On our second day in New York City, we had reservations at 11:00 am that the Museum of Natural History. It was a long walk to the museum and we didn’t know if we would be there in time for our reservation. We didn’t know if there would be any penalty or anything if we got there late so we were walking really fast, almost like power walking. There was no point in walking that fast because I don’t think they even looked at the time when we got there, but walking this fast did something to my knee and it hurt for the rest of the trip.

My knee did not stop me from enjoying the visit to the museum or anything else in my vacation. We saw almost all the exhibits in the museum, from the dinosaurs, Indigenous Communities, Mexico and Central America, Asian, Pacific Peoples and animals. It was all so impressive, the things all these primitive communities made were so ahead of their time. The clothes and jewelry from the communities in Mexico and Central America are just beautiful.

Aztec Stone of the Sun

I think my favorite part of the museum was the exhibit where they had three Taino artifacts. The Taino were the indigenous people of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, who were settled here before the Spanish came to the New World. These tree artifacts were a Yuke, Dujo and ceramic bowl. The Yuke was a decorated stone or wooden belt used to bounce the batú or ball during the game of Batú. Dujo was the wooden or stone ceremonial bench for the Cacique (chief). The last one was a bowl made by the Taino in the Dominican Republic.

Batú
Dujo
Taino Bowl
Museum of Natural History, New York City

It was a very nice day in New York so when we left the museum, we went to Central Park and explored a little, using Google Maps so we didn’t get lost. In Central Park we found were some landmarks we had to see, like the Belvedere Castle, Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Bow Bridge, and King Jagiello Monument (King of Poland 1386-1434).

View next to Belvedere Castle
Bethesda Fountain
Bow Bridge
View from Bow Bridge
King Jagiello Monument
Central Park

It was a lot of fun finally seeing those places in real life after seeing so many times on TV shows and movies. We still didn’t see everything so we have some more landmarks for another time.

After all that exploring and a little bit more walking around New York, I went to dinner with a good friend. I had a great time talking to and catching up with her.

I’m not sure if I walked more on day one or two but after my knee started hurting, it felt like a lot more.

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Published by mariacristinasanfeliu

I’m an aspiring writer still looking for exactly what I want to write about, with a lot of creativity, imagination and desire to write. I studied Writing and Rhetoric at Syracuse University where I explored many different sides of writing through my classes and extracurricular activities in order to narrow my search for an identity as a writer. I have written for Citrus TV Noticias and La Voz magazine, both of which gave me the chance to explore different mediums in which to write in. Through Citrus TV Noticias I also gained experience in translating from English to Spanish and vice versa, which is also something that I would be interested in working on since I am fluent in both of these languages. I was also an intern at Syracuse University Press where I got hands on experience in what goes into actually editing and publishing a book. Through out the last four years I have faced a lot of challenges, which helped chape the person I am today. After being in a tragic car accident, being in comma, having a Traumatic Brain Injury, and being in therapy for over a year, I am a new me, willing to face challenges and knowing how to deal with them. I want to write about my accident and life after it to help others, show them it can be done and help in any way I can.

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