Yes meta is the correct board to discuss your ban. It is also ok to create a new account to discuss your ban, but using this new (or any other) account to post anything else (including PMs) is not ok. I see you posted in the alt section today, this is considered ban evasion is certainly not helping your cause.
Vegasguy
Ban appeals are rarely answered. Under the assumption that its your first ban and the ban evasion was not punished, it should last ~7-10 days. Sometimes BadBear forgets to put the time into the message. If the ban evasion was punished the ban might have been prolonged to 30 days.
If you need to contact someone durring the ban you should do so with other means, e.g. via mail. If you have not exchanged contact information in the past you can AFAIK change the signature of your banned account, to allow others to contact you.