There have been a few constants during our trip despite all the regular change that comes from travelling. Amber’s love for her Bunny is one, persistently exceeding our daily budget is another. What we have also noticed is our relentless ability to break and lose things. Accidents happen but it is a small wonder that our AirBnB reviews remain consistently positive – we ascribe much of this to Amber’s charm as it most certainly isn’t related to the trail of destruction we leave in our wake. And if we’re not breaking things we’re losing them instead – no doubt when you try to carry over 60kg of stuff around South America some of it will go missing, yet we’re still surprised by our ability to misplace.

So, in a slight detour from our typical blog entries here we have listed just a subset of the various items we’ve either broken or lost since August. Note 1: don’t tell our kind AirBnB hosts. Note 2: a reward for anyone who finds any of these lost items.

Item 1: Bunny

What happened: Lost twice, found twice

Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Mendoza, Argentina

Whose fault: Joint responsibility James and Claire in Rio, Amber in Mendoza (maybe a little harsh)

Details: Famously left in a taxi in Rio. Frantic phone calls and messages to Uber and our AirBnB host and an hour or two later Bunny magically reappeared at the front gates to our home. Crisis narrowly averted.

In Mendoza Amber has become very fond of carrying vast amounts of toys and other detritus whenever we leave the house. Stones, keys, finger puppets, hand wash and many others, often at the same time, accompany her in the stroller. It was on one such trip that Bunny fell off with no one seemingly noticing. After a panicky retracing of our steps we fortunately found Bunny covered in dirt in the middle of the pavement. Another crisis averted.

Item 2: Glass dining table

What happened: Completely smashed

Location: El Chalten, Argentina

Whose fault: James

Details: Probably the biggest, most dramatic breakage of them all. In an attempt to clean a large glass table I somehow managed to dislodge the 1 metre long piece of glass that worked as the table top. The glass subsequently fell through the middle of the table and shattered all over the floor of our cabin. Amber looked on in horror. I wondered if I could shift the blame to my daughter. Claire was rightfully incredulous. We were charged for replacing the glass, the first question from staff being “why?”

Item 3: Fridge shelf

What happened: Broken through inappropriate use of force

Location: El Chalten, Argentina again

Whose fault: James, again

Details: Sometimes I think I underestimate my own strength. All I was trying to do was move the fridge shelf to the next level higher to create space. The glass shelf broke in my hands. We hadn’t even had time to own up to this before I went and smashed the glass table as well. As such we spent quite a bit of time wondering if we could hide the evidence and pretend nothing happened. In the end we did the right thing and confessed to all.

Item 4: Wine glass

What happened: Shattered over a dining table

Location: Bariloche, Argentina

Whose fault: Amber

Details: At a very early age Amber has become very good at participating in a round of “cheers” while having a drink. In one particular instance though she thrust her beaker with such force towards her Nana that the targeted wine glass shattered all over the dining table. Just for the record with all this broken glass Amber has to date remained unscathed.

Item 5: Italian style coffee maker

What happened: Internal parts melted

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Whose fault: Claire

Details: Probably the most important thing to remember when using an Italian style coffee maker is to ensure you put water in the bottom section before placing on the hob. When you don’t you melt its entire insides as well as the handle rendering it useless and permeating the property with the smell of burnt plastic.

Item 6: Kitchen sink (yes, we broke everything including the kitchen sink)

What happened: Disconnected from sealant

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Whose fault: James

Details: Again primarily broke due to aggressive cleaning. More specifically the result of enthusiastic use of a plunger causing the sink to come away from the work surface. In my defence there was already some serious wear and tear but regardless breaking things by cleaning them is a habit I need to stop.

Item 7: Clay pot

What happened: Handle broken off

Location: Cordoba, Argentina

Whose fault: Amber

Details: Has the record for quickest ever breakage upon entering new property. Within 1 minute of arriving at our house in Córdoba Amber had knocked a small clay pot off a shelf and broken its handle off. This was met with her usual response in the face of mild peril, a slightly coy “oh nooo”

Item 8: Building door key

What happened: Fell out of shorts while running

Location: Mendoza, Argentina

Whose fault: James

Details: The one time I run in shorts with no zip up back pocket and I lose a key meaning neither of us can enter or exit the apartment building without badgering other residents. Fortunately the disruption was kept to a minimum thanks to a responsive AirBnB host. In what could possibly be the most fruitless search ever undertaken I attempted to retrace my steps through the streets of Mendoza in the vague hope I would stumble across it. Needless to say the search was called off almost as soon as it had started.

Item 9: Two separate sets of crayons

What happened: Mysteriously disappeared

Location: Montevideo, Uruguay and Ushuaia, Argentina

Whose fault: Nobody knows, can probably blame Amber though

Details: Few details as these losses remain a complete mystery. We suspect that Amber (who has a perverse love for putting things inside other things) placed these crayons in a shoe or a bin or a cupboard or somewhere out of sight and they were subsequently missed during our frenzied packing sessions.

Item 10: Rental car

What happened: Battery died

Location: Punta Ballena, Uruguay

Whose fault: James

Details: It is law (albeit not particularly well enforced) in Uruguay to always have your headlights on whether driving during the day or night. No guesses for knowing where this is going… one morning I went to our rental car only to discover that I had left the headlights on overnight and drained the battery. Hugely schoolboy error but one we managed to extract ourselves from with minimal fuss. A call to our host and just 20 mins later a guardian angel in the form of a man with a battery and some cables came by to get us up and running again. All at no cost. Phew.

Final scores

1. Butterfingers – James with 6 items lost or broken
2. Accident prone – Amber with 4 items lost or broken
3. Safe pair of hands – Claire with 2 items lost or broken