for the good stuff.

The two hours seemed like five as I imagined how it could all go so wrong. Then our driver arrived in all his Ali G glory and took us to an office to hand over our passport information. He asked me if I wanted to give him my stuff to put in the car. No gracias. No way in hell.

As we approached the car, I was massively relieved to see three Chilean grannies in the back seat. There they were with their matching perms and tracksuits, their leather handbags on their laps. I could have kissed them. The sight of them ensured me that we were in safe hands.

Okay, so he drove about 130 kmh across the border. I'm guessing at the pace because of course the speedo was unhooked. But the rusty white Cadillac was just classic. What a way to travel, hurtling along on bench seats.

Next stop: Without a doubt the most harrowing part of the trip. Thirty-two hours on various buses to get to Cusco. Tune in for that debacle.

Check out more photos from my trip in my Flickr album.

Find out about Chile and Peru.

Read more of Kelly's blogs.