Stuka,
I see from your details you are an airline pilot working in Santiago. Are you a Chilean citizen or an expat doing a stint in Latin America? What are the conditions like over there for pilots? Does the industry forecast the same boom forecasted for the Asia Pacific region?
Also, at the risk of sounding foolish,convalidating the licence or converting it. . you make it sound like it's just paper work that is required. Aren't there changeover exams and familiarisation exams to prove you at least understand the Air Law over there. Also I would be converting an Australian licence. .I wonder how that would be looked at?