El Museo Interactivo Mirador

Ok if you've already read the previous post you know that I'm so impressed with this museum that I feel it deserves its own post.  Everything online said that this was a must see if you are in Santiago with your kids.  I even joked with my mom about how crazy I am.  like who brings their kids to the other side of the equator for a day at a kids museum when there is one less than 15 minutes away in her home city....?! Apparently that crazy woman is me!  To be honest I expected it to be good.  Good like the children's museum in Atlanta. As Americans I think we tend to think our shit is the best.  Everything we have is the best because, well because it's American.  I think my travels have taught me not to assume that.  I expect Chile's to be equally as good.  I did not expect the best freakin' museum in the history of children's museum.  The place was huge and touched on all things science.  I remember attending a similar museum in my youth growing up in NYC however this was much more... Much much more!! They made everything hands on, feet on, body in...  interactive was an understatement.  Through movement and experiment they taught about the advanced Chilean mining industry, transformation of energy, all things electro magnetic. How they have earthquake proofed their very shaky country, micro organism, what the brain is made of and how energy flows through it.  The spectrums of light. I could go on and on.  The young staff who worked there was knowledgable and friendly. There were a ton of school groups and as Rueben warned us we did get plenty of curious, harmless stares.

Here is a compilation video of the kids interacting in the museum.  Toward the end poor Dude was on overload and couldn't contain himself with so many amazing things happening around him. 

http://youtu.be/9Rc-43ni2_k

Ok here are a couple of cute stories about the curious stares and attention we've been getting.  While being greeted at the entrance the guide (who saw me coming toward her in advance) welcomed me warmly with a smile and informative pamphlet.... in Portuguese! She assumed we were Brazilian.  Even though I do speak, read Portuguese I wanted to make this a teachable moment for her to not assume. " Portuguese?! But we are American do you have anything in English or Spanish?!"  She blushed and gave me 2 of the same pamphlet, one in English the other in Spanish.  Im sure she went and shared her shock with the rest of the employees there.  Hehehe!  

My favorite moment however was a girl who I'm guessing was about 12 walking up to me big and bold.  Looking me dead in my eyes "De que pais viene Ud.?" (What country are you from? Using the Spanish formal and respect for of addressing adults and strangers) "soy de Estado Unidos, hablo ingles espanol y viajo el Mundo." (I'm from the United States, I speak Enlgish, Spanish, and I travel the world".). She smiled at me satisfied, and then stood a while to be able to look at me close up.  You have know idea how much I loved the audacity of this young girl child!!! "De donde pensaste que era?" (Where did you think I was from- I asked?) now I was the curious one.  "Ecuador" she said matter-of-factly.  She smiled at me again, turned on her heels and disappeared into the sea of Chilean school children. I giggled to myself, I assumed she thought I was Brazilian like the museum greeter.  Guess I have no business assuming either!!! After the giggle to myself I felt all fuzzy inside thinking of my first study abroad in Ecuador in 1996, my loving host family there that I still communicate with regularly and completely adore.  And I also thought about my first encounter with the Afro-Ecuadorean population, the Esmeraldas (the emeralds).  If I had to be mistaken for a member of this bad ass group of revolting Africans well then I'm honored.  

We ate lunch at the museum, hung out for another hour, then left to return to our BNB to rest.  We could have easily sonar anothe 2 hours there.... easy.  At one point I was thinking to myself," how can we hide in here, to, ya know, spend the night. So we can keep playing..." The kids were exhausted and needed to chill in chile.  We bought a MIM refrigerator magnet to remind us of the good times and we left satisfied with lots of great memories.  We walked a block before I decided on taking a taxi.  Dude was too tired to walk to the station and with so many taxis whizzing by, I figured it was a good decision for all.  Our taxi was another pleasant guy who talked about his life in Chile and how proud he was to have traveled throughout this loooong skinny country.  He was a very pleasant guy and only charges of $1000 peso which is less than $2 USD.  

As soon as he dropped us off we headed up the ramp to enter the metro station two old ladies who may have stood 4 foot 7 inches each were walking with their arms linked.  This lil old ladies were slow, and frail using each other for walking support.  As little dude bounced about next to them in all his 5 year old happy gitters the old lady closest to him reached over and started rubbing his head.  She felt ever nap and curl and started giggling like a tweenager. "It's divine", she said en espanol, "so many tiny curls!  It's just perfect!"  I too laughed at her excitement and said to her in Spanish ,"you just couldn't resist it could you?!" Shaking my head.  "No, no I couldn't!!" She said as she reached up and rubbed Zane's head in the same fashions his time even more tickled that I called her out and that we understood her excitement.  One of the main reason I travel:  to see the unfamiliar, and to let the unfamiliar see me! #missionaccomplished

We caught the train back home, but stopped for pizza on the way. For $6 we got a large cheese pizza, 7 BBQ wings, 5 bread sticks, and a 2 liter fanta.   My heart smiled at the exchange rate playing In our favor.  After our expensive trip to Zurich last month I was relieved to say the least!  

On the way home from the pizzeria I saw post cards and decided to but some for my peeps in my mailing list.  I can't afford to buy everyone a t-shirt from my travels but postcards are in the budget!  The store sales lady was also curios about us.  Where are you from?  Why chile? For how long?  Why do briefly?  Do you like it?  I've gotten a lot of "why Chile?!" From curious locals.  It seems like they didn't realize the rest of the world is aware or interested in their existence.  Little did they know there are more of me, many have already come and many more will in the future.

Now we are back at the BNB chilling, on wifi, talking, playing games.  The kids are watching Cartoon Network en Espanol and like we always do we just loving on each other.  

Oh yea I just took a shower.  The water temperature ranges from peal your skin off hot to scream out for mercy cold.  I opted to introduce the world to a brand new layer of baby fresh skin. 

Also I'm so happy I listened to the voices in my head that told me to bring my my outlet adapter.  They use the European two circle outlets here.  I would have had a tragic tragic situation over here if I couldn't recharge my phone etc. 

Chi-chi-chi-le-le-le!!!

We had a great rest on the plane.  I woke up first, ate my eggs sandwiches breakfast and checked on my sweethearts.  Dude was up next, he listened to music and looked out the window for a long time.  The mountain view was captivating I must admit.  Zane slept until we were on the ground.  I prefer to let him sleep as long as possible when we are travel, and at home. So I don't have to deal with Mr Grumpy.  Both boys refused to eat breakfast, so I was like, whatever I tried.  The flight attendant repeated over and over again how strict the Chileans are about bringing "undeclared" food into the country and walked us through how to fill out the customs form.  It made me a little nervous because I can't afford to make a mistake that could get me fined.  Oh no!  The flight crew said if you are caught bringing in a granola bar they would fine you heavily. Geez Louise!!! I quadruple checked that we didn't have anything edible.  Luckily that all went smoothly.  Before passing thirty immigration I exchanged money $1USD = $598 Chilean pesos.  Yey baby!!!  Since we don't check bags we breezed through immigration and customs without any problems.  We moved so quickly in daddy that combined with the flight arriving early, we were outside the airport 20 minutes before our agreed upon pick up time.  As we stood among the crowd of waitingg taxi drivers, hostel managers, and anxious family members we got plenty of offers to be taken to our BNB.  One taxi guy was nice enough to call the BNB from bus cell phone.  He told us the driver was in the way and if I needed anything he would be close by.  My travel angels never fail me.  I'm forever awed and grateful for their guidance and care.  

Just as our new friend informed us our taxista Reuben, arrived shortly.  The drive to the BNB was about 30 minutes.  In those 30 minutes Reuben and I laughed our asses off and he gave me the low-down  on his country straight and to the point.  Here are highlights of that conversation. 

- chile is not a racist society but definitely classist, race does however run loosely along those lines, here's why...

- first off chile is a homogenous society, "we all look the same" until after WW2 many Germans came here with money and created a high wealthy class.  So the wealthy are more blonde and "straight nosed" like their rich German ancestors. 

- The first black people Chileans have authentically been exposed to have been in the last 5 years with many Haitians and Domincans coming to a stronger economy to escape poverty.

- the Chileans are peaceful, loving, happy people so they have welcomed these immigrants who are "ya golpeado" (already beat-up, like suffering) and no one wants to make them suffer more. Of course like in any society you'll find a jerk in the crowd, but that is not the main mindset of the Chilean people

-people will stare at you because we still don't see many black people and your hair is different, and you're pretty.  (I liked that last part)

- the classism is like a thermometer.  Starting from the airport to the mountain tops.  Close to the airport is 1 star living, in the mountains it's 5 stars, my hotel will be 2 1/2 stars on that scale.  

- Ehen asked about Chile's frequent intense earth quakes he compared it to the end of times.  "The end of the world is going to start right here in Chile with a monster earthquake.  When you hear in the news from the USA that chile has been wipes off the face if the earth, you need to know you all are next!"  He laughed so hard at this comment and I too cracked up right along with him!!!

 

I cannot stress how pleasant Reuben was.  Once we got to the BNB we were warmly greet by Ignacio.  Ignacio now a BNB owner is also a university professor of anthropology.  He is divorced with 2 adult daughters, but has remarried a Cubana and they have a daughter together plus her son who just arrived from Cuba 2 weeks ago.  He jokes and played with the kids, he's a pretty funny guy actually, and he served us light sandwiches and hot chocolate I. The main dining area.  He rattled off a list of other guest at the BNB a Russian, a swiss chick, a guy from Taiwan, a Chilean from another city, and some others I forgot.  I look forward to meeting them all!!

We hung out for a while, dropped off out bags, and got directions from Gladys the BNB housekeeper.  Before our arrival I google searched things for kids in Chile. The first thing I saw was El Museo Interactivo Mirador, it had great reviews and looked good enough for me.  Gladys' directions were perfecto!  We walked 5 minutes to the closest metrostation. Went 2 stops then transferred to the #5 line and got off at mirador station.  We walked 10 minutes from there.  The museum blew my mind!!! Our minds!!! It was better than amazing.  It deserves it own post so until then please enjoy these vids of our BNB and metro experience. 

 http://youtu.be/MFWWNO0L-Jk

http://youtu.be/E28jDx6zWQk

Santiago de Chile

Next up in line of countries that have chosen us is Chile.  Last year when I initially asked the boys if they wanted to go to Chile. Dude immediately was excited to go to what he hear as "chik-fil-a"!!  I took me 3 days to make him understand that Inhad said Chile, the country not Chik-fil-a the fast food restaurant. Well last year even though is gotta the wheels moving it just wasn't meant to be.  We were hosting Yuko, my sister-in-law's sister, from Toyko and the $160 per person visa fee would have thrown our yearly travel budget off.... Way off!! So at that time it just wasn't meant to be.  In retrospect, as always, these things turn out for the best.  I would have been thoroughly furious if I'd paid $480 in visa fees, only for the visa requirement to be lifted months later in February 2014!!!  So now that the visa is no longer a concern chile has been placed firmly in our path.  

So far things look great.  We have book a very cute room at Providencia Bed and Breakfast (using AirBNB) for $60 a night including breakfast.  The BNB host Ignacio will also pick us up from the airport for $34.  We are on board, wheels are up, and it looks like we are close enough to touch the big heavy moon bangling in the sky.  The flight is exactly 9 hours and 4 minutes (as announced 45 tjmea in English and Spanish, lol) we will get there at approximately 9:30 am Chilean time. 

Initially we were assigned seats in the bulk head, but that didn't work for us.  The kids couldn't touch the screen and the armrests couldn't go up forbids younger comfortable.  After talking to the flight attendant she found three vacant window double seats for us.  The flight was only like 70% full.  So we sat together for a while then laid out in our double seats when it was time to sleep 

Check my music playlist, ha!!

The Andes Mountains 

From Zurich to Atlanta

Our last morning in Switzerland, Monday September 2, started early.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30am, and the airlines recommends arriving 3 hours befor departure.  So with us having to be there at 8:30 I thought it was safest for us to wake up at 7am, leaving the hotel by 7:45am.  Since we do not check bags during our travels I figured we could arrive at the airport by 8:45-9 without pushing our luck.

We woke up, quickly dressed in the clothes I laid out the night before.  We took our bags with us to breakfast so we could check out immediately and head to then hauptbahnhof (train station).  After eating we said our goodbyes tonthenrecwption Ladina and she was gracious enough to let me take a picture with her and a picture of her looooong beautiful dreadlocks.

Once again we opted to walk to the hauptbahnhof instead of taking the bus.  On our walk the boys said good bye to their favorite German word, einfahrt, that we saw everyday on the McDonald's sign.  I'm pretty sure it means drive-thru but the kids could care less they loves that the word ended in "fahrt".  What am I going to do with these kids?!

Zane also insisted that intake pictures of he giant slugs scattered all over the sidewalk.  Unlike anything he's seen in Atlanta, they totally creeped him out and he spend mostbofbthebwalk hopping from foot to foot in an attempt to avoid stepping on them.

With the help of some kind strangers I bought our train tickets from the machine.  I was hoping that on the last day I would be able to do it independently but even with the instructions in English I couldn't find the option to buy a ticket to the flughafen (airport) from winterthur.  Once in the train we stared out the window for our last glimpses of beautiful Switzerland and took usies.

As planned we arrived very early to the flughafen.  As soon as I arrived I found the airport post office and sent off postcards to loved ones in the US. Our postcards took 2 months to arrive to the US from Guatemala so I wonder how long it will take get to us from Swtizerland?  How long do you think?  

Once don't with the postcards, we didn't check bags but had to through two layers of security, and take a train in order to get to the terminal.  In Switzerland before boarding the plane you must have a face-to-face exit interview.  This is something is never experienced before with international travel.  This questioning happens with the adjacent gate at a booth with an airport agent.  Her questions included: did anybody give you anything here in the airport? Who used your electronic devices while in Switzerland? Are you carrying anything that can be used as a weapon?  Once I was answered all the questions the agent places stickers on or passports and we were allowed to board. Non-coincidentally our return seats were the exact seats we sat in on our way to Zurich.  

It was the perfect weekend getaway and I look forward tonreturninng to switzerland in the future hopefully to Geneva, on the French side. 

A rainy day in Zurich

Despite rain in the weather forecast we woke up happy and ready to see Zurich. We headed down to the hotel dining room at 8am and we had a European style self-served breakfast.  The food selection included yogurt, croissants, 3 varieties of cereals (corn flakes, chocolate puffs, or granola).  There was also sliced bread you could toast, a variety of cheeses, cold cuts, and jams, hot drinks, and apple or orange juice.  The boys chose cereal but didn't like it served with the room temperature milk.  Since I didn't want them to start off the day hungry I made then grilled cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate, that seemed to please them.  I on the other hand ate a croissant & strawberry yogurt.  The other guests in the cafeteria were from all over, judging by language and appearances there were from UK, Spain, India, west Africa, and china.   After breakfast we returned to the room for to rest for another hour. 

Today instead of take the $15 bus for 3 blocks, we decided to walk.  The walk was easy and cool and the street were Sunday-morning calm.  

We walked to the winterthur train station and I somehow figured out how to purchase the train pass to zurich's main train station. We were on the platform and within minutes were on the train to Zurich.  The ride lasted about 15 minutes.  We passed neighborhoods, farms, and warehouses.  

The main train station in Zurich was big and busy.  

At first we were turned around unsure of where to go.  Finally I remembered the Zurich city map Ladina (the hotel receptionist) gave me the previous day.  We sat down at a cafe for a while to use the WCs (bathrooms) and to look at the map.  Thankfully everything was in walking distance from where we were.  The only thing I was sure I wanted to do was a boat tour of lake Zurich.  

As soon as we left the cafe we headed to a park near the national museum and saw people waiting at a boat stop.  We decided to get in line too.  While waiting we saw this cool car and took pix with the museum ads.  The boat ride was free because it was included in the train pass.  From what I could tell, you purchase tickets for permission to pass through zones.  The passage includes all

Means for public transportation, including boat, but is only valid for 2-3 hours unless you buy a day pass.  

The boat ride lasted 50 minutes and was quick enjoyable.  The boat was very flat perhaps only 2 feet above the waters surface.  We passed under very low bridges that impossible to fit under dude was convinced that we were really in a submarine.

Once we got off the low-boat we walked to the old town in the drizzling rain.  It was getting cold and the rain was coming down harder by the minute.  I was definitely looking for a way for us to continue or exploration through the city without get wet.  We quickly hurried back to the main train station and as soon as we walked in I saw the tourist info station.  If anyone could point me in the right direction they could.  Before speaking to an agent I picked up post cards, SWISS chocolate, and a cute Swiss Army knife for me!  The tourist agent recommended that we take the #3 bus to the doldenhaus station, then get onto the doldenbahn train to dolden grand where we could look over Zurich and take pretty pictures.  So that is exactly what we did.  The tour continues but instead of walking we were in the city electric bus.

Zurich is truly swiss.  I didn't know what that mean until I had the chance to see it for myself.  In my travels around the world I often meet people from Switzerland, I often ask them "eres swiss aleman or swiss francais?" (Are you German swiss or French swiss, referring to the region and language that they are from in Switzerland).  From what I see that question, although relevant is not defining enough because Switzerland seems like the love child of a French mom and German dad.  I see the same order and calmness of Germany here, but the passion and affection of the French.  I sweet combo for a sweet land and culture.  I look forward to going to the French side someday to even further observe and reflect on their culture and customs. 

Once we got to the look -out point the rain was coming down hard.  The lookout was not as clear as I hoped it would be, perhaps because of the dreary weather and fog.  After exploring the area we followed signs that led us to a very upscale hotel. Yikes!  Unsure if we were guest or not the concierge offered us umbrellas and pointed in the direction of another over look.  This one was a little nicer but not mind blowing enough to stay in the rain! We returned the umbrella, returned to the main Zurich train station and headed back to winterthur. In

Winterthur the rain was coming down even harder.  I bought an umbrella for our walk home $16 CHF!!!  Please remind me to pack ponchos for our next trip. 

We walked home and hung out in the hotel watching Cartoon Network in German. 

Our last stop for the night was dinner at a nearby dinner, a stop at the gas station to buy snacks and lego cars, then back to bed early so we could wake up at 7am to catch our flight back home. 

Here are video clips of our rainy day in Zurich. 

http://youtu.be/wK4DmaIiAOU