Delusional Pineapple

29 March, 2023 | Auckland, New Zealand

The remainder of my days in Santiago were uneventful - the only thing notable was my meal on the last night.

Most of my time was spend planning and getting ready for a monster flight to New Zealand:

I left at midnight on March 28th and arrived 5am on March 29th over the course of almost 13 hours. Standard on Latin American Airlines of this length you get a meal that barely skirts international conventions on war crimes, access to premium series like White Lotus with several missing episodes (I’m sure they aren’t important), and, of course, a wailing child and eternally coughing elderly person per section.

Arriving in Auckland I was greeted with what I can only interpret as a threat.

The city was asleep when I arrived at around 6am. Auckland is a sizable, multicultural city of around 1.5m people. For all of the similarities I rapidly noted with Seattle - a bookshop and coffee shop on seemingly every block, significant topographic relief, half-hearted bike infrastructure - 41% of its population was born overseas and it shows. As I visited Aucklands museums, restaurants, cafes, bookshops, and bars the influence of other cultures beyond the European plurality became apparent. I will include notable instances in future posts.

My room was not ready yet, so I stored my luggage at a small bodega/hookah lounge that offered such a service and read the news until the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (much signage included the indigeonous Maori as well) opened to the public. And I found such a richness of cool stuff I am gonna save it for a big next post.