Grandma and Grandpa Arrive

I have been busy with work and my folks arrived on Wednesday so I haven't had time to blog.  My Mom has been taking some photos and I finally got copies so no more excuses here we go.....

They arrived without any issues except that my Mom did not sleep on the airplane but apparently she never does.  After a quick nap, we headed to pick up the kids at school, have lunch at a cafe, settle them in their apart hotel (the same one my in-laws stayed at), leave my Mom to rest, and then head to the Estadio for the afternoon activities.

Thursday and Friday the kids did not have school for Sukkot (a Jewish holiday) so we headed off to do some touristy things.   The thought was to go to San Cristobal and go up the funicular.  What we didn't realize was that the public transportation system is not ADA-compliant even the main station downtown that has some elevators has stairs for the last part of the way out.  By the time we got to the hill my Dad was already not a happy camper (he has a bad back/leg/something that has yet to be defined).  Last time we were there we did not stop at the zoo half way up the hill because it was super crowded and the guide books said it was pretty crummy.  We decided to do it this time and were pleasantly surprised.  It had all of the key Chilean animals including penguins, birds, the llama and its cousins, and the mara that we already saw at the Buenos Aires zoo.

Goin' up

What are they doing in Chile?

Ah - they belong in Chile -  Magellanic penguins (right - Max?) 

What we failed to think about was that a zoo on a hill would inevitably have stairs so after a bit of a stroll my Dad decided to take a nap on a bench.  Luckily there were no coins in his hat we we caught up with him so he must have blended in well with the scenery.

We headed all the way up the hill for a quick peak before heading down and grabbing some lunch.  At the top we saw a Brazilian tour group that my father briefly joined.  He is studying Portuguese right now and was pleasantly surprised to get a brief immersion.  After the group split up to walk around he made small talk with the guide and realized that he was also learning Hebrew (he was an evangelical and was studying to take a trip to Israel and be a tour guide for Israelis here).  So we ended up speaking a combination of Spanish, English, Portuguese, and Hebrew with him.  We headed down the hill and ate a typical Chilean lunch (at 2:30) in the Bellavista neighborhood at the foot of the hill - the neighborhood is a combination of a touristy area and a hip nighclub/bar area.  We headed home and showed up as Marcela was preparing dinner - we saved it for Friday because we were stuffed.

Friday we decided to visit Rob at his work and then head to a museum close to his work.  We got a late start and Rob had a phone call at noon so we did a quick tour and a coffee before heading to the MIM (Museo Interactivo Mirador).

The highlight of the visit to La Catolica for the kids - my parents have now had the pleasure of tasting both types of Chilean soda.  Once is enough.....really.

The MIM is sort of like an Exploratorium/Museum of Science and Industry but placed in a part of the city that is not part of the tourist scene.  We had three adults and three children so we divided and conquered and fun was had by all.  My Dad did a robotics workshop with Jonathan - they had a choice to learn about robots used in the mining or forestry industry.  Dan - you'll be happy to know that he chose forestry.

Not sure the purpose of this but it was fun to run through

My Mom'a favorite part - there she is with Renee!

Renee and Elisa

Saturday we headed to the Estadio for pilates (me), gymnastics (Renee and Elisa), tennis (Jonathan), coffee (grandpa, grandma, Rob and Sarah).

Estadio

Jonathan playing on clay (oh yeah, and some mountains)

After lunch, Jonathan and Elisa went to Tzieri-Ami (the youth group that meets at school) and Renee, Grandma, Grandpa and I went to a high end craft show in Las Condes - Artesanos - that featured artists from Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia with the "Arte Organico" theme.  Renee really liked one artist that specialized in wood.

Grandpa noted that she must have been brought in from central casting - pretty neat to watch!

Renee liked the wood the best

Given that we had babysitters, Rob and I went finally went out to eat at THE vegetarian restaurant in Santiago - El Huerto.  I was almost brought to tears as I read through the menu - definitely my best meal so far in this town and a really nice ambiance in a great neighborhood as well.

Today (Sunday), Jonathan had to get together with a kid from school for a project and Renee went over as well to play with his older sister who is in Renee's grade while the grandparents, Elisa and I checked out a local Farmers Market where the strawberries are looking amazing (although my Mom focused on the artichokes).  We had both for lunch including some fresh bread purchased on the walk home.  We split up in the afternoon and the grandparents "took" Jonathan and Rob to the train museum in Parque Quinta Normal which was a contrast from the art fair the day before.  It is a park where working class families picnic and hang out on weekends and the place that I noted earlier had great graffiti.

This same picture has been taken in 35 other countries ;-)

On one of the old trains

Apparently my Mom did not want to take a picture of the graffiti that said "Yankees Go Home"  This is more interesting.

A boy with his Grandpa's hat

I took Renee, Elisa and a friend of Renee's (a daughter of one of Rob's colleagues) to Mall Sport which is basically a mall devoted to sporting goods and adventures.  They have a rock climbing wall which was our initial destination, an artificial wave for surfing and a lot more.  Renee and Rosario first went on the climbing wall and then I could not resist these balls that you go in and play on water without getting wet.  It is hard to explain so I uploaded this video.

Rosario in the "ball"

It was a pretty tall wall - they did great.

The grandparents are off on their own adventure for the next few days and then Thursday and Friday, when the kids have yet even more days off for Sukkot, we're going to head out of town for an adventure or two.  Perhaps I'll get a guest blog out of them.