Our first outing in the city was to Artequin. This art museum was closed all of February, so we only had a few days to get there. Brandon had to work all week, so I put on my brave face and took the children to the museum. I may have been brave to take them, but I was not brave enough to conquer public transportation solo, so I ordered an Uber.

Missionary Moment

I had a neat experience on the drive there. As we drove through the city, Evelyn spotted some missionaries for our church and said, “Look! It’s the missionaries!” The cab driver then said in Espanol, “Mormones?” I said, “Si.”

He then proceeded to ask me all sorts of questions about our faith and what we believe, The first one made me laugh when he asked, “Mormons don’t get married, right?”

I explained that we were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons.) I then told him we that we do get married and that families are central to God’s plan.

Keep in mind, he only knew a tiny bit of English and I only knew a little bit of Spanish, so this 20 minute conversation to the art museum happened using Google Translate! He would speak spanish into the app, I would read what it said. Then I would answer by typing my response into the app and then read it to him in Spanish with a very Gringo accent.

It was a testament to me that God can work in mysterious ways and that even with a language barrier, gospel conversations can happen!

The Museum

The building itself was a work of art. It was built in France in 1889 and then transported to Chile. It was built the same year as the Eiffel Tower!  We were practically the only ones there. We played outside on the modern art playground for a while and then headed in for an art lesson!

I taught them all about Monet and Van Gogh as we looked at replicas of their paintings. I enjoyed myself so much and was so happy I took art history back in high school.

The museum staff pulled out some coloring  pages and these amazing crayons that all 4 of us sat down and enjoyed.

After we were finished coloring and needed some fresh air (no air conditioning), we walked across the street to explore the Parque Quinta Normal. There was a large promenade lined with palm trees and other museums.

Everyone was hungry, so I bought some Doritos from a stand (I don’t even know how much they were!) and we stopped to eat them in the shade in front of the National Museum of History.

We called an Uber to pick us up and headed back to our hotel to cool off in the pool.