I have been dreaming of visiting Latin American countries and I've never thought my dream will come true pretty soon :).
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| The lovely art from Nicaragua. . |
Sejak menjalankan tugas di NYC, saya memang bercita-cita mengunjungi negara - negara Amerika Latin dan Karibia yang memang notabene jaraknya sudah lebih dekat dari tempat kami tinggal. Namun setelah dilihat-lihat lagi, ternyata negara - negara tersebut tidak dekat - dekat amat seperti negara - negara di Eropa, terutama Eropa Barat. Saya ingat selama di Geneve, hanya dengan terbang 1 sampai 1.5 jam atau mengendarai mobil selama 3 sampai 4 jam sudah tiba di kota lain, negara lain. Di AS, dengan perjalanan selama itu, kami masih berkutat di negara yang sama hahaha. Hal ini yang membuat perjalanan menjadi lama dan mahal. Makanya, meskipun bercita-cita melihat banyak negara Grulac alias Amerika Latin dan Karibia, kami sekeluarga harus menabung dulu :). Namun alhamdulilaaah, beberapa waktu yang lalu, saya ditugaskan untuk berpartisipasi dalam seminar tahunan yang akan diselenggarakan di Managua, Nikaragua. Oh my...one step closer to my dream..
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| Obi yang ngambek karena saya pergi 😢😢😢 |
As part of my work in the UN Special Committee on the Decolonialization, I was assigned to participate in its annual seminar. This year, the seminar focuses on the issues related to the Carribean region and Nicaragua has graciously offered to be the host for this year's seminar.
So there I was...running around preparing Indonesian table for the Culture Night in Bo's school a few days before my departure to Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, while at the same time working on the preparation of our own seminar about Islam in Nusantara which will be held at the UN at the end of the month.
And I have to say, what a drama it was the morning I departed :).
Well..it all was because of the foggy Monday morning in NYC. As usual, I started my Monday with 8.30 AM briefing at my office. My flight was scheduled at 2 PM, so I was planning to go to the La Guardia airport at 12 PM. Everything was prepared and I went straight home after the meeting 10.30. Then I received an email from my airlines saying that my flight to Altlanta would be delayed and I would miss my connecting flight to Managua because of that. Well, I couldn't change my schedule to the next day as the seminar would have started. So I insisted on flying to Managua on that day with whatever airlines available. After at least 5 phone calls to the airlines and the travel agent, they finally put in a flight 1 hour earlier at 1 PM so that I won't miss my connecting flight.
Gosh... I was literally running to pick up Obi first at 11.30 before the three of us, Obi, my hubby and me, went to La Guardia airport. We were lucky that the traffic was okay and in 15 minutes, we were approaching La Guardia airport. I was so frantic noting that I only have 1 hour before my departure. You can imagine the crazy line we have in the immigration even with my diplomatic passport!
Then my phone rang...it was the airline's staff telling me that the earlier plane that I was rebooked to was full already and I have to take another airline in order to catch my connecting flight to Managua. And that airline would take me through Miami to Managua on that same day. The problem was the plane flew from JFK airport. And it was a different airport from La Guardia and it took around 20 minutes to go there and I only have more or less 1 hour. Oh my....rushed we went to JFK to catch my new plane -_-"
Again, I was lucky it was my hubby taking me and practically no traffic so I could make it on time. By the time I had my ticket, lined up in immigration and arrived at the gate, I only have some time left before boarding. But I was so relieved that at the end of the day I made it :).
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| Finally leaving the big apple... |
Then after 3 hours flight from NYC to Miami, and 4 hours flight from Miami to Managua, Nicaragua, I finally arrived in the land of Rubio and Sandino.
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| salon diplomatico at the Airporr.. |
By the time I arrived, we were waiting for other participants who were coming from different parts of the world. I flew through Miami and some came through Atlanta or Panama City. Although it was only 8 hours flying in total, for me it was so tiring already. Or perhaps it was due to so emotional rides I have to go through before leaving, hahaha...but I truly enjoyed the ride from the Airporr to the hotel. Very festive and merrily decorated Avenue de Simon Bolivar, with its line of amarillo or the tree of life and El Comandante Chavez :)
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| El Comanandante Chavez at one of the roundabouts.. |
But by the time I arrived in the hotel, it was almost 10 PM already so I decided to umpack and order some dinner. I got yummy broccoli cream sop and some local dish of fried green plantain and queso frito, fried cheese. Yuuuum yuuuum...
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| My dinner...yuuum yuuum.. |
As the morning came, I managed to hit the pool and got everything ready for the seminar.
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| the whole pool for myself :) |
It was a series if productive meetings regarding the UN works on Decolonialization Committee. Well, I'm not gonna share that here but we will continue the work in NY for sure :).
Then, as the courtesy of the host, the Government of Nicaragua, we had dinner cruise at Xolotlan Lake that night. Fun time getting to know one another closer and lobby them at the same time :). But for sure, I got a chance to arrange my little trip the next morning to see the beauty of the Managua city before continuing the meeting, including the historical Antigua Catedral de Nicaragua.
Wanna see more of the land of Rubio and Sandino? I'll be right back :)
