Conection to India: Trip to New York. "World's Capital".

Flight

In the airport, I went with my Family and we had to wait a couple of hours for the boarding. Afterwards, the plain in which we were supposed to travel had some problems and they had to change it, so the departure was delayed for 1 hour. Ok, I did not mind!, I had something to read there. Also there was Wireless Internet in the Airport, which of curse I used!. Some of the policemen who were checking my bag were quite amazed regarding that I was going to India (As they saw the Book I was Reading). I think its understandable... India is a looooong way from our country!.

After a really fast trip from Medelln, I arrived at 1:30am to John F. Kennedy Airport in NYC (Acronym used for the Manhattan portion of New York). My uncle was waiting for me there and immediately we went to New Jersey, to be more exact to a small town called Patterson, which is about 1 hour from NYC.


Arrival

There I was received in one of my Uncle Sisters in Law and she offered me accommodation for the week I was going to stay in New York. It was amazing, they were really really nice to me. Also, it is very important to add here that the US customs and immigration were really nice to me, I even spoke with the immigration officer, who was a spanish-speaking woman about AIESEC.



There was also a Colombian Lady with a young girl who had a baby who were resident in the USA and I got to speak with them a little about the States a a place for living, they told me that they came here for opportunities, but that they were missing Colombia a lot... that life in the States was difficult and not as easy as everyone thinks it is. American dream?, actually not as dreamy as it seems. Anyway, they were terribly friendly with me, even allowed me to share their Luggage car to carry my bags in spite I was a stranger. Very typical of Colombians, that's why I love my country!.

New York, first Day

I did not have much time so I had to plan some things in advance and I decided, after resting the first day, to go the next day to NYC, to get to know the place. It took me almost 2 hours to get to Manhattan from the town I was in, because of the damn heavy traffic there was during the morning. At the end I arrived, bought a Map (quite expensive but really useful one, I must add) and started walking all over the city.

The first day, what I did the most, was actually to wander around the city and learn to read the map. My timeline was only from 10am to 4pm, as I had to return early to the town I was living in. So, I took a sight into the map and choose some clear and famous locations: ONU Headquarters, Empire States and Chrystler Buildinds, Madison Square Garden and the Public Library. Actually, to be hones, I just bumped into them from time to time while I was trying to get accustomed to reading the map. While walking at the beginning I saw a coffee shop... a guess?: Juan Valdez. This made me nostalgic about Colombia, but at the same time very happy!.

What I love the most from this day was the ONU and the Public Library, amazing!!!. You cannot imagine the culture within the Library and how excited I was when I saw the Colombian Flag in the ONU... moving towards and backwards with the wind... felt really proud of being a Colombian!. Also there was a pretty Interesting statue, of a Gun, whose end was doubled within, preventing itself to be fired, the sign of "No War".

The Chrystler building was kind of nice, although I am quite ignorant on architecture and only went there to take a couple of photos for Gaby, a member of our LC who really likes it. Also, when in the Empire States building I went all the way up to "The Observatory", which is only a fancy name for the terrace... what was there?, a really nice view of NYC. There I found a kind of nice Chinese student who was doing his master in an American University, who only asked me about Andres Escobar and an Indian lady with her Daughter that happened to be from Mumbai!.

Je, its really embarrassing to say, but my lunch that day was 3 Bananas that I happened to find around the streets of New York... Well, come on, I was walking all the time.

New York, Second Day.

After arriving from Ithaca, where I was visiting Cynthia, one of our beloved trainees, I had all day from 8am to visit the most strategic places in New York, as the next day I had to travel to India.

Then I decided to go:

The Twin Towers: Now there is a place called Ground Zero and there are just some Flips harts of the success and the planning that is being made to build two towers whose name I recall was something with "Liberty". Overall, there was nothing too see there... but I found some NYPD Police cars and took a photo of them!.
Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange and The Federal Reserve: Just normal buildings... its was weird, because those buildings had nothing special and most of the tourists were just taking lots of photos, I only took 1. By the way, the federal reserve were nowhere to be found!.

Central Park: A part in the north of Manhattan. Beautiful place!, birds, squirrels, Lakes... but it was soooo damn huge!, I even needed a toilet and had to walk like 2 miles through the park until finding one.

Chinatown:One of the places I liked the most... it was actually like being in China itself, they were even speaking in Chinnese all the time around!. For the anime lovers, I managed to find the best in action figures of the most popular anime series!. Je, they were expensive though so I did not buy even one.

Liberty Statue: Actually I just went to a balcony, near Ground Zero, where I could watch the Statue far away in the horizon... come on!, I was not going to go there, it was quite expensive and time-consumming, and its just a statue.

Natural Museum of History: I arrived here at 2pm and started going all the way around, reading interesting facts about nature and epochs during our history... until I realized this place was damn huge and I needed to hurry.... you cannot imagine the amount of information this Museum has... for me its the most significant place of New York City, the one people should dedicate an entire day, or even two, in order to be able to walk and read all this wonderful museum.

Subway: Just go there if you need to. If you are like me, who is used to clean, cosy and simple Medellin's Metro... then this will definitely give you the creeps. Its an underground train, a little bit dirty, but the best way of transportation within the city.

I must say although wanting to, was not able to go to Queens, Bronx or Staten Islands, that are also part of New York, like Manhattan.

My final thought (within my small recognition of 2 days around the city): Its a city, its nice, it has nice big screens, but "Its just a city". Best Places: Public Library and Museum, definitely.

Leaving to Airport

Next day my uncle and his Sister in Law gave me a ride to the Airport. The check-up was smooth, very systematized... and you now how I like that. While checking the bags, they told me I could take Aguardiente in my hand luggage, so I had to send my 38 kilos bag of Colombian Candy with the normal weight, but as it was marked with the TSA American signature I did not have to pay anything... Lucky!. While they were checking my bags, they discovered all the "Manillas" and little things I had from Colombian and I gave me some small "Empanaditas" to one of the ladies... as always, getting the world to know more about Colombia!.


You can find the entire set of content from NewYork: Photos - Video

My Next destination... India.