We have reached New Zealand, home of the America's Cup
Dec 13, 1999

Hello everyone, It is going to be hard not to think in Spanish. We made it to Auckland on Sunday (NZ time-21 hours ahead of the West Coast) after an easy and enjoyable eleven hour Qantas flight. Flights like that are so much better when you can get exit row seats.

Definitely a culture shock coming from Buenos Aires (BA) to Auckland. BA was definitely Mike's favorite city in all of Sur America. There is so much to see and do here. We only had 3 night and 3 days here so we had to pack in as much as possible. Mike thinks that you really need about 2 weeks to see most of the good stuff in BA (if your budget can handle it). So much going on, culture wise, in this place. They were having the BA Tango Festival during our stay. We went to a concert where city orchestra played the music of the tango. So beautiful and emotional especially when they had a famous cantor sing with the orchestra.

We also got to see the opera, Lucia di Lammermoor (the Bride of Lammermoor), at Teatro Colon. Amazing singing. The place was packed with locals that would yell "bravo" at every curtain call. They just went nuts for the soprano, Lucia. We have never heard singing like that before.

The city is very large and easy to get around by foot. So much to see. Lots of little parks and plazas with these amazing old trees with huge branches sweeping down to the ground. We did make a visit to the City Cemetery to find the tomb of Evita (Eva Peron). Found it after walking through all of the spooky walkways of tombs and mausoleums. Very scary. During our stay we happened to be present for the craziness of the Presidential inauguration. De la Rua is the new guy. People seem to like him well enough. I guess anything can be better than the horror of the 70's and 80's when thousands of people disappeared. We happened to come upon a gathering at Plaza de Mayo (in front of the President's house, Casa Rosada) of family members that lost loved ones. It's pretty sad to see the photos of all those missing/disappeared people.

When in Rome........eat like the Argentineans. Beef, beef and more beef. It's what's for dinner! We had heard som much about the beef here in Argentina that we waited until we arrived in BA to get the real experience. People don't really eat until about 10 or 11pm. We went to Des Nivel in the San Telmo barrio and ate so much beef (even the guys beef next to us, long story). Possibly the best beef Mike has ever had!

It was nice to arrive in Auckland and not have to ask for directions in Spanish. We could actually walk up to someone and ask how much does this cost without having to bargain for the price. Don't get us wrong, we will miss speaking Spanish. Linda still has problems. Saying "gracias" and "ciao" to everyone. People here look at us like we are crazy.

We are staying right now with Shannon Davies sister Karen. Karen, Rhys and new baby Hannah have been nice enough to let us throw our stuff all over the place and even wash all of our clothes. We are planning to head North now to see the Bay of Islands, Great Barrier Island and the Coromandel Peninsula before returning back here to spend Christmas and the New Year with our SF friends Shannon and Jason.

America's Cup update: The Louis Vuitton Cup which currently belongs to New Zealand, is finishing Round 3 of the Qualifying round robin before the Semifinals in 2000. The San Francisco Yacht Club (Belvedere, Calif.) Boat, America True and America One from the St Francis (SF) Yacht Club as well as Dennis Connor's Stars and Stripes boat will qualify for the American entries. The New York Yacht Club (that held the cup for 132 years) was knocked out yesterday. Hard to watch the races, but you can see the sails!

Ok, we are off to the city center to get a bus or boat. Enjoy the last 2 weeks of Christmas Shopping! We miss you and love the updates, keep them coming.

Love,
Mike and Linda

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