The city of Valdivia is located in Chile, South America, 841 km south of its capital city Santiago. I moved to Valdivia early in 2004 to participate in the development of a new animal facility to generate and house genetically modified mice at the Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECs). The facility was inaugurated a year later (2005). I was initially hired as one of two laboratory animal technicians and I undertook to train new staff without formal education in the subject. Eventually I became the manager of the facility, with responsibility for the use of resources (people, animals, money, equipment, etc.) efficiently and effectively in order to achieve certain goals. In this presentation I will tell you about the problems faced as an animal facility manager in Latin America, but also about achievements. Among the last was the accreditation awarded by AALAC to our facility in mid-2012, which converted us in the first internationally accredited animal facility in Chile and one of the few to enjoy this distinction in Latin America.