Day 5

Today was mostly a travel day for me going from Bogota to Orlando to New York City over 13 hours. It started early at 5 AM to with a cab to the Bogota airport and navigating through so many levels of security & customs it was amazing; lost count after six. After getting through security it was a smooth flight to Orlando where I had to go through customs again and transfer to the domestic terminal. On the flight to New York, I spent some time watching a documentary on the September 11^th tragedy that was playing on the History channel. It's amazing to me that it's been nine years since the attack on our country. I vividly remember watching the whole thing unfold live on television and the devastation that followed.

I didn't plan to be in New York City on September 11^th on this trip but it happened to play out that way and decided to visit Ground Zero. After landing at the airport to my hotel, I spoke to the concierge about getting to Ground Zero. She discouraged it because of the ongoing protests today and instead recommended a candlelight remembrance ceremony put on by a group of Buddhists that night. That sounded like a plan so I grabbed my camera and caught a cab. The remembrance event was at Pier 40 on the Hudson and included a number of floating lanterns with messages written on them that were slowly taken out in the river by Kayaks. Where the twin towers once stood had a giant blue spotlight firing into the sky creating an image of what the NYC skyline used to look like. In addition, they had a music instrument which was like a bowl of sorts with a mallet that when rang was supposed to represent peace and spread it throughout the world. Thousands of people were in attendance over the three hours and it was an opportunity to reflect and remember on how that day affected the lives of so many people. A few pictures are below.

After the event was over, I took a cab back to the hotel and crashed after being up for nearly 20 hours. If you have any comments / questions please post below or email me at chris@pricelessperspectives.com