When we were in Santiago just over a week ago, we had no idea the city was in chaos, nor did we prepare ourselves with the state of emergency announced by the Chile president the day before we flew out. In fact, we loved the city and had tons of fun taking our boys to kids museum, playground, parks, supermarkets, and the cable car to see Santiago's sky line.

They finally got some quality play time after weeks’ rough treks in the desert, mountain and canyon.

Images above were taken at Mirador Interactive Museum, and Bicentenario Park, two of our favorite places.

The above image is one of my favorite in Bicentenario Park, a modern green space where our little ones had a nice stroll with us before sunset. Apollo even volunteered to pose for me (very rare these days) by running toward my camera. (Learn my fool-proof strategy to capture candid style photos)

Has anyone heard of KidZania? It's great space for children to learn and have fun from realistic role play through dozens of jobs. Apollo and I had a mommy-son time one day, hanging out there for 3+ hours.

We were both completely clueless in Spanish, and had to figure out how to "survive". Apollo made multiple attempts introducing himself with fellow kids, trying to identify an English speaker so he could tag along. That didn't work.

Later he simply observed and mimicked what his neighbors did, and successfully completed quite a number of jobs. Most importantly, he made his first chocolate bar, and ice cream!

I later learned that KidZania was founded by a fellow alumnus (from Kellogg School of Management in Northwestern University), and is already expanding in many countries in the globe. Kudos to such a wonderful concept!

To say we had a good time in Santiago would be totally understated, despite Chile president declared state of emergency due to riots in Santiago during the week we stayed. That’s completely another story.

See more posts about our family trip in Chile.

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