I was looking at the map of Korea I a few weeks ago and I found out that there is a Latin American Cultural Center and Museum about 1 hour away from my beloved Seoul.   Since I am Latin American and adventurous by nature, I decided to head out and explore!

The Korean Tourism Organization posted an article about it and I followed the directions to the letter.

I got on bus 333 from Samsong Station.

Then I got off at Goyangdong shijang (Goyang Market)

This is where the fun begins.

I had absolutely no idea where to go. I looked at the road panels but there was no sign of the center.

So I walked around for a little bit, say 20 minutes. Went back to where I started. I asked a few high school students if they spoke English and if they knew where the cultural center was. All they did was blush, laugh nervously and run away as fast as they could. As if I was an alien that landed in South Korea. Well, technically and literally I am an alien because it says so on my residency card 🙂

So I remembered that the KTO has a Tourist Information Hotline 1330. You can call that number 24/7. God bless them because they stopped me from giving up. I was thinking of going back home!

A nice representative answered my call and I explained to her my situation and where I was. She asked me if there was anyone around that she could talk to but whenever I did they just walked faster or said no with their hands. I was walking at that point and I saw a police car on the street and an officer (the driver) was getting ready to leave. So the rep asked me to hand my phone to him!

They exchanged a few words and then he gave it back. He said to me (in perfect English): “Please miss, get in the car”. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought to myself “Oh kimchi, what did I do?” He opened the back door and I got in. They started driving.

The officer spoke to his colleague (who really didn’t look happy at all, that’s the one on the right side) and I am ready to bet you that they must have said something like “dumb foreigner who gets lost” ha ha

We rode for about 10 to 15 minutes and to my surprise they took me to the right place! They escorted me right to the entrance. Talk about “to serve and protect” and help clueless travelers!

Now since I was sitting in the back seat, there was no handle on the door. I was looking for it and he said “wait a moment, let me open the door”. Ha ha It was the first time & hopefully the last one inside a police car.

Without them I would have never found it!

After this little episode, I was able to be able to enjoy the main attractions.

Doesn’t this remind of you of Mexico?

A wall of jars is next to the gate. How cool is this? Quite original!

One of the most incredible sites is this Mayan mural.

Can you believe this is in Korea?

I learned that a Korean Ambassador lived in various countries in Latin America for 30 years. He and his wife collected paintings, sculptures, artefacts and brought them back to Korea. They created a museum to showcase and educate Koreans about the fascinating history and culture.

If you want to see more pictures, check out my photo album on Facebook.

I hope you enjoyed this post that nearly turned into a mini-novel! 😉

Will show you another great place I went to last week. Love making new discoveries.

Until next time!

Lots of love always,

Kay xoxo